Capella Days 2024: what actually moved the needle
Capella Days 2024 takeaways: MBSE creates value when models power operations; themes on shared infrastructure, accessibility, and governance—practical guidan...
Capella
If you’ve ever designed a big, complex system — an airplane, a power grid, a train — you know the hard part isn’t drawing the diagrams. The hard part is making sure everyone understands the same thing, works off the same model, and keeps consistency as the system evolves. One person’s “engine” might be another’s “component,” and before you know it, your project documentation is a pile of contradictions.
That’s why Capella exists. It’s an open-source modeling tool for Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). Instead of passing around specs and hoping they line up, you build a model of your system once, with clear viewpoints for each stakeholder. Think of it as a shared blueprint that can be sliced different ways: what the system does, how it’s structured, how it behaves over time.
Capella is like Lego instructions for systems engineering. Instead of just saying “make a spaceship,” it tells you exactly which bricks go where, how they connect, and why. The instructions aren’t static - they adapt as your design evolves, and you can check that everything still fits together before you spend billions building the real thing.
Obeo has been part of Capella’s DNA from the beginning. Back when Thales needed a tool to support its own systems engineering method (Arcadia), Obeo brought the modeling expertise and Eclipse technology, and both organizations made it real. The result was Capella: an open-source tool that doesn’t just look good on slides, but is robust enough for industrial use.
Since then, Obeo has helped grow the community, built extensions (like Team for Capella for real-time collaboration), and made sure Capella plays nicely with other tools (from Git integration to safety analysis). In other words, we keep the ecosystem alive and evolving.
Why does this matter? Because MBSE only works if the tool is both solid and open. Solid, so that industries like aerospace or energy can trust it with safety-critical systems. Open, so that no single company locks it down and everyone can adapt it to their needs. That’s exactly the space where Obeo thrives: balancing open-source governance with industrial-grade support.
If you’re in systems engineering, Capella gives you a way to:
- Align teams around a single, evolving model.
- Catch design flaws before they cost millions (or lives).
- Integrate with your toolchain instead of fighting it.
- Avoid vendor lock-in by building on open standards and open source.
And if you’re an engineer who just wants to get work done? Capella gives you diagrams that mean something — not just pretty pictures, but views tied to a formal model you can check, query, and share.
This hub collects some of my posts about Capella — stories from the field, ecosystem updates, and reflections on what open tooling means for MBSE programs. It’s not exhaustive (there’s way more on the official Capella website), but you’ll find here a personal take on practical benefits, integration strategies and ecosystem signals.:
If you care about systems engineering or just want to see how open-source tools can reshape an entire discipline, this is a good place to start.
2024
2019
The Rising Adoption of Capella
Witnessing an OSS technology getting together with a wide group of users is something I find exhilarating, I have experienced it with Acceleo, EMF Compare an...
2018
Siemens partnering with Obeo on Model Based Systems Engineering solution - a major recognition for OSS Modeling Techs
Partnership announcement: Siemens teams with Obeo on MBSE using open‑source Eclipse technologies; for systems engineers and tool builders; signals enterprise...