Generate beautiful architecture, technical workflow, sequence, data-flow, and lifecycle diagrams in chat. Switch dark / light. Copy to clipboard or export crisp 4× PNG / JPEG / WebP / SVG.
Archify is a Claude Skill that turns a plain-English description of your system or process into a polished, self-contained technical diagram — a single HTML file you can open, toggle themes on, copy to the clipboard, and export at maximum resolution.
- No design skills needed — describe your architecture in English, get a diagram
- Workflow, sequence, data-flow, and lifecycle diagrams too — technical flows, approvals, tool calls, CI/CD, runbooks, request call chains, data pipelines, PII boundaries, and state machines can be drawn
- Built-in theme toggle — one click between dark and light, persists across sessions
- Copy PNG to clipboard — one click, paste straight into Slack / Notion / GitHub
- Ultra-crisp image export — PNG / JPEG / WebP rendered natively at 4× source resolution (no upsampling blur), or SVG for true vector
- SVG follows system dark/light — exported SVGs ship with both variable sets +
@media (prefers-color-scheme), so dropping one into a GitHub README makes it follow the reader's color preference (no more two PNGs wrapped in<picture>) - Self-contained HTML — zero dependencies, share by sending the file
- Iterate by chat — "add Redis", "move auth to the left", "use emerald for the API"
Same diagram, two themes, one click to switch:
| Dark | Light |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The Export menu — Copy PNG to clipboard plus 4 download formats (all raster exports at 4× source resolution):
Live example: examples/web-app.html — open in a browser, press T to toggle theme, E to open Export. Append ?theme=light or ?openExport=1 to the URL for deterministic screenshots.
Archify now has five primary outputs:
| Type | Good for | How to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | System components, cloud resources, databases, caches, services, boundaries, security groups | Describe the system structure |
| Workflow | Request lifecycles, approval flows, tool calls, CI/CD, runbooks, incident response | Describe participants, step order, and key branches |
| Sequence | API call chains, request lifecycles, cache fallback, auth checks, async trace, service interactions | Describe who calls whom, in what order, and what returns |
| Data Flow | Data pipelines, ETL/ELT, analytics events, PII isolation, warehouse sync, lineage, downstream consumers | Describe sources, processing stages, storage, sensitivity boundaries, and consumers |
| Lifecycle | State machines, order/task/deployment/agent-run lifecycles, wait states, retries, cancellation, timeout, terminal states | Describe states, transition events, retry paths, and terminal outcomes |
Workflow is not trying to replace every general-purpose flowchart. It is a technical communication diagram: swimlanes, semantic colors, a clear happy path, and secondary async / approval / trace paths.
Use archify to draw a workflow:
User submits a request -> Agent plans -> Approval Gate if needed -> Tool Call -> Trace Log -> Final Reply
Open the example here: examples/workflow-agent-tool-call-rendered.html.
Sequence diagrams explain a narrower interaction over time:
Use archify to draw a sequence diagram:
User opens a page, the frontend calls the API, the API verifies JWT, reads Redis, falls back to Postgres on cache miss, returns JSON, and emits trace.
Open the example here: examples/sequence-cache-miss-request.html.
Data Flow diagrams explain how data assets move and change:
Use archify to draw a data flow:
Web and Mobile emit analytics events, Edge API collects them, Consent Gate filters PII, Kafka carries accepted events,
Warehouse stores analytics tables, Feature Store derives daily features, Dashboards and an ML Model consume downstream data.
Open the example here: examples/dataflow-product-analytics.html.
Lifecycle diagrams explain how an object changes state:
Use archify to draw a lifecycle diagram:
Agent Run starts at Queued, moves through Planning, Executing, and Reviewing. It can pause at Needs Approval,
wait at Blocked, retry after Failed, end at Cancelled or Expired, or finish at Completed.
Open the example here: examples/lifecycle-agent-run.html.
