mermaid.js.org

Mermaid is created by Knut Sveidqvist and maintained by a small team of developers listed on the project site, with contributions open to the wider community. If you want to report a bug, suggest a feature, or contribute code, the site points you to the community as the place to start. Note that the site now states "Mermaid.js now lives at mermaid.ai," so the project's home has moved.

Who maintains Mermaid

The site's team section lists the people behind the project by role:

Knut Sveidqvist is credited as the creator, and the developer list represents the ongoing maintainers. Several developers are also marked as sponsors, which indicates financial backing for their work on the project.

How to get involved

The site's contributors section invites you to "Join the community and get involved!" That is the entry point the project offers for participation. Based on the roles shown, involvement generally takes one of these forms:

• Using and sharing it — the site highlights that Mermaid is easy to use, has integrations available, and is award winning, so adoption and feedback are part of the ecosystem.
• Reporting issues and suggesting changes — useful if you hit a bug or want a feature, and a low-barrier way to contribute.
• Contributing code or documentation — the developer roster shows the project relies on a distributed team, so new contributors can join that group over time.
• Joining the community — the explicit call to action for anyone who wants to participate beyond casual use.

What to check before you start

• Confirm the current home. Since the page says Mermaid.js now lives at mermaid.ai, use that destination for up-to-date contribution guidance rather than assuming the old host is the active hub.
• Match your goal to a channel. A quick question, a bug report, and a code change usually go through different paths; the community entry point is where to find the right one.
• Look at the maintainer list first. If you want to know how active the project is or who reviews changes, the Creator and Developers list is the fastest signal.

If your goal is simply to understand who is responsible for Mermaid, the team list answers it directly. If your goal is to participate, start at the community link and work from there.

Start at mermaid.js.org, but note the site now points you to mermaid.ai — the official page states "Mermaid.js now lives at mermaid.ai." That means the current home for documentation, integrations, and getting-started material is mermaid.ai, while mermaid.js.org remains the domain many people still search for. Use mermaid.ai as your primary entry point, and treat any integration list there as the authoritative, up-to-date source.

What Mermaid is, in one line

Mermaid is a diagramming and charting tool that lets you "create diagrams and visualizations using text and code." Instead of dragging shapes, you write text-based syntax and Mermaid renders it as a diagram. The official site highlights four things about it: it's easy to use, integrations are available, it's award winning, and there's an active team and contributor community behind it.

Finding integrations

The site explicitly lists "Integrations available" as a feature, which signals Mermaid can be combined with other tools and platforms rather than used only standalone. To find the current options:

1. Go to mermaid.ai (the site's stated new home).
2. Look for the integrations section or documentation covering embedding and tool support.
3. Check the docs for how to render Mermaid in your own environment or documentation workflow.

Because the specific list of supported integrations can change, confirm the current set on the official site rather than relying on a secondhand list. The page evidence here confirms integrations exist as a category but does not enumerate them — so the official page is where you verify exact support.

Getting started

The path from "interested" to "using it" is short:

• Read the docs on mermaid.ai for syntax and rendering basics.
• Pick an integration that matches where you work (for example, a documentation pipeline or an editor that supports Mermaid).
• Write a diagram in text, then render it and adjust the syntax until the output matches your intent.
• Verify by checking the rendered result against your source text — if the diagram looks wrong, the fix is almost always in the text, not the tool.

Getting support and staying current

The site points to community and contributor channels:

• Meet the team — the project lists a creator, sponsors, and a long roster of developers.
• Contributors — the page invites you to "Join the community and get involved!"

If you hit a problem or want to know whether a specific tool is supported, the community and official docs are the right places to ask. The contributor list also tells you the project is actively maintained, which matters when you're deciding whether to build Mermaid into a longer-term workflow.

Quick decision guide

The one thing to keep straight: mermaid.js.org now directs you to mermaid.ai, so bookmark the latter for current documentation and integration details.

Mermaid turns a short block of text into a rendered diagram. You describe the diagram with a Markdown-like syntax, and a Mermaid renderer converts that text into a visual chart, so you never position boxes or draw arrows by hand. It fits situations where the diagram should live next to the content it explains — documentation, a README, a wiki page, or a web app — and where you want to edit and version the diagram like any other text file. Note that the project now points to a new home: the site states "Mermaid.js now lives at mermaid.ai."

