d2 VS C4-PlantUML

While not embedded in markdown, I like d2 [1]. I can use it with org-babel to embed and view the diagrams on emacs. After using graphviz for years, the visual output seems more polished to me. With that said, I want to give pikchr a try.

[1]:https://d2lang.com/

In the next post I'll deep-dive into the D2 language which also has a huge set of features. Stay tuned.

That site is created by the maintainers of D2[1], so it might be biased, but I still think D2 has the friendliest syntax of the bunch, including nomnoml.

[1]: https://d2lang.com/

I've been using https://structurizr.com/ to automatically generate C4 diagrams from a model (rather than drawing them by hand). It works well with the approach for written documentation as proposed in https://arc42.org/. It's very easy to embed a C4 diagram into a markdown document.

The result is a set of documents and diagrams under version control that can be rendered using the structurizr documentation server (for interactive diagrams and indexed search).

I also use https://d2lang.com/ for declarative diagrams in addition to C4, e.g., sequence diagrams and https://adr.github.io/ for architectural decision records. These are also well integrated into structurizr.

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