C4-PlantUML VS d2-playground

C4-PlantUML: Export your model as C4-PlantUML diagrams.

PlantUML + C4 plugin;

Yes. I use this all the time for software diagramming. With c4 model (https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML) and AWS icons (https://github.com/awslabs/aws-icons-for-plantuml)

The C4 model (https://c4model.com/) is great for architecture diagrams. You can use different tools to generate them. Here are the ones I've been using:

- https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML

3️⃣ Text-based diagramming- C4-PlantUML

> onboarding docs

yes, they're don't changing frequently

> system design docs

yes - see C4-PlantUML[1]

> meeting notes

no, unless they're directly code related like ADRs [2,3].

Although one can abuse Github Issues + comments for this, in my opinion it's better to use modern SaaS tools for this, i.e. Loom, Descript, Linear.app, etc. - you can automate this process, e.g. transcribe the meeting's recording and add the issue/repo using Github Actions.

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[1] https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML

[2] https://adr.github.io/

[3] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/arc...

I use a combination of: * Markdown (for notes and code blocks) * Mermaid markdown (for architectural diagrams in markdown documents) * PlantUML markdown (again for arch. docs in markdown, but mainly for C4 diagrams) * a Docker container to render PlantUML markdown to images * Joplin, installed on every device I regularly use * NextCloud, to store, secure, encrypt, and make available everywhere, the markdown notes managed by Joplin

https://play.d2lang.com/?script=qlDQtVOo5AIEAAD__w%3D%3D&ske...

I was going to ask why you don't have a web version but you already do. I'm going to play with this more today.

Have you thought about an "auto compile"/live mode where it changes as you edit the text? I think this adds a level of intuitiveness that would help new users explore.

Wow that's a very detailed catch, thanks for reporting! Made an issue: https://github.com/terrastruct/d2-playground/issues/33

A video can be a lot of work, it is quite challenging to produce a satisfying result. Instead, I suggest you to draw (here is a nice online tool to do that. If you prefer plain text, you can use d2) a Flowchart to represent your workflow. For someone who wants to understand a use case, it will be much quicker to look at a diagram rather than read or watch a video. And it will be easier for you to produce it.

We'll have our own API available for you to do this too. So you can make something on playground (https://play.d2lang.com) and then render the same way. E.g. https://github.com/alixander/test-render/blob/main/README.md

if you're talking about the playground, I did the initial version in a weekend or so (https://github.com/terrastruct/d2-playground), which includes building a WASM version of D2 (written in Go), putting a text editor, some UI stuff like dropdowns/menu, hooking it up together, layouts and responsiveness whatnot.

If you're talking about D2 language itself, ~2 devs over 3/4 of a year.

You can give it a spin to see if it's a fit for you here: https://play.d2lang.com