# Create diagrams in Confluence Diagrams turn abstract processes into something the whole team can see. Learn how to create them in Confluence — and the apps that make it effortless. > Learn how to create diagrams in Confluence — flowcharts, sequence, ER, Gantt and freehand whiteboards. See the apps that render them live inside your pages. ## Why this matters in Confluence Teams that keep their processes, architectures, and decisions in diagrams onboard faster, argue less, and avoid the "what did we actually agree?" meeting. Confluence is where that knowledge lives — but its built-in editor cannot draw. The result is that most teams resort to pasting screenshots of diagrams from external tools, which decay the moment anything changes and break the moment someone needs to update them. ### Text is the wrong shape for structure A 3-level approval flow or a system architecture loses meaning as a bulleted list. Readers have to reconstruct the relationships in their heads, and two people will reconstruct them differently. A diagram shows the structure at a glance — nodes, edges, and direction — which is why it becomes the canonical reference the team points to in every discussion. ### External tools go stale The most common diagram workflow in Confluence is: draw it in Visio, Lucid, or draw.io, export a PNG, paste it onto the page. That PNG rots the moment a single box changes. Six months later no one is sure whether the picture or the text is right, so the diagram gets quietly ignored. A diagram that lives inside the page — and is re-editable in place — stays honest because updating it is one click, not a re-export cycle. ### Native Confluence cannot draw Out of the box, Confluence has no diagramming. There is no flowchart builder, no sequence diagram renderer, no ER tool. Teams improvise with embedded images, third-party whiteboard links, or ASCII art, all of which break search indexing, PDF export, page permissions, and accessibility. A diagramming macro solves all four because the output is native page content. ### Search, export, and permissions matter A diagram stored as a PNG is invisible to Confluence search — the text inside it is not indexed. An external whiteboard link does not respect page permissions, so confidential architecture diagrams leak to anyone with the URL. Diagrams rendered as native content are indexed, exported to PDF and Word, and governed by the same permissions as the rest of the page. ### Different audiences need different diagram styles Engineering teams want precise, text-based diagrams they can diff in version control. Product and design teams want freehand canvases they can sketch on during a call. A good diagramming setup offers both, because forcing one style on the other audience produces diagrams nobody maintains. ## The approach that works The approach is the same whichever tool you choose: pick the right diagram type for the question being asked, decide between precise text-based and exploratory freehand, keep the diagram inside the page so it does not rot, and make sure the next person can edit it. The steps below walk through each decision. 1. **Match the diagram type to the question.** Flowcharts answer "what happens next?" — process, decision logic, and branching paths. Sequence diagrams answer "how do these components talk?" — request/response, timing, and ordering. ER diagrams answer "what data do we have and how is it related?" — tables, keys, and cardinality. Gantt charts answer "when does each piece happen?" — timelines and dependencies. Class and state diagrams answer "what are the entities and what states can they be in?". Choosing the wrong type forces the reader to extract the wrong information, so name the question first. 2. **Decide between text-based and freehand.** Text-based diagramming (Mermaid, Graphviz) means you write a few lines of code and the tool renders the layout. It is precise, version-controllable, reviewable in a pull request, and trivial to update — change one line and the whole diagram redraws. Freehand canvas diagramming (Excalidraw-style) means you drag boxes and draw arrows by hand. It is faster for brainstorming, early architecture sketches, and wireframes where the layout itself carries meaning. The rule of thumb: if the diagram will be maintained by engineers and reviewed in code, go text-based; if it will be drawn live in a meeting and refined by hand, go freehand. 3. **Keep the diagram inside the page.** A diagram embedded as a macro inside the Confluence page — not a screenshot, not an external link — is searchable, exportable, and respects page permissions. It also means the diagram and the prose that explains it live together, so they stay in sync. If the diagram lives in another tool, the page and the picture drift apart within weeks. 4. **Make it re-editable, not re-drawable.** The single biggest predictor of whether a diagram stays accurate is whether the next editor can modify the source or has to start over. If updating a flowchart means re-drawing it from scratch, nobody will, and the diagram becomes wrong. Choose a tool that preserves the source — Mermaid text, Excalidraw scene data, Graphviz DOT — so the next change is an edit, not a rewrite. 5. **Let an AI agent do the routine maintenance.** Even a perfectly re-editable diagram goes stale, because updating it still costs more attention than anyone spends on an old architecture board. An AI agent closes that gap: ask in Confluence chat for a diagram and it draws one on the page, ask it to rename, regroup, or relayout and it edits the existing shapes in place, and ask which pages in a space still hold outdated boards and it finds them for you. Convert between text and canvas formats too — Mermaid or PlantUML into an editable whiteboard, or a board back out to Mermaid when the diagram needs to live in version control. The agent checks the latest saved version before every write, so it never clobbers an edit a teammate made in the meantime, and anything it draws stays fully hand-editable. 6. **Use templates so nobody starts from blank.** Starting a diagram from an empty canvas is the slowest possible workflow. Good diagramming tools ship templates for every common type — a flowchart with decision branches, a sequence diagram with three actors, an ER diagram with two related tables. Start from the closest template, modify it, and ship. 7. **Standardize on a small palette.