Project Diagrams and Architecture Visualizations

Overview

Project diagrams transform complex software architectures and system designs into clear visual representations. This skill offers two diagram generation approaches:

Approach	Best For	Output
Nano Banana Pro AI	Publication-quality visuals, presentations, complex custom diagrams	PNG images
Mermaid	Version-controlled docs, GitHub markdown, editable diagrams	SVG/PNG from code

Choosing Your Approach

Use Nano Banana Pro AI when:

• You need visually polished, publication-ready diagrams
• Creating custom visualizations that don't fit standard templates
• Diagrams for presentations, proposals, or client deliverables
• Complex architectural diagrams with custom styling

Use Mermaid when:

• Diagrams need to be version-controlled in git (text diffs)
• Embedding directly in GitHub/GitLab markdown
• You need to edit and iterate quickly on diagram structure
• Standardized diagram types (flowcharts, sequence, C4, ERD, Gantt)
• Collaborative documentation where others may edit

---

Option 1: Nano Banana Pro AI (Recommended for Visuals)

This approach uses Nano Banana Pro AI for diagram generation with Gemini 3 Pro quality review.

How it works:

• Describe your diagram in natural language
• Nano Banana Pro generates publication-quality images automatically
• Gemini 3 Pro reviews quality against document-type thresholds
• Smart iteration: Only regenerates if quality is below threshold
• Professional output in minutes
• No coding, templates, or manual drawing required

Quality Thresholds by Document Type:

Document Type	Threshold	Description
specification	8.5/10	Technical specs, PRDs
architecture	8.0/10	Architecture documents
proposal	8.0/10	Business proposals
sprint	7.5/10	Sprint planning docs
presentation	6.5/10	Slides, talks
default	7.5/10	General purpose

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

• Creating system architecture diagrams (C4 model, microservices, etc.)
• Illustrating data flow and integration patterns
• Drawing sequence diagrams for API interactions
• Visualizing database schemas and data models
• Creating deployment architecture diagrams (AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Depicting component relationships and dependencies
• Generating network topologies and infrastructure layouts
• Illustrating CI/CD pipelines and deployment workflows

Quick Start: Generate Any Diagram

# System architecture (highest quality: 8.5/10)
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py "Microservices architecture with API gateway, auth service, user service, and PostgreSQL" -o diagrams/architecture.png --doc-type specification

# C4 Context diagram
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py "C4 Context diagram showing e-commerce system with payment gateway, inventory, customers" -o diagrams/c4_context.png --doc-type architecture

# Sequence diagram
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py "Sequence diagram: user authentication flow with client, API, auth service, database" -o diagrams/auth_sequence.png

# Data flow diagram
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py "Data flow: user input -> API -> validation -> business logic -> database -> response" -o diagrams/data_flow.png

# AWS deployment
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py "AWS deployment: Route53 -> CloudFront -> ALB -> ECS Fargate -> RDS Aurora" -o diagrams/aws_deployment.png

Diagram Types for Project Planning

1. System Architecture Diagrams

python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py \
  "System architecture for SaaS application: \
   Frontend (React) -> API Gateway -> Microservices (Auth, Users, Payments). \
   Services connect to PostgreSQL and Redis. Event bus (Kafka) for async. \
   Use boxes with different colors for each service layer." \
  -o diagrams/system_architecture.png

2. C4 Model Diagrams

# Context Level
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py \
  "C4 Context diagram: Central 'Inventory System' box. \
   External actors: Warehouse Staff, Suppliers, Customers. \
   External systems: ERP, Payment Gateway, Shipping. \
   Bidirectional arrows with relationship labels." \
  -o diagrams/c4_context.png

# Container Level
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py \
  "C4 Container diagram: Web App (React) -> API Gateway (Kong) -> \
   Microservices: Inventory (Node.js), Orders (Python), Notifications (Go). \
   Databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB. Message Queue: RabbitMQ." \
  -o diagrams/c4_container.png

3. Sequence Diagrams

python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py \
  "Sequence diagram for checkout: User, Frontend, API, Cart, Payment, Order, Database. \
   Flow: checkout click -> validate cart -> process payment -> create order -> store -> response. \
   Include error path for payment failure." \
  -o diagrams/checkout_sequence.png

