Architecture documentation workflows
Compare text definitions, coding-agent artifacts, and hosted architecture projects. Start with the way you want to maintain and share your system diagram.
Mermaid and Archify can both help explain a software system. Choose between them by how you want to author, maintain, and share the diagram. Mermaid renders text definitions. Archify provides a coding-agent skill that produces interactive diagram artifacts. Archifyi is a separately operated browser workspace using the Archify engine.
Consider Mermaid when authored diagram text fits the documentation you maintain. Its Live Editor offers a browser starting point. Mermaid supports architecture diagrams as well as other types; it is not limited to flowcharts and does not always require local installation.
Explore the official Mermaid documentation ↗Use the original skill in a compatible coding-agent environment. Supply a focused system description, review the proposed components and relationships, and refine the artifact. Keep the source and reviewed output together.
Follow the Archify tutorial →Use descriptions or explicit connections, save versions, download HTML and JSON, and create revocable sharing links. Public GitHub imports read selected root documentation and manifests rather than scanning the entire codebase. Generation requires an account; public examples can be explored and copied without one.
Try an editable SaaS architecture example →Mermaid supports multiple diagram types, including an architecture syntax with services, groups, and directed relationships. The original Archify 3.1 skill also supports multiple types. Archifyi currently focuses on software architecture diagrams using its hosted pinned renderer; it does not automatically gain every feature from an upstream release.
For an ER diagram, sequence diagram, or another specialized view, check that the workflow you choose supports that type. Read Mermaid’s architecture syntax ↗ or the Archify release notes ↗. This is a comparison of workflows, not a performance benchmark or a claim of feature parity.
Ask: “How does a browser request reach the database?” Start with three components and two relationships:
Browser -> Application API -> PostgreSQLThis is an illustrative connection description, not Mermaid syntax or a runtime trace. In Mermaid, express the relationships using the syntax for your chosen view. With the Archify skill, give the agent that description and ask it to list assumptions separately. In Archifyi, use the connection input or adapt the SaaS template. These are independently authored representations, not an automatic format conversion.
Add authentication, a cache, or a worker only when it helps answer your question. Review every arrow against the intended design before sharing. For a wider view of people and external systems, explore the system context example.
For a hosted software architecture diagram workflow, it may fit your needs. It is not a universal replacement for every Mermaid diagram type, integration, or text-based documentation workflow. Choose based on the document you maintain and the output you need.
This workflow does not provide a Mermaid importer. Use supported connection input or a system description; do not assume that a Mermaid definition can be pasted unchanged.
No. Archifyi is independently operated. The original open-source skill and the hosted workspace have separate capabilities and release schedules.
Choose Mermaid when its text-definition workflow fits your documents. Choose the Archify skill when you want to work through a compatible coding agent. Consider Archifyi when you want its hosted architecture-project workflow. Try a small system and inspect the result before committing a larger document.
A little guidance goes a long way