Mastering Diagram Creation with Mermaid: From Flowcharts to Gantt Charts

David Li
3 min readAug 31, 2024

A Comprehensive Guide to Using Mermaid for Diagramming

Mermaid is a powerful tool that allows you to create diagrams and visualizations using simple text-based instructions. It is especially useful for developers, technical writers, and project managers who want to integrate diagrams directly into their markdown, documentation, or websites without the need for complex graphic design tools.

What is Mermaid?

Mermaid is a JavaScript-based diagramming tool that supports a variety of diagram types, including flowcharts, sequence diagrams, class diagrams, state diagrams, ER diagrams, Gantt charts, and more. It leverages a text-based syntax, making it easy to create, update, and version-control diagrams alongside your code or documentation.

Key Features and Capabilities of Mermaid

Mermaid offers a wide range of capabilities, making it versatile for different diagramming needs:

1. Flowcharts

Flowcharts are one of the most popular uses of Mermaid. They allow you to visualize processes, algorithms, or workflows.

Example:

graph TD;
A[Start] -->…

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