** Aim for at most three diagram types across a space so readers learn the visual vocabulary. A space that mixes flowcharts, BPMN, UML, and ad-hoc arrows in random colors becomes noise. Pick a primary type for process, one for data, and one for sketching, and apply them consistently. ## This solution is for you if… - Engineering and architecture teams documenting systems, data models, and component interactions - Product and operations teams explaining processes, decision flows, and approval chains - Designers sketching wireframes and user flows without leaving the wiki - Project managers laying out timelines, dependencies, and sprint scope - Anyone who needs flowcharts, ER models, sequence diagrams, or whiteboards inside Confluence ## Our apps that solve this - **[Mermaid Plus Diagrams & AI Agent for Confluence](/apps/mermaid-plus-for-confluence.md)** — Chat to create, read, update and convert Mermaid diagrams in Confluence — powered by a Rovo AI agent · [Install from Atlassian Marketplace](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1236814/mermaid-plus-diagrams-ai-agent-for-confluence?utm_source=ngpilot.com&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=scenario-diagrams-in-confluence) - **[Excalidraw Plus Whiteboards & AI Agent for Confluence](/apps/excalidraw-plus-for-confluence.md)** — Excalidraw whiteboards and Mermaid diagrams in Confluence, with a Rovo AI agent that draws and edits for you · [Install from Atlassian Marketplace](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1237651/excalidraw-plus-whiteboards-for-confluence?utm_source=ngpilot.com&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=scenario-diagrams-in-confluence) - **[Graphviz Charts for Confluence](/apps/graphviz-charts-for-confluence.md)** — Visualize Ideas Instantly: Secure, Customizable Graphviz Charts for Confluence with Blazing Speed & Full Data Control · [Install from Atlassian Marketplace](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1237380/graphviz-charts-for-confluence?utm_source=ngpilot.com&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=scenario-diagrams-in-confluence) - **[Markdown Mind Maps for Confluence](/apps/markdown-mind-maps-for-confluence.md)** — Turn Markdown into interactive mind maps in Confluence with live preview and dark mode · [Install from Atlassian Marketplace](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/588881414?utm_source=ngpilot.com&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=scenario-diagrams-in-confluence) ## Read the guides - [Flowchart Syntax for Confluence: Mermaid & DOT](/blog/create-flowcharts-confluence.md) - [Sequence Diagrams in Confluence (Mermaid)](/blog/how-to-create-sequence-diagrams-confluence.md) - [Create ER Diagrams in Confluence (Database Schemas)](/blog/how-to-create-er-diagrams-confluence.md) - [How to Create Gantt Charts in Confluence — Mermaid Examples](/blog/how-to-create-gantt-charts-confluence.md) - [Create Architecture Diagrams in Confluence (3 Ways)](/blog/how-to-create-architecture-diagrams-confluence.md) - [Does Confluence Support Mermaid? Setup Guide & Diagram Types](/blog/does-confluence-support-mermaid.md) - [Mermaid vs Excalidraw vs Graphviz for Confluence](/blog/confluence-diagram-tools-comparison.md) - [Mermaid AI Agent for Confluence: Draw in Chat](/blog/mermaid-ai-agent-confluence.md) - [Excalidraw AI Agent for Confluence (Chat Whiteboard)](/blog/excalidraw-ai-agent-confluence.md) ## Frequently asked questions ### Does Confluence support diagrams natively? No. Confluence has no built-in diagramming — there is no flowchart builder, no sequence diagram renderer, and no ER tool. To render diagrams inside pages you install a Marketplace app. Once installed, any user can insert a diagram by typing the macro shortcut (for example /mermaid) in the editor. ### Should I use a text-based or a freehand diagram tool? It depends on who maintains the diagram. Text-based tools (Mermaid, Graphviz) are precise, version-controllable, and trivial to update by editing one line of source — ideal for engineering content that is reviewed like code. Freehand canvases (Excalidraw-style) are faster for brainstorming, wireframes, and live sketching where the layout is exploratory. Many teams use both: text-based for canonical architecture and data models, freehand for working sessions. ### Can teammates see a diagram without installing anything? Yes. Once the app is installed on the site by an admin, every viewer sees the rendered diagram on the page — they do not need to install anything themselves. Only editing the diagram requires opening the macro, which any site user can do. ### Can I draw diagrams like draw.io or Lucid inside Confluence? Yes. Excalidraw-style freehand canvases give you a drag-and-drop drawing experience inside the page, with 220+ shape libraries for AWS, Azure, network, and UI kits. Unlike draw.io or Lucid, the drawing is saved as native Confluence content, so it is searchable, exportable, and respects page permissions — no external account or link. ### Do the diagrams work in PDF and Word exports? Yes, as long as the diagram is rendered as native page content (not a screenshot). Diagrams produced by Marketplace macros are converted to Confluence storage format, so they appear correctly in PDF, HTML, and Word exports just like any other page content. ### Can I import an existing Mermaid or Graphviz file? Yes. Text-based diagramming apps accept Mermaid and DOT syntax directly — paste your existing source and the diagram renders. Excalidraw apps can also import Mermaid syntax and convert it into an editable freehand drawing, so you can start from precise text and refine it by hand. ### Can an AI agent create and update Confluence diagrams? Yes. Mermaid Plus ships a Rovo agent that creates, reads, updates, and converts Mermaid diagrams from Confluence chat; Excalidraw Plus ships one that creates, reads, edits, styles, searches, and converts whiteboards. Both write the same native macro the editor does, so anything an agent produces stays fully hand-editable afterwards — and neither requires anyone to learn syntax to get a first draft. ## Ready to try it? All NGPILOT apps are free for up to 10 users and install in one click from the Atlassian Marketplace. Browse the [full app catalog](/apps.md) or read more [scenario solutions](/solutions.md).