Archify is based on Cocoon-AI/architecture-diagram-generator v1.0 (dark-only, HTML output). 2.0 rewrote the template around a themeable CSS-variable system and added a client-side export pipeline. 2.1 added copy-to-clipboard + keyboard nav. 2.2 added a print stylesheet + local-font fallback. 2.3 fixed a long-standing upsampling bug and made every raster export genuinely sharp at 4× source resolution (the 1× / 2× / 4× selector introduced in 2.1 was removed at the same time — it only encouraged picking a soft-looking scale). 2.4 upgraded the SVG export to a dual-theme self-contained file — drop the same .svg into a GitHub README and it follows the reader's dark/light preference automatically.
| Feature | v1.0 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark theme | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Light theme | — | Toggle | Toggle | Toggle | Toggle + T shortcut | Same |
| PNG / JPEG / WebP download | manual screenshot | 2× bitmap-upsampled | 1× / 2× / 4× selector (still upsampled) | same | 4× rasterized natively — no blur | Same |
| SVG download | — | Vector, styles inlined (single theme) | Same | Same | Same | Dual-theme self-contained (@media prefers-color-scheme) |
| Copy PNG to clipboard | — | — | Yes | Same | Yes (always 4×) | Same |
| Keyboard shortcuts | — | — | T / E + menu nav | Same | Same | Same |
| Accessibility | — | — | ARIA + focus-visible | Same | Same | Same |
| Print stylesheet | — | — | — | Yes | Yes (+ landscape + 2-col cards) | Same |
| Local-font fallback on export | — | — | — | Yes | Yes | Same |
| Styling model | Inline fill / stroke |
CSS custom properties + semantic classes | Same | Same | Same | Same |
Requires Claude Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise plan (or Claude Code).
Claude.ai:
- Download
archify.zip - Go to Settings -> Capabilities -> Skills
- Click + Add and upload the zip file
- Toggle the skill on
Claude Code CLI:
# Global (all projects)
unzip archify.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/
# Or project-local
unzip archify.zip -d ./.claude/skills/Claude.ai Projects (alternative):
Upload archify.zip to your Project Knowledge.
Any of these work:
Have AI analyze your codebase:
Analyze this codebase and describe the architecture. Include all major
components, how they connect, what technologies they use, and any cloud
services or integrations. Format as a list for an architecture diagram.
Write it yourself:
- React frontend talking to a Node.js API
- PostgreSQL database
- Redis for caching
- Hosted on AWS with CloudFront CDN
Or ask for a typical architecture:
What's a typical architecture for a SaaS application?
Use your archify skill to create an architecture diagram from this description:
[PASTE YOUR ARCHITECTURE DESCRIPTION HERE]
That's it. Claude generates an HTML file you can open in any browser. Iterate by chat: "add Redis", "swap Postgres for MySQL", "highlight the auth path".
Open the generated HTML in any browser. Top-right you'll see two buttons:
- Theme button (Dark / Light) — one click flip, persisted across sessions. Shortcut: T.
- Export menu — opens a dropdown with five actions (Copy PNG + download PNG / JPEG / WebP / SVG). Shortcut: E.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Copy PNG | Puts a PNG of the current diagram straight on your clipboard. Paste into Slack, Notion, GitHub, Figma. |
| Download PNG / JPEG / WebP | Saves a raster image. JPEG/WebP are painted over the current theme's background (no alpha); PNG keeps transparency. |
| Download SVG | Vector export with all styles inlined, dual-theme self-contained. The file ships with both dark and light CSS variable sets plus a @media (prefers-color-scheme) rule — drop the same .svg into a GitHub README or blog and it follows the reader's preference automatically. Still editable in Figma / Illustrator. Scales losslessly. |
Every raster export (Copy PNG, Download PNG/JPEG/WebP) is rendered natively by the browser at 4× the diagram's intrinsic resolution — the serialized SVG is given a width/height of 4 × viewBox, rasterized by the browser at that resolution, and drawn to the canvas at natural size (no upsampling). This produces genuinely crisp output for retina displays, slides, and print. There is no scale dial — maximum sharpness is the default and the only option.
- T anywhere — toggle theme
- E anywhere — open the Export menu
- ↑ ↓ inside the menu — navigate actions
- Home / End — jump to first / last action
- Enter / Space — activate
- Esc — close menu
?theme=lightor?theme=dark— force a starting theme (deterministic screenshots, share links, embeds)?openExport=1— auto-open the Export menu on load (demo / docs screenshots)
- WebP support depends on your browser's canvas encoder. If unavailable (older Safari), the menu item is dimmed and disabled. PNG and JPEG are universal.