The core mechanism: text in, diagram out

The workflow has three parts:

1. You write a diagram definition. A declaration line names the diagram type (for example flowchart, sequenceDiagram, or gantt), followed by lines describing nodes and the relationships between them.
2. A renderer parses that text. It reads the structure you declared and computes the layout — where shapes go, how lines route, how labels attach.
3. The result is drawn as a diagram. The output is a visualization, not an image you edited by hand. Change the text, and the picture changes on the next render.

Because the source is plain text, the diagram definition can sit in the same file or repository as the code and documentation it describes, and it moves through the same review and version-control process.

A concrete example

A flowchart definition looks roughly like this:

flowchart LR
    A[Write text] --> B[Renderer parses]
    B --> C[Diagram is drawn]

The first line sets the direction and diagram type. Each following line declares a node (A[Write text]) or a connection (-->). The renderer reads those relationships and produces a left-to-right flow. To add a step, you add a line; to reorder the flow, you change the arrows. No dragging, no alignment.

The same pattern applies across diagram types — a sequence diagram lists participants and messages, a Gantt chart lists tasks and durations. The syntax differs, but the principle is identical: structure in text, layout computed for you.

What this approach is good for

• Diagrams that change with the content. When the surrounding documentation is edited, the diagram definition is edited in the same place.
• Reviewable changes. A diagram update appears as a text diff, so a reviewer can see exactly what changed.
• Embedding. The site lists integrations as a feature, which is the point of a text format: it can be rendered inside tools you already use rather than exported as a static file.
• Low-friction editing. The site's own framing is "Easy to use" and "Create diagrams and visualizations using text and code" — the value is that describing a diagram takes less effort than drawing one.

Where it is less suitable

• Highly custom visual design. If you need precise control over styling, spacing, or a bespoke look, a computed layout works against you; a drawing tool gives you direct control.
• One-off, never-reused diagrams. If a diagram will not be edited or embedded, the text approach adds little over drawing it once.
• Diagrams whose meaning is spatial rather than relational. When the exact position of elements carries meaning, automatic layout can obscure it.

How to decide

Choose Mermaid when the diagram is documentation — something that should be edited, reviewed, and kept in sync with text. Choose a manual drawing tool when the diagram is a design artifact where appearance and exact placement are the point. The deciding question is whether you want to maintain the diagram as text or as a picture.

The project's page lists a creator, a set of developers, and a contributors section with an invitation to "Join the community and get involved," so the tool is community-developed and open to contribution. For current syntax details and supported diagram types, the authoritative reference is the project's own documentation.

Mermaid is a diagramming and charting tool that lets you create diagrams and visualizations using text and code instead of dragging shapes around a canvas. You write a short, readable syntax, and Mermaid renders it into a diagram. It suits developers, technical writers, and anyone who wants diagrams that live in plain text, version-control cleanly, and update by editing a few lines. Note that the project's site now points to a new home: "Mermaid.js now lives at mermaid.ai."

How Mermaid works

The core idea is text-to-diagram. You describe the structure you want, and the renderer handles layout, arrows, and styling.

• Input: a text definition in Mermaid syntax (for example, a flowchart or sequence diagram).
• Action: a Mermaid renderer parses that text and draws the diagram.
• Result: a visual diagram you can embed in docs, READMEs, or web pages.

Because the source is text, changes are diffs rather than manual repositioning, which makes diagrams easier to review and maintain alongside code.

What you can create

Mermaid covers the diagram types most teams need for documentation and planning, including flowcharts and sequence diagrams. The site frames the tool around three qualities: it is easy to use, has integrations available, and is award winning. The exact catalog of diagram types is best confirmed on the current site, since the project has moved to mermaid.ai.

Who it's for

• Developers who want diagrams in the same repo as their code.
• Technical documentation authors who need diagrams that stay in sync with written content.
• Teams that prefer reviewing diagram changes as text rather than as binary image files.

Getting started and getting involved

The site provides usage documentation, integration options, and community entry points. It also lists the people behind the project, including creator Knut Sveidqvist and a set of developers and sponsors, plus a contributors section. If you want to go further than using Mermaid, the community invites you to "Join the community and get involved!"

Key takeaway

Mermaid turns diagramming into a text-and-code task: write simple syntax, get a rendered diagram, and keep it maintainable. Start with the documentation and integrations on the current site, and check mermaid.ai for the latest home of the project.