C project architecture examples
Interactive architecture diagrams of 440 open-source C repositories with a GitDiagram architecture diagram, most stars first. Each diagram shows the project's main components, how they connect, and links every part to its file on GitHub.
Across the 200 most-starred C projects here, the median diagram has 20 components. 45% draw a data store (most often files on disk and a cache), 20% have a command-line interface and 8% a web interface.
17% have a plugin or extension system.
The files their components link to most are main.c (53), server.c (12), CMakeLists.txt (9), core.c (7) and storage.c (6).
Group names that recur: “extensions” (8), “core runtime” (6), “platform services” (6), “runtime support” (6) and “tooling” (6).
Repositories 1–50 of 440
torvalds/linux★ 255k
Linux is the kernel at the center of an operating system: it initializes the machine, manages memory and hardware, and provides services used by applications.
genymobile/scrcpy★ 152k
scrcpy is a desktop application for mirroring Android video and audio and controlling the device over USB or TCP/IP; OTG supports physical-input simulation without debugging.
microsoft/powertoys★ 141k
PowerToys is a Windows utility suite: users launch utilities through the resident Runner, configure them in Settings, and use their features in everyday Windows workflows.
ventoy/ventoy★ 77k
Ventoy is not a single app; it is a bootable USB ecosystem.
redis/redis★ 76.5k
Redis is an in-memory data-structure and key-value server.
obsproject/obs-studio★ 73.4k
1. Repository purpose and top-level shape
ffmpeg/ffmpeg★ 65.9k
FFmpeg is a multimedia processing suite: command-line tools manipulate, convert, stream, play, and inspect media using libraries for codecs, formats, filtering, devices, audio…
git/git★ 64.1k
Git is a distributed revision-control system whose command set covers repository setup, everyday changes, history inspection, branching and merging, and sharing work with other…
justvugg/colibri★ 48.3k
colibrì is a local inference product for running large language, image, and decision models on consumer machines.
deusdata/codebase-memory-mcp★ 44.2k
codebase-memory-mcp is a local code-intelligence engine and MCP server for coding agents.
tmux/tmux★ 43.7k
curl/curl★ 43.3k
curl is a command-line data-transfer client built on libcurl, which is also exposed as a reusable library.
php/php-src★ 41.7k
PHP is a general-purpose scripting-language interpreter with bundled extensions.
pbatard/rufus★ 37.7k
Rufus is a Windows utility for formatting removable or virtual media and producing bootable installation drives.
raysan5/raylib★ 34.8k
raylib is a C game-programming library.
nothings/stb★ 34.7k
stb is a collection of independently embedded, single-file C/C++ libraries rather than one runtime application.
mpv-player/mpv★ 34.6k
IPC interfaces (Unix sockets, Windows IPC)
ExplorerPatcher modifies the Windows shell to provide a configurable, Windows 10-style desktop experience.
jqlang/jq★ 33.9k
nginx/nginx★ 31.9k
NGINX is a configurable web server, reverse proxy, load balancer, API gateway, and content cache.
openssl/openssl★ 30.9k
OpenSSL is a cryptographic toolkit: applications use its command-line tool or libraries to perform cryptographic, certificate, and secure-transport tasks.
cfenollosa/os-tutorial★ 30.3k
Bootloader/Boot Sectors: Represent all the early-stage boot code (folders: 01-bootsector-barebones, 02-bootsector-print, …, up to 07-bootsector-disk).
kingtoolbox/windterm★ 30.3k
asmvik/yabai★ 29.7k
yabai is a macOS tiling window manager.
openwrt/openwrt★ 28.6k
OpenWrt is an embedded Linux operating system and firmware-customization framework.
koekeishiya/yabai★ 28.5k
Based on our analysis of the file tree and README, this project is a macOS tiling window manager (named “yabai”).
valdikss/goodbyedpi★ 28k
This is a systems/network utility application intended to bypass censorship by interfering with DPI.
facebook/zstd★ 27.9k
Zstandard is a lossless compression library with a command-line file utility and compatibility interfaces.
valkey-io/valkey★ 27.3k
Valkey is a high-performance key/value data-structure server.
xiaojieonly/ehviewer_cn_sxj★ 27.3k
EhViewer is an Android browser for E-Hentai. The user-facing journey is to search or browse galleries, open a gallery and read its images, with downloads available for offline use.
hashcat/hashcat★ 27.1k
Hashcat is a password-recovery platform.
libuv/libuv★ 26.7k
Libuv is a cross-platform C library providing an asynchronous, callback-driven event loop plus I/O abstractions (TCP/UDP, DNS, FS, timers, signals, threading, IPC).
pjreddie/darknet★ 26.4k
– Represent the cfg directory, which holds the network configuration files (for various network types, e.g., YOLO, classifier, detector).
robertdavidgraham/masscan★ 26k
MASSCAN is an Internet-scale asynchronous IP/port scanner.
taosdata/tdengine★ 25.1k
TDengine is a distributed, cloud-native time-series database for high-volume IoT ingestion, storage, querying, stream processing, subscriptions, and analytics.
lvgl/lvgl★ 24.8k
LVGL is a portable embedded UI library. An application creates a widget/object tree, configures its presentation and layout, accepts input, and renders the interface to a display.
arendst/tasmota★ 24.8k
Tasmota is a PlatformIO-built alternative firmware for ESP8266/ESP32 IoT devices.
handbrake/handbrake★ 23.1k
HandBrake is a cross-platform video transcoder.
postgres/postgres★ 22.7k
PostgreSQL is an object-relational database server.
darkflippers/unleashed-firmware★ 22.4k
Unleashed is custom Flipper Zero firmware: it extends the device’s built-in applications and libraries while aiming to remain compatible with the original firmware’s API and…
iovisor/bcc★ 22.3k
micropython/micropython★ 22.1k
MicroPython runs Python scripts on constrained devices and host platforms, exposing a subset of Python plus hardware and system capabilities.
thealgorithms/c★ 21.8k
The project under discussion is not a full-stack application or a service but rather an extensive open‐source repository of algorithm implementations written in C.
pgvector/pgvector★ 21.5k
1. This repository is a PostgreSQL extension, not an application server.
jart/cosmopolitan★ 21.4k
Cosmopolitan is a portable C/C++ runtime and executable format: users build programs with the external cosmocc toolchain, then run the resulting polyglot executable natively…
gentilkiwi/mimikatz★ 21.4k
Fastfetch is a command-line system information tool (similar to neofetch) that collects hardware and operating system data (e.g., CPU, GPU, memory, OS, network, etc.) and…
allinurl/goaccess★ 21k
GoAccess is a real-time web-log analyzer with terminal and browser-based reporting.
ish-app/ish★ 20.5k
iSH is an iOS Linux shell: it runs Linux userspace programs through x86 user-mode emulation and translates their system calls.
awesome-harmonyos/harmonyos★ 20k
This repository is a curated HarmonyOS resource collection, not a complete HarmonyOS implementation.
Counted over GitDiagram's stored diagrams of public repositories, from the names their components and groups carry and the files they link to; the rules are the ones in the 2026 open-source architecture report. Stars are GitHub's when the diagram was last made. Rebuilt daily: hubs grow as more repositories' languages are known.