Use cloud frames to visualize cloud infrastructure in Lucidchart

Create a new document with imported cloud data

After you’ve imported cloud infrastructure data from AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud into the Lucid Data Hub, you can automatically render the data in a diagram by following these steps:

1. Select Data hub from the navigation menu on the left side of the Lucid Home Page.
2. Select AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud from the options on the left.
3. Click Create new document from the top of the page.
4. Select what data source(s) you want to use.
5. Click Next in the bottom-right corner.
6. Type a name for the document.
7. Click Create document in the bottom-right corner.

After you’ve created a new Lucidchart document, move on to the next section to learn how to add cloud data to the canvas.

Visualize cloud data on the canvas

After cloud data has been imported into a Lucidchart document, you can add shapes to the canvas in the following ways:

• Cloud Agent (AWS only): With the Cloud Agent, you can use Lucid AI to generate targeted AWS infrastructure diagrams directly inside Lucidchart. For full instructions, check out our Use Lucid AI’s Cloud Agent to build architecture diagrams in Lucidchart article.
• Freeform diagramming: Add cloud shapes to the canvas manually with freeform diagramming, allowing you to create a customized diagram. For full instructions, check out our Freeform diagramming with cloud infrastructure in Lucidchart article.
• Cloud frames: A cloud frame is an automated visualization of your cloud data. You can create multiple views within a cloud frame, each displaying your infrastructure from a different perspective. The remainder of this article includes information about how you can customize your cloud frame with views and other display options.

Add a cloud frame to the canvas

To add a cloud frame to a Lucidchart document, follow these steps:

1. Select the Cloud resources icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the page.
2. Click Cloud frame at the top of the panel.

Create and manage views

Views are the different visualizations you create within this single frame, allowing you to visualize architecture and resources from various perspectives—each one applies a different configuration of structure, filter, and layout settings to the same imported data.

When you generate a new document, the rendered infrastructure is automatically displayed in the “Summarized Infrastructure” view.

Switch to a new view

To switch to a new view, follow these steps:

1. Select the cloud frame in your Lucidchart document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, click the dropdown menu under “Current view”.
3. Select a new view.

Create a new view

To create a new view, follow these steps:

1. Select the cloud frame in your Lucidchart document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, click the dropdown menu under “Current view”.
3. Select Create from template.
   
4. Select a template from the options or click Skip, I want a blank view in the bottom-left corner.
   • See the Available view templates for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud section below for more information about templates.
   • See the Manual layout views section below for more information about starting with a blank view.
5. If you chose a template, click Generate from the bottom-right corner.

Manage an existing view

To access various settings for an existing view, follow these steps:

1. Select the cloud frame in your Lucidchart document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, click the three-dot icon to the right of the “Current view” dropdown.
3. Select one of the following options:
   • Rename the view.
   • Duplicate the view with auto layout or manual layout.
   • Export configuration for the current view or all views.
   • Import view configurations from a JSON file.
   • Change shape library.
   • Delete the view.

Available view templates for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud

Manual layout views

Manual layout views allow you to access a layout in which you have control over shape placement and can make manual changes. To add containers and resources to the canvas, click and drag them from the Cloud resources panel on the left side onto the canvas.

Customize how cloud infrastructure appears in Lucidchart

View resources

To view all resource types supported by Lucid, select the Cloud resources icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the page. Use the search bar to access a specific resource type in this list.

Show or hide resources on the canvas

To edit which resources are visible on the canvas, follow these steps:

1. Select the cloud frame in your Lucidchart document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, scroll to the “Resource visibility” section.
3. Use the checkbox next to a resource type to show or hide all resources of that type in the current view.
   • Select a resource type to show or hide individual resources.

Show lines between resources

Cloud infrastructure lines represent the relationship between resources based on resource metadata. To toggle line visibility on or off, follow these steps:

1. Select the cloud frame in your Lucidchart document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, click Layout below the “Current view” dropdown.
3. Check or uncheck the box to the right of a line category to toggle its visibility.
   • Click the arrow to the left of each line category to toggle visibility for specific line types.
   • Customize the styling for each line type by clicking on it.

View shape metadata

Select an individual resource on the canvas to open its data panel on the right side of the canvas. In this panel, select Data below the resource tile to see the metadata associated with that individual resource.

Adjust layout settings for resources

You can apply layout settings to specific resource types in a document as well as to the container type resources they're rendered in. To access layout settings for a container or resource type, follow these steps:

1. Select a container or individual resource in the document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, click Layout from the top of the panel.

From the Layout panel, you can make the following adjustments:

Containers

• Collapse or expand a container.
• Add or edit text fields.
  • Click the three-dot icon to the right of a text field to show or hide it on the canvas or remove it from the container. Select Hide Empty Field to hide the field if it has no value.
• Adjust grid settings such as spacing, number of columns, and sort order.
• Group non-contained resources together in a certain number of columns.
• Group resources by type.
• Adjust the order in which groups appear in the container.

Resources

• Summarize shapes. When this is toggled on, resources of the same type are combined into a single shape with a badge identifying the number of individual resources summarized.
• Adjust display options such as where the resource is shown on the diagram.
• Add or edit text fields.
  • Click the three-dot icon to the right of a text field to show or hide it on the canvas or remove it from the resource. Select Hide Empty Field to hide the field if it has no value.

Structure control

You can control the organizational hierarchy of cloud infrastructure by following these steps:

1. Select the cloud frame in your Lucidchart document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, click Layout below the “Current view” dropdown.
3. Under the “Structure” section, you can:
   • Click + Add Group to add containers to the view’s visual hierarchy.
   • Remove containers or groups from the hierarchy by hovering over the group and clicking X.

You can add the following groups to a document's hierarchy based on the provider:

• AWS: Accounts, Regions, VPCs, Availability Zones, Security Groups, ECS Clusters, Subnets
• Google Cloud: Projects, Networks, Subnetworks, GKE Clusters, Node Pools, Instance Groups
• Azure: Subscriptions, Resource Groups, Virtual Networks, Subnets

Apply filters

View filters exclude resources that don’t match the filter criteria. Filtering a container also excludes that container’s resources.
To add a new filter, follow these steps:

1. Select the cloud frame in your Lucidchart document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, click Data below the “Current view” dropdown.
3. Under “Filters”, click Manage filters.
4. Click Create a new filter rule.
5. Under “For”, select what resource type you want the filter to apply to.
6. Under “Search by”, select Resource Data or Labels to determine what data the filter applies to.
7. Optionally, toggle on “Apply to all views” to apply this filter to all other views in the document.
8. Under “If”, use the dropdowns to determine the condition or select Formula to use a formula as the condition.
   • Click Add condition if you want multiple conditions for the filter.
9. Click Save.

The view will adjust to fit the filter parameters. To disable a filter, click Manage filters, then uncheck the box to the left of the filter name.

To manage an existing filter for all views, follow these steps:

1. Select the cloud frame in your Lucidchart document.
2. In the panel that opens on the right, click Data below the “Current view” dropdown.
3. Under “Filters”, click Manage filters.
4. Click the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of a filter.
5. From here, you can:
   • Rename the filter.
   • Edit the filter conditions.
   • Duplicate the filter to the current view.
   • Apply the filter to all views in the document.
   • Delete the filter.

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