Editors

Six surfaces, each suited to different work. This section covers driving each one; the choice between them is in Diagram types.

#The surfaces

The Excalidraw editor inside the diagram macro showing a wireframe made of header, image, title, text and footer blocks, a style panel on the left and a library panel of shapes on the right. — Excalidraw is the sketching surface, with its own styling controls on the left and a shape library docked on the right.

Editor	Suited to
draw.io	Precise drawing: architecture, network maps, floor plans.
Excalidraw	Rough sketching where a provisional look is the point.
Text editor	Mermaid, PlantUML, Graphviz and the rest, written as source.
Mermaid visual editor	Mermaid, edited by clicking rather than typing.
BPMN	Business processes, validated against the standard.
DMN	Decision tables and rules.

#Everything in this section

Choose an editorA decision tree for picking the right editing surface, and what each one costs you.How diagrams are savedWhat a save actually writes, why there are two records, and what that means when things go wrong.draw.io editorThe full drawing surface: shape libraries, connectors that stay attached, layers and precise placement.Excalidraw editorFast, deliberately rough sketching for workshops, RFCs and anything still up for debate.BPMN editorModel business processes in proper BPMN 2.0, validated against the standard rather than drawn to look like it.DMN editorDecision tables and rules in DMN, so business logic stays checkable instead of turning into prose.Text editorWrite diagrams as source in Mermaid, PlantUML, Graphviz and the rest, with live preview.Mermaid visual editorBuild Mermaid diagrams by clicking rather than typing, with real Mermaid source underneath.

Choose an editor

A decision table if you are unsure.

Diagram types

Which notation for which job.

Examples

Working diagrams per editor.

Six surfaces, one place they all live.