- Clipboard support for images requires
ClipboardItem+navigator.clipboard.write(Chromium, Firefox 127+, Safari 16+). If unavailable, Copy PNG is dimmed. - Fonts in exports: raster images use the system monospace fallback (
ui-monospace/ Menlo / Consolas) because the sandboxed image-rendering context can't fetch Google Fonts. Install JetBrains Mono locally for pixel-perfect rendering.
Web app:
Create an architecture diagram for a web application with:
- React frontend
- Node.js/Express API
- PostgreSQL database
- Redis cache
- JWT authentication
AWS serverless:
Create an architecture diagram showing:
- CloudFront CDN
- API Gateway
- Lambda functions (Node.js)
- DynamoDB
- S3 for static assets
- Cognito for auth
Microservices:
Create an architecture diagram for a microservices system with:
- React web app and mobile clients
- Kong API Gateway
- User Service (Go), Order Service (Java), Product Service (Python)
- PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch databases
- Kafka for event streaming
- Kubernetes orchestration
Data flow / product analytics:
Use archify to draw a data flow:
- Web App and Mobile SDK produce clickstream events
- Edge API collects events
- Consent Gate filters identity and PII
- Kafka/Event Stream carries accepted events
- Warehouse stores normalized facts
- Feature Store derives daily feature vectors
- Dashboards and ML Model consume downstream data
State machine / lifecycle:
Use archify to draw a lifecycle diagram:
- A task starts at Queued
- Planning builds the plan
- Executing calls tools
- Reviewing checks quality
- Needs Approval and Blocked are wait states
- Failed can retry, while Cancelled / Expired / Completed are terminal states
| Component Type | Color | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend | Cyan | Client apps, UI, edge devices |
| Backend | Emerald | Servers, APIs, services |
| Database | Violet | Databases, storage, AI/ML |
| Cloud / AWS | Amber | Cloud services, infrastructure |
| Security | Rose | Auth, security groups, encryption |
| Message Bus | Orange | Kafka, RabbitMQ, SNS, event buses |
| External | Slate | Generic, external systems |
Each color has coordinated dark-mode and light-mode variants that switch together via the theme toggle.
- Styling: CSS custom properties on
:root+[data-theme="light"]; SVG elements reference semantic classes (c-frontend,t-muted,a-emphasis, etc.). Togglingdata-themeon<html>re-themes the entire diagram including gradient, grid, arrows, and mask rects. - Export pipeline: The SVG is cloned, host
<style>is inlined, and current theme variables are resolved and written into a:rootrule on the clone. For raster formats the clone'swidth/heightare set to4 × viewBoxso the browser rasterizes the vectors at target resolution natively; the canvas is sized to match and the image is drawn at natural size (no bitmap upsampling).toBlob(mime)then produces the file. JPEG gets an explicit background fill since it has no alpha. If the target resolution would exceed the browser's canvas limits, the pipeline automatically falls back to 3× or 2× so the export still succeeds. - Self-contained output: Single HTML file, Google Fonts link + inline SVG + ~3 KB of embedded JS. No build step, no JS framework, no server.
- Browser support: Any modern browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge). Needs
Image+canvas.toBlobwithimage/webpsupport for WebP export.
Archify is a fork / rewrite of Cocoon-AI/architecture-diagram-generator (MIT, v1.0) by Cocoon AI. The original's clean visual design — color palette, grid background, summary-card layout, JetBrains Mono typography — is preserved. All credit for the original aesthetic belongs to them.
Archify 2.x contributes:
- Refactor of the template to a CSS-variable theme system (dark + light)
- Theme toggle +
localStoragepersistence +prefers-color-schemedefault - Built-in PNG / JPEG / WebP / SVG export menu + copy to clipboard
- 4× native rasterization (fixes upsampling blur)
- Dual-theme self-contained SVG export (single file follows the host's
prefers-color-scheme) - Keyboard navigation + accessibility semantics
- Print stylesheet + local-font fallback
- Updated
SKILL.mdto guide Claude toward class-based (themeable) diagrams
Both projects are MIT-licensed.
MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute.
Issues, PRs, and shared diagrams welcome.