Jjodel

Jjodel was created within the Software Engineering (SWEN) Research Group at the University of L’Aquila to address a growing gap between the needs of modern software and systems modeling and the limitations of existing tools. Most modeling environments available today rely on outdated desktop technologies, rigid architectures, and steep learning curves that often expose users to unnecessary technical complexity. These barriers discourage innovation, limit reproducibility, and make language engineering accessible only to experts with deep technical skills.

Jjodel emerged as an open-source initiative to overcome these difficulties. It reimagines modeling as a cloud-native, reflective, and user-centered activity, one that researchers, educators, and practitioners can share and evolve together. Rather than forcing users to adapt to tool constraints, Jjodel adapts to users, supporting multi-view modeling, live co-evolution, and transparent collaboration. Its architecture promotes sustainability, openness, and continuous learning.

The platform is developed and maintained by the SWEN Research Group with contributions from international collaborators, partner universities, and research projects across Europe. Jjodel is already used in academic courses on model-driven engineering and software design, as well as in applied research on digital twins, adaptive systems, and educational technologies.

The purpose of Jjodel is to make modeling simple, reflective, and accessible, helping students, researchers, and organizations focus on the essence of modeling rather than the mechanics of tool construction. Through its collective, Jjodel seeks to sustain its open-source infrastructure, foster collaboration across institutions, and promote a new generation of modeling tools aligned with the principles of openness, transparency, and long-term sustainability in software engineering.

Jjodel has been already adopted by several Universities as their teaching platform and also in research projects.