4. Data Model / ERD

python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py \
  "ERD for e-commerce: Users has_many Orders has_many OrderItems belongs_to Products. \
   Products belongs_to Categories. Show PKs, FKs, crow's foot notation." \
  -o diagrams/data_model.png

5. Cloud Infrastructure

python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py \
  "AWS architecture: VPC with public/private subnets in 2 AZs. \
   Public: ALB, NAT. Private: ECS Fargate, RDS Aurora. \
   Route53 -> CloudFront -> ALB. CloudWatch monitoring." \
  -o diagrams/aws_infrastructure.png

6. CI/CD Pipeline

python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py \
  "CI/CD pipeline: GitHub push -> Build -> Test -> Security Scan -> \
   Deploy Staging -> Integration Tests -> Approval -> Production. \
   Tools: GitHub Actions, Docker, Jest, Snyk, ArgoCD, K8s." \
  -o diagrams/cicd_pipeline.png

Configuration

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY='your_api_key_here'
# Get key at: https://openrouter.ai/keys

Prompt Tips

1. Architecture Style:

• "Microservices architecture with bounded contexts"
• "Monolithic with layered architecture"
• "Event-driven with CQRS pattern"

2. Technology Stack:

• "React frontend, Node.js API, PostgreSQL, Redis"
• "AWS Lambda with API Gateway and SQS"
• "Kubernetes with Istio service mesh"

3. Relationships:

• "Synchronous REST calls between services"
• "Async communication via Kafka events"
• "Database replication primary to replicas"

Integration

Works with other project planning skills:

• architecture-research - Diagrams from ADRs
• building-blocks - Component visualizations
• sprint-planning - Workflow diagrams

Quick Reference

Diagram Type	Use Case
System Architecture	High-level system overview
C4 Context	System boundaries, external interactions
C4 Container	Internal services, data stores
Sequence	API flows, interactions
ERD	Database schema design
Deployment	Cloud infrastructure
CI/CD Pipeline	Build/deployment workflow
Component	Internal service structure

---

Option 2: Mermaid (Recommended for Version Control)

Mermaid generates diagrams from text-based code, perfect for documentation that lives in git repositories.

Quick Start: Inline Mermaid

Embed directly in markdown files:

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    A[Client] --> B[API Gateway]
    B --> C[Auth Service]
    B --> D[User Service]
    C --> E[(Database)]
    D --> E
```

Mermaid Diagram Types for Project Planning

1. System Architecture (Flowchart)

flowchart TB
    subgraph Frontend
        A[React App]
        B[Mobile App]
    end

    subgraph API Layer
        C[API Gateway]
        D[Load Balancer]
    end

    subgraph Services
        E[Auth Service]
        F[User Service]
        G[Order Service]
    end

    subgraph Data
        H[(PostgreSQL)]
        I[(Redis Cache)]
        J[(S3 Storage)]
    end

    A --> D
    B --> D
    D --> C
    C --> E & F & G
    E --> H
    F --> H & I
    G --> H & J

2. Sequence Diagrams

sequenceDiagram
    participant U as User
    participant F as Frontend
    participant A as API Gateway
    participant Auth as Auth Service
    participant DB as Database

    U->>F: Click Login
    F->>A: POST /auth/login
    A->>Auth: Validate credentials
    Auth->>DB: Query user
    DB-->>Auth: User data
    Auth-->>A: JWT token
    A-->>F: 200 OK + token
    F-->>U: Redirect to dashboard

3. C4 Model Diagrams

C4Context
    title System Context Diagram - Inventory Management

    Person(user, "Warehouse Staff", "Manages inventory")
    Person(admin, "Admin", "Configures system")

    System(inventory, "Inventory System", "Core application")

    System_Ext(erp, "ERP System", "Enterprise resource planning")
    System_Ext(shipping, "Shipping API", "Delivery tracking")

    Rel(user, inventory, "Uses")
    Rel(admin, inventory, "Configures")
    Rel(inventory, erp, "Syncs data")
    Rel(inventory, shipping, "Tracks shipments")

4. Entity Relationship Diagrams

erDiagram
    USER ||--o{ ORDER : places
    USER {
        uuid id PK
        string email UK
        string name
        timestamp created_at
    }
    ORDER ||--|{ ORDER_ITEM : contains
    ORDER {
        uuid id PK
        uuid user_id FK
        decimal total
        string status
        timestamp created_at
    }
    ORDER_ITEM }o--|| PRODUCT : references
    ORDER_ITEM {
        uuid id PK
        uuid order_id FK
        uuid product_id FK
        int quantity
        decimal price
    }
    PRODUCT {
        uuid id PK
        string name
        decimal price
        int stock
    }

5. Sprint Timeline (Gantt Chart)

gantt
    title Sprint 1 - Foundation
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    section Infrastructure
        CI/CD Setup           :done, infra1, 2025-01-06, 3d
        Database Setup        :active, infra2, after infra1, 2d
    section Authentication
        User Registration     :auth1, after infra2, 3d
        Login/Logout         :auth2, after auth1, 2d
        JWT Implementation   :auth3, after auth2, 2d
    section Testing
        Unit Tests           :test1, after auth3, 2d
        Integration Tests    :test2, after test1, 2d

6. State Diagrams (Workflows)

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Draft
    Draft --> Pending: Submit
    Pending --> Approved: Approve
    Pending --> Rejected: Reject
    Rejected --> Draft: Revise
    Approved --> Published: Publish
    Published --> Archived: Archive
    Archived --> [*]

7. Component Diagrams (Mindmap)

mindmap
    root((Inventory System))
        Core Services
            Auth Service
            Inventory Service
            Order Service
            Notification Service
        Data Layer
            PostgreSQL
            Redis
            S3
        Infrastructure
            AWS ECS
            CloudFront
            Route53
        Integrations
            ERP Sync
            Shipping APIs
            Payment Gateway

Generating Mermaid to PNG

For documents requiring image files, use the automatic renderer with fallbacks:

# Automatic rendering with fallback (mmdc → Kroki.io → Nano Banana)
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/render_mermaid.py diagram.md -o output.png

# Batch render all Mermaid files in a directory
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/render_mermaid.py diagrams/ --batch

# Force a specific method
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/render_mermaid.py diagram.md --method kroki
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/render_mermaid.py diagram.md --method nano-banana

# Check if mmdc is available
python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/render_mermaid.py --check-mmdc

Multi-Tier Fallback System:

Priority	Method	Requirements	Quality
1	Local mmdc	npm install -g @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli	Best (offline)
2	Kroki.io API	Internet connection	Good (free API)
3	Nano Banana AI	OPENROUTER_API_KEY	Good (AI-generated)
4	Keep markdown	None	Rendered by viewer

The renderer automatically tries each method in order until one succeeds.

Manual mmdc Usage

If you prefer direct control:

# Install mermaid-cli
npm install -g @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli

# Generate PNG from .mmd file
mmdc -i diagram.mmd -o diagrams/output.png -t neutral -b transparent

# Generate SVG (sharper, scalable)
mmdc -i diagram.mmd -o diagrams/output.svg -t neutral

# With custom width
mmdc -i diagram.mmd -o diagrams/output.png -w 1200

Mermaid Themes

# Available themes: default, neutral, dark, forest
mmdc -i diagram.mmd -o output.png -t forest

Theme	Best For
default	General purpose, blue tones
neutral	Professional documents, grayscale-friendly
dark	Dark mode UIs, presentations
forest	Environmental/green themed projects

Mermaid in Project Planning Documents

Recommended usage in markdown documentation:

## System Architecture

The system follows a microservices architecture:

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    Client --> Gateway --> Services --> Database

API Sequence

sequenceDiagram
    Client->>API: Request
    API->>Service: Process
    Service-->>API: Response
    API-->>Client: Result

### When to Use Which

| Scenario | Recommendation |
|----------|----------------|
| Final deliverable PDFs | Nano Banana Pro AI |
| GitHub/GitLab docs | Mermaid (inline) |
| Architecture Decision Records | Mermaid |
| Client presentations | Nano Banana Pro AI |
| Sprint planning docs | Mermaid (Gantt charts) |
| Quick whiteboard-style | Mermaid |
| Complex custom visuals | Nano Banana Pro AI |
| Collaborative editing | Mermaid |

### Mermaid Resources

- **Live Editor**: https://mermaid.live
- **Documentation**: https://mermaid.js.org/
- **GitHub Rendering**: Native support in markdown files
- **VS Code Extension**: "Mermaid Markdown Syntax Highlighting"