Mermaid ASCII: Render Mermaid diagrams in your terminal (github.com)

Article summary

The article introduces Beautiful Mermaid, a tool that renders Mermaid diagrams as beautiful SVGs or ASCII art, with features such as ultra-fast rendering, themeability, and zero DOM dependencies. It supports various diagram types, including flowcharts, state diagrams, and XY charts. The tool is designed to work well with AI-assisted coding workflows and can render diagrams in terminals or chat interfaces. The ASCII rendering engine is based on mermaid-ascii by Alexander Grooff, which was ported to TypeScript and extended.

Main themes

• Mermaid diagrams
• ASCII rendering
• AI-assisted coding
• Diagram theming
• Terminal rendering
• Code visualization

What commenters say

• The use of ASCII diagrams is a valuable addition to coding workflows, especially with AI-assisted coding tools.
• The default design of the diagrams is not as good as Mermaid's, with some users finding it ugly or unprofessional.
• The tool's ability to render diagrams in various formats, including ASCII and SVG, makes it a useful addition to existing workflows.
• Some users prefer Mermaid's existing rendering over Beautiful Mermaid's, citing the quality of the generated diagrams.
• The integration of Beautiful Mermaid with other tools, such as Kroki, could provide a more comprehensive diagramming solution.
• The push towards ASCII diagrams may be driven by AI usage, but some users argue that standard, widely recognized notations are more important for human readability.
• Beautiful Mermaid's theming system and support for various diagram types make it a powerful tool for creating custom diagrams.
• The tool's ability to render diagrams in terminals or chat interfaces could improve collaboration and communication among developers.