5 Reasons You Should Be Using Mermaid As Your Diagram Generator
• 5 mins
“Mermaid, a user-friendly, code-based diagram generator with AI integrations, templates, collaborative tools, and plugins for developers, streamlines the process of creating and sharing diagrams, enhancing both creativity and collaboration.”
What do you look for in your diagram generator tool?
If we had to guess, you’re probably looking for something that’s easy to use, doesn’t require advanced graphic design skills, and has helpful integrations (and AI features) to help you build your diagrams faster.
That’s what Mermaid offers in a nutshell. Best of all, you can get started for free with Mermaid in just a few clicks.
Mermaid is a platform built on top of Mermaid, the open-source text-to-diagramming tool. The Mermaid team, which includes original members of the Mermaid project, leaned into Mermaid’s award-winning workflow that enables developers to render diagrams from simple code. We’re continuously adding new features and functionality to Mermaid in our quest to make diagramming easy and exciting.
Whether you’re a developer looking for diagrams to complement your software development efforts or a non-technical associate seeking a better way to present information to your teams and clients — Mermaid can work for you. Let’s discuss five reasons why Mermaid should be your diagram generator of choice:
1. Build diagrams from simple code.
Many of the tools used for building diagrams are design-heavy. If you’re using a graphical user interface (GUI) program such as Canva or PowerPoint, you’ll spend most of your time clicking, dragging, and drawing. Instead of making sure the content of the diagram is clear and comprehensive, you’re probably spending more time on colors and formatting.
Mermaid is a diagram generator that relies on simple code. Users can type up their code on the left side of the editor, and Mermaid will render the diagram for them. Every update you make to the code is mirrored in the design. No need to be an artist!
2. Use templates and Code Snippets to get started — fast.
Sometimes, the hardest part about building a diagram is getting started. Mermaid features a collection of 29 different Sample Diagrams in different formats: flow charts, class, state, mindmap, quadrant charts, etc. These templates give you a starting point for the rest of your activities in the diagram generator.
Code Snippets help the efficiency continue once you’ve selected your diagram. These snippets allow Mermaid users to insert any shape, node, edge, or arrow they need — directly into their diagrams. Users can drag and drop, copy/paste, or insert their elements with the + sign.
3. Speed up your process with AI diagram generator tools.
Mermaid offers two major AI tools to complement its diagram generator: an AI Chatbot and a ChatGPT integration.
The AI Chatbot, available to all users through the Mermaid editor, helps users jumpstart the diagramming process. You can use the bot to…
- Create a diagram: Ask the bot to build a diagram that can act as a starting point
- Make edits: Update the diagram layout, colors, and more
- Fix your diagram: If your code is broken, the bot can try to fix it
The ChatGPT integration is also available to both free and paid users with ChatGPT Plus. Once you’ve installed the Mermaid plugin, you can give ChatGPT a prompt that generates a Mermaid diagram. You can then jump right into Mermaid to fine-tune and tweak your visual.
These AI tools are meant to help remove some of the manual work of creating your own diagrams from scratch.
4. Simplify collaboration with your team.
Users on the Plus, Premium, and Enterprise tier can conduct a multi-user editing session with colleagues — even those outside of your organization. It’s similar to a “Google Docs” workflow.
With Mermaid, it’s also easy to save and share your work. The “save icon” on the left side of the editor includes buttons to save and export your diagram as a PNG, SVG, or MMD file.
If you’re a Plus user, you can generate a shareable diagram link to communicate with the rest of your team. There is also a share link in the header of the app, which opens a modal with options:
- diagram access (restrict to team members or allow anyone with the link to preview the diagram)
- editor link
- SVG link.
Additionally, the platform includes a Presentations feature, where can combine different diagrams into a slideshow to screen share with colleagues. Forget about downloading images and making your own slideshow – Mermaid makes it easy.
5. Bring your diagrams closer to your code.
Developers know: the shorter the distance between your code and your diagram, the better!
Mermaid’s Visual Studio Code plugin and JetBrains IDEA extension enable users to view, edit, and update diagrams within their code editor.
The VS Code plugin gives you the ability to attach diagrams to your code for easy viewing and editing. Diagrams can be incorporated directly into your codebase. The Visual Studio Code plugin offers two links per diagram: one to view the diagram in a new Visual Studio Code tab, and another to make edits within Mermaid.
The Mermaid extension for JetBrains IDEs enables developers to view and edit diagrams stored in Mermaid within the IDE. With integration to the Mermaid service, this extension allows users to attach diagrams to their code.
Do these tools and features sound helpful? If so, we’d encourage you to give Mermaid a try as your diagram generator – for free!
The Basic plan is free and lets users create up to three diagrams with limited AI capabilities. For those who diagram often, the Plus plan starts at $10 per user/month (billed annually) and includes unlimited diagrams, 300 AI credits per year, and view & comment collaboration.
Building diagrams should be easy and fun. Our easy, innovative diagram generator can help unlock your creativity and collaboration!
Looking for an easy-to-use online diagram generator? Discover your new favorite tool at https://mermaid.ai/.