Diagrams you can draw, describe or code.
Architecture, flows, processes, sequences, data models, mind maps, timelines and charts, right in your documents and on your whiteboards. Draw one by hand, describe it and let AI draw it, or write its source. Every kind of diagram is on every plan.
Four ways to make one
| Way | What you do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Visual diagram | Add boxes and connect them in a visual editor; the layout arranges itself, or move things by hand | Insert, Diagram |
| Diagrams as code | Write the diagram's source and watch it draw as you type | Insert, Diagram |
| AI diagram | Describe it in plain words and choose the kind; AI writes it and draws it | Create with AI |
You can also right-click in a document to add one, or use Insert diagram on a whiteboard. Not sure which kind to use? The Diagram guide, in the same menus, shows each kind with an example.
In the visual editor
- Drag shapes and icons in from the toolbox, and drag a box's side dots to connect it to another.
- Choose the diagram type, and switch between automatic and manual layout.
- Re-arrange lays the boxes out again; Auto-route redraws the connections.
- Moving a box by hand switches to manual layout, so your placement stays.
- AI Edit changes the diagram from a description.
Kinds of diagram
- Architecture: services and systems, cloud architecture with icons, and C4 views.
- Flows and processes: flowcharts, BPMN processes and swimlane workflows.
- Interactions: sequence diagrams, state machines and activity diagrams.
- Data: entity relationship diagrams and database schemas.
- Ideas and people: mind maps and org charts.
- Time: timelines and Gantt charts.
- Numbers: charts drawn from data files you attach to the document.
- Infographics: described in plain words and designed for you.
- And more: networks, racks, packets, timing diagrams and wiring.
Diagrams as code
Prefer to write it? Diagrams as code opens the source beside a live preview, for every kind that has a source language. The source is kept with the diagram, so you, Orbit or your own AI tools can change it later.
Change a diagram with AI
Open a diagram and choose AI Edit: say what should change (“add a retry after the payment step”, “split the billing lane in two”), check the preview, refine it if you like, then apply.
Captions and history
- Add caption puts a line of text under a diagram.
- View generation history lists how a diagram was made and changed: by hand, by AI, or by a connected AI tool.
- A diagram is part of its document, so the document's version history keeps it too.
Credits
Drawing a diagram by hand or from its source costs nothing. AI diagrams, AI edits and infographics designed from a description use a few credits, more for complex diagrams. A diagram Orbit adds to a document costs the same. See Credits.