26 posts tagged with "diagrams"

Graphviz has been the backbone of automated graph visualization for over three decades. Originally developed at AT&T Labs, it powers dependency graphs in build systems, call graphs in profilers, and database schemas in ORMs -- anywhere that diagrams need to be generated from structured data rather than drawn by hand. Graphviz Charts for Confluence brings that same engine directly into your Confluence pages, letting you write DOT language descriptions and get polished, auto-laid-out diagrams without leaving your wiki.

Mermaid is the most popular text-based diagramming language for technical documentation. One line of code generates a flowchart. A few more produce a sequence diagram, ER diagram, or Gantt chart. Teams using Confluence can embed Mermaid diagrams directly on their pages, keeping diagrams alongside the documentation they illustrate.

Architecture diagrams are the backbone of technical documentation. They show how services communicate, where data flows, and which infrastructure components underpin your system. When a new engineer joins your team, the first thing they look for is an architecture diagram. When something breaks in production, the incident response starts at the same diagram.

Yet many teams store their architecture diagrams in external tools -- draw.io, Lucidchart, or even desktop applications -- detached from the documentation where they matter most. Confluence is where your runbooks live, where architecture decision records are written, and where post-mortem discussions happen. Keeping your architecture diagrams inside Confluence eliminates context-switching and ensures diagrams evolve alongside the written documentation they illustrate.

This guide walks through three ways to create architecture diagrams directly in Confluence, using NGPILOT apps designed for different workflows. Every Mermaid example is copy-paste ready, so you can insert it into a Confluence page and see the result immediately.

Class diagrams are the standard way to model object-oriented systems. They show the classes in your codebase, their attributes and methods, and the relationships between them -- inheritance hierarchies, composition, aggregation, and simple associations. Whether you are documenting a domain model, onboarding new engineers onto a codebase, or collaborating on a design before writing a single line of code, a UML class diagram communicates structure faster than paragraphs of prose.

If your team uses Confluence for technical documentation, embedding class diagrams directly on your pages keeps your design docs next to your architecture decisions, runbooks, and sprint planning notes. With Mermaid Plus for Confluence, you can write class diagrams in plain text and render them instantly, no external drawing tool required.

An ER diagram (entity-relationship diagram) visualizes a database schema — the tables, columns, primary and foreign keys, and the relationships between them. If your team documents data models, API contracts, or system architecture in Confluence, embedding ER diagrams directly on the page keeps the schema next to the prose instead of stranded in an external tool as a stale screenshot.

Confluence has no built-in ER diagram support, so you add it with a Marketplace app. The approach below uses Mermaid Plus for Confluence, which renders ER diagrams from plain text — meaning diagrams version, diff, and search alongside the rest of your documentation.

Entity-Relationship (ER) diagrams are the standard way to visualize database schemas. They show the tables in your database, the columns in each table, primary and foreign key constraints, and the relationships between tables -- one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many. Whether you are designing a new database from scratch, documenting an existing schema for onboarding, or collaborating on a data model before writing migration scripts, an ER diagram communicates structure faster than any amount of prose.

Gantt charts are one of the most widely used visual tools in project management. They give teams a clear, time-based view of who is doing what, when tasks start and end, and how dependencies chain together across a project lifecycle. Whether you are planning a software release, coordinating a marketing campaign, or managing a sprint backlog, a Gantt chart turns a flat task list into a timeline your whole team can read at a glance.

Confluence is where many teams already store their project documentation, meeting notes, and decision records. Embedding Gantt charts directly on Confluence pages keeps your project visuals alongside the context your team needs, instead of burying timelines in a separate project management tool that nobody checks. With Mermaid Plus for Confluence, you can write Gantt charts using plain text syntax and see them rendered instantly on the page.

Jira issues are where your team tracks bugs, features, and tasks every day. But describing complex processes, API interactions, or system designs in plain text often leads to confusion and misalignment. Mermaid Plus Diagrams for Jira solves this by letting you create and embed Mermaid diagrams directly on any Jira issue, so the visual context lives exactly where the work happens. No external tools, no attached images that go stale, no switching between tabs.

Mind maps are one of the most effective ways to capture ideas, organize thoughts, and brainstorm with a team. Unlike linear notes or bullet lists, mind maps radiate outward from a central topic, making it easy to see relationships between concepts at a glance. If your team already uses Confluence for documentation, meeting notes, and project planning, adding mind maps directly to your Confluence pages keeps brainstorming sessions alongside the rest of your team's knowledge.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create mind maps in Confluence using Mermaid syntax and the Mermaid Plus for Confluence app. Every example is copy-paste ready, so you can drop it straight into a Confluence page and start organizing your ideas immediately.

Sequence diagrams are one of the most practical tools in a software team's documentation toolkit. They show how objects, services, or actors interact over time, making them ideal for documenting API flows, authentication processes, microservice choreography, and error-handling logic. If your team uses Confluence for documentation, embedding sequence diagrams directly on your pages keeps architecture docs alongside everything else your team needs.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create sequence diagrams in Confluence using Mermaid syntax. Every example is copy-paste ready, so you can drop it straight into a Confluence page and see the result immediately.

State diagrams (also called state machine diagrams) model how a system transitions between discrete states in response to events. They are essential for documenting order lifecycles, user authentication flows, CI/CD pipelines, IoT device behavior, and any system where the current state determines what happens next. If your team uses Confluence for technical documentation, embedding state diagrams directly on your pages keeps your design decisions alongside runbooks, architecture decision records, and sprint planning notes.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create state diagrams in Confluence using the Mermaid stateDiagram-v2 syntax. Every example is copy-paste ready, so you can drop it straight into a Confluence page and see the rendered result immediately.