docs/user-manual/modules/ROOT/pages/architecture.adoc

= Architecture

The following diagram shows a high-level view of the main concepts that make up Camel's architecture.

image::images/camel-architecture.png[image]

At the center of the diagram you have the _heart_ of Apache Camel; the xref:camelcontext.adoc[CamelContext].
The `CamelContext` is "Camel" ... the runtime Camel, that contains and holds everything together.

xref:routes.adoc[Routes] are defined using one of Camel’s xref:dsl.adoc[DSLs].
xref:processor.adoc[Processors] are used to transform and
manipulate messages during routing as well as to implement all the
xref:components:eips:enterprise-integration-patterns.adoc[EIP]s, which have
corresponding names in the DSLs. xref:component.adoc[Components] are the extension points in Camel
for adding connectivity to other systems. To expose these systems to the rest of Camel,
components provide an xref:endpoint.adoc[endpoint] interface.

== Routes 101

You use Camel for integration, and a key concept in Camel is xref:routes.adoc[routes] which
tells Camel how messages should be routed between systems.

A route has exactly one input xref:endpoint.adoc[endpoint],
and 0, 1 or more output xref:endpoint.adoc[endpoints].

You use Camel xref:dsl.adoc[DSL] to _code_ the xref:routes.adoc[routes].
For example the route below is coded in xref:java-dsl.adoc[Java DSL]:

[source,java]
----
public class MyRoute extends RouteBuilder {

    public void configure() throws Exception {
        from("ftp:myserver/folder")
            .to("activemq:queue:cheese");
    }
}
----