Architecture diagrams and flowcharts
Create structured system maps and process flows, organize them by project, save checkpoints, and export them.
Diagrams turn a system or process into a shared visual model without making you manage a drawing tool outside Pencil. Use an architecture diagram for services, APIs, data stores, queues, and boundaries. Use a flowchart for decisions, handoffs, and operational processes.
Create a diagram
Open Build → Diagrams, select New diagram, and choose a starter template or blank canvas. A diagram can be workspace-wide or linked to one project. Project-linked diagrams also appear on that project's Diagrams tab and follow its customer access boundary.
The starter templates cover three-tier applications, event-driven services, CI/CD pipelines, basic flows, and incident response. Templates create ordinary nodes and connections, so every part remains editable.
Build the graph
Click or drag a node from the left palette onto the canvas. Drag from a node handle to another node to connect them. Select an item to edit its label, description, color, routing, direction, protocol, or line style in the inspector.
Useful editor actions include:
- Shift-click or drag on empty canvas to select multiple nodes.
- Group selected nodes inside a movable system boundary.
- Use Auto-arrange for a left-to-right or top-to-bottom layout.
- Copy, paste, duplicate, delete, undo, and redo with the familiar keyboard shortcuts.
- Pan with the middle or right mouse button and use Fit view to bring the full graph back into frame.
Pencil saves structural changes automatically. Node movement is committed when a drag ends, keeping the canvas responsive without flooding the server with intermediate positions.
Protect an important state
Open Version history and create a named checkpoint before a large change. Restoring a checkpoint creates a new history entry instead of rewriting the old one, so the audit trail remains intact.
Archive diagrams you no longer need in the active library. Deleting an archived diagram is recoverable by a workspace administrator from the Deleted view.
Export and share
Use Export in the editor for:
- PNG for presentations and chat.
- SVG for scalable documentation.
- JSON for a lossless backup of nodes, connections, and layout.
Exports omit editor controls and selection chrome. Public links and anonymous access are not part of the first release; workspace and project permissions continue to protect the diagram.
Editing permissions
Viewers can open, inspect, and export diagrams. Members can create and edit them. The creator or a workspace administrator can archive and delete a diagram, while administrators can recover deleted diagrams. On narrow screens Pencil uses a view-first mode so the graph remains safe to inspect without accidental structural edits.