Mermaid Render

Render Mermaid diagrams to SVG/PNG/PDF. Supports standard Mermaid output as well as hand-drawn (sketch) style via svg2roughjs — identical to Mermaid Live Editor's hand-drawn mode.

By default, hand-drawn style is enabled. Use --no-handdrawn for standard Mermaid output.

When to Use This Skill

1. User asks to "render", "visualize", or "generate" a Mermaid diagram
2. User provides .mmd files or Mermaid code blocks and needs output images
3. User wants to "create a flowchart/sequence/state/class/ER diagram"
4. User needs to extract and render diagrams from a Markdown document
5. User wants to "batch process" a directory of .mmd files
6. User mentions "hand-drawn", "sketch", or "rough" style — keep default or add --pencil-filter
7. User wants clean/standard Mermaid output (no hand-drawn) — use --no-handdrawn

⚠️ Path Resolution (Important)

All scripts are located in the same directory as this SKILL.md. Before running any script, you must determine the actual path of this file and derive the script directory from it.

Rule: Replace every $SKILL_DIR placeholder in this document with the absolute path of the directory containing this SKILL.md file.

Example: if this file is at /path/to/mermaid-render/SKILL.md, then $SKILL_DIR = /path/to/mermaid-render.

SKILL_DIR="<absolute path to the directory containing this SKILL.md>"

Quick Start

Standard Mermaid output (no hand-drawn)

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.svg \
  --no-handdrawn

Hand-drawn style (default)

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.svg

Output as PNG (high resolution)

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.png \
  --scale 2

Output as PDF

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.pdf \
  --pdf-fit

Extract and render from Markdown

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input document.md \
  --output ./output-dir

Batch render

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/batch.mjs" \
  --input-dir ./diagrams \
  --output-dir ./output

Workflow

Step 1: What does the user want?

• Render existing Mermaid code → Save as .mmd file, use render.mjs
• Extract diagrams from Markdown → Pass .md file directly
• Create a new diagram → Refer to templates in $SKILL_DIR/assets/example_diagrams/
• Batch process → Use batch.mjs

Step 2: Choose output style

• Default (hand-drawn) — sketch/rough style via svg2roughjs, same as Mermaid Live Editor
• --no-handdrawn — clean standard Mermaid output, no sketch effect

Step 3: Choose output format

• svg — Vector, ideal for web and docs (default)
• png — Bitmap, ideal for embedding and sharing (use --scale for resolution)
• pdf — Ideal for printing (use --pdf-fit for auto-sizing)

Step 4: Choose theme

• default — Mermaid default theme
• neutral — Neutral tones, good for documentation
• dark — Dark theme
• forest — Green theme

Step 5: Render

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" -i input.mmd -o output.svg --theme neutral

Options

render.mjs

batch.mjs

Examples

Flowchart — standard style

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input "$SKILL_DIR/assets/example_diagrams/flowchart.mmd" \
  --output flowchart.svg \
  --no-handdrawn

Flowchart — hand-drawn style

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input "$SKILL_DIR/assets/example_diagrams/flowchart.mmd" \
  --output flowchart.svg

Sequence diagram (high-res PNG, neutral theme)

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input "$SKILL_DIR/assets/example_diagrams/sequence.mmd" \
  --output sequence.png \
  --scale 2 --theme neutral

State diagram (auto-fit PDF)

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input "$SKILL_DIR/assets/example_diagrams/state.mmd" \
  --output state.pdf \
  --pdf-fit --theme dark

Extract all diagrams from Markdown

# Single code block → single output file
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" -i doc.md -o diagram.svg

# Multiple code blocks → output to directory (auto-named doc-1.svg, doc-2.svg, ...)
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" -i doc.md -o ./output-dir

Custom Mermaid config

# config.json: { "theme": "neutral", "flowchart": { "curve": "basis" } }
node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.svg \
  --config config.json

Custom CSS

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.svg \
  --css custom.css

Icon packs

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.svg \
  --icon-packs @iconify-json/logos

Reproducible hand-drawn output (fixed seed)

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.svg \
  --seed 42 --no-randomize

Pencil filter effect

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" \
  --input diagram.mmd \
  --output diagram.svg \
  --pencil-filter

Creating diagrams from user requirements

Step 1: Identify diagram type

• Process / workflow → graph TD or flowchart LR
• API / interaction → sequenceDiagram
• State / lifecycle → stateDiagram-v2
• Object model → classDiagram
• Database → erDiagram
• Timeline → timeline
• Gantt / project → gantt
• Mind map → mindmap

Step 2: Create .mmd file Refer to templates in $SKILL_DIR/assets/example_diagrams/.

Step 3: Render and iterate

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/render.mjs" -i diagram.mmd -o preview.svg
# Edit diagram.mmd based on feedback, re-render

Features

Mermaid rendering

• All Mermaid diagram types supported (flowchart, sequence, state, class, ER, timeline, gantt, mindmap, etc.)
• Output SVG / PNG / PDF
• Markdown input support (auto-extracts mermaid code blocks)
• CJK (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) text auto-optimization
• Custom Mermaid config and CSS
• Icon pack support (Iconify)
• Custom themes: default, neutral, dark, forest

Hand-drawn style (default, disable with --no-handdrawn)

• Identical to Mermaid Live Editor hand-drawn mode (powered by svg2roughjs)
• Custom node colors (style directives) preserved
• Pencil filter effect
• Roughness and bowing controls
• Reproducible output via seed parameter

Dependencies

• Node.js 18+
• puppeteer, svg2roughjs, and @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli (all installed via npm install)

Troubleshooting

mmdc not found

❌ @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli not found

Fix: npm install

puppeteer install fails

Puppeteer needs to download Chromium. Ensure network access. Manual install:

cd "$SKILL_DIR" && npm install

Mermaid syntax errors

Validate syntax at https://mermaid.live/ before rendering.

File structure

scripts/

• render.mjs — Single-file renderer (SVG/PNG/PDF, Markdown input)
• batch.mjs — Batch renderer

assets/

• example_diagrams/flowchart.mmd — Flowchart template
• example_diagrams/sequence.mmd — Sequence diagram template
• example_diagrams/state.mmd — State diagram template