akka provides some pre-defined shapes, that should probably fit 99.9% of your usage. creating a new shape should only be done in some very rare cases. the pre-defined shapes are:
Source
- 1 outlet, no inletsSink
- 1 inlet, no outletsFlow
- 1 inlet, 1 outletBidiFlow
- 2 inlets, 2 outletsClosed
- no inlets, no outletsFanInN
- N
inlets (N
<= 22), 1 outletFanOutN
- N
outlets (N
<= 22), 1 inletUniformFanIn
- any number of inlets of the same type, 1 outletUniformFanOut
- any number of outlets of the same type, 1 inletAmorphous
- any number of inlets or outlets, but untyped.