Enterprise Architect already has its own escalation path for shared repositories: a shared project file, a DBMS repository when the file starts to strain, Pro Cloud Server when that repository needs to be reachable off the LAN. Every step on that path is real, well-built, and has genuine trade-offs — covered honestly elsewhere on this site. CelinQ is not a replacement for that path. It is a different one, built around local-first synchronisation instead of a live connection to a central repository, for teams who want the responsiveness of a local file with the safety of a shared one.
How CelinQ fits alongside EA
CelinQ installs as an in-process add-in plus a companion sync service — CelinQ
Connect — that runs alongside Enterprise Architect on each architect's machine.
Nobody's daily workflow changes: open EA, open the model, model. In the background,
CelinQ Connect watches for saves, exchanges just the changes with a central CelinQ
Server your organisation runs, and applies incoming changes from colleagues back into
the local repository. There is no live network dependency for the act of modelling
itself — an architect on a train, behind a slow client VPN, or simply offline for the
afternoon keeps working at full EA speed, and synchronises when connectivity returns.
Nothing about EA changes
The same install, the same repository file, the same diagrams and menus. CelinQ adds a companion process; it does not touch how EA itself behaves.
Smart Sync adapts its rhythm
Responsive during active collaboration, calm when the team is heads-down, manual and fixed-interval modes available where an administrator wants explicit control instead.
Fusion reconciles at the fact level
Two architects editing different attributes of the same element, or different elements in the same package, simply both succeed — reconciled against a common ancestor, not blindly against each other.
What stays exactly as it is
Existing .eap/.eapx repositories are used as-is — there is
no migration step, no conversion, no new file format to adopt. If your team already
runs a DBMS repository or Pro Cloud Server for part of its work, CelinQ does not
require giving that up; it is a separate collaboration path an organisation can choose
to run instead of, or alongside, its existing Sparx infrastructure, depending on which
teams and which repositories it makes sense for.
This is a genuine architectural choice, not a workaround. Pro Cloud Server centralises the repository and pays a network round trip per operation in exchange for a single, always-current server-side copy. CelinQ keeps the repository local and pays a background reconciliation step in exchange for full local speed and offline capability. Neither is strictly better — the honest comparison is here.
What CelinQ adds
Every change, recorded
A complete, ordered history of the workspace: who changed what, when, and against which prior revision. How restore behaves when laptops kept working →
Review before it lands
Roles from Viewer through Editor to Administrator and Owner, enforced server-side on every call. Audit trails public-sector work actually needs →
Optional, in-EA AI assist
Describe a change in plain language from EA's own menu, previewed before anything is applied. Off by default, policy-gated. How a sentence becomes a governed model change →
Archi teams, same workspace
If part of your practice or your client base works in Archi rather than EA, the same server and the same Fusion engine now serve both. See the Archi side →
Enterprise Architect specifications
| Repository formats | Existing .eap/.eapx repositories are used as-is. No migration or conversion step. |
|---|---|
| Integration | In-process EA add-in plus CelinQ Connect, a companion sync service running alongside EA on each architect's machine. |
| Sync | Smart Sync with adaptive cadence, plus manual and fixed-interval modes. |
| Merge engine | CelinQ Fusion — deterministic three-way merge at model-fact granularity, tombstones for deletions, conflict isolation. |
| Authentication | Personal access tokens (PBKDF2-SHA256 hashed) and Microsoft Entra ID SSO, active side by side. |
| Optional assistance | Ask CelinQ AI, Analyze Selected Package and Generate into Selected Package, reached from EA's own menu. Off by default, policy-gated per capability. |
Read next
CelinQ vs Pro Cloud Server
An honest architecture comparison, including when Pro Cloud Server is the better fit.
Proof-Carrying Merges
How automatic conflict resolution explains itself, one rule at a time.
Centralized vs Local-First
The flagship comparison: what each approach actually buys you.
Talk to us about your EA estate
Tell us how your team works today — shared file, DBMS repository, Pro Cloud Server, or some mix across engagements — and we'll answer directly.