Ask HN: What do you use to create diagrams?

Depends on the diagram. But a lot of times it's OpenOffice Draw[1]. I might also use Archi[2] or GraphViz[3] depending on what I'm trying to do. I've also dabbled with using Papyrus[4] but it hasn't yet become a routine part of my workflow. Maybe it should though...

[1]: https://www.openoffice.org/product/draw.html

[2]: https://www.archimatetool.com/

[3]: https://graphviz.org

[4]: https://eclipse.dev/papyrus/

I’ve used terrastruct a lot over the past few years. It’s really nice to write your diagrams with code.

Lucidchart has worked well for me in the past, with built in AWS icon packs.

99% sure this is not what you're asking for, but I think it's worth mentioning monodraw: https://monodraw.helftone.com

It's really useful for embedding diagrams in your code. Not so much for uses outside of code though.

Graphviz! The syntax is kind of absurd, but it produces some beautiful results and can be version controlled.

    ```dot
    digraph { a -> b }
    ```

draw.io

Powerpoint

I've had a great experience using Excalidraw, which is also open source:

https://excalidraw.com/

https://github.com/excalidraw/excalidraw

FigJam by Figma

Occasionally it can be hard to wrestle with but my go-to is PlantUML, which has a simple syntax and for better or for worse doesn't support many formatting options, so I can't get distracted tweaking the specifics of the layout

tldraw.com

Semi, aside, but I'm desperate for a better way to make math diagrams (WYSIWYG style, not TeX). I asked about this a while ago and nothing is really doing it for me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351370. Although since then I have heard about https://penrose.cs.cmu.edu/ as well. Right now I use Excalidraw because there's a fork (never landed... ugh) which supports TeX in labels. But its actual drawing tools are quite limited, not to mention janky. There are some other options not mentioned in that thread which I've found in since then, but I still haven't seen anything satisfactory.

If you made math stuff easy to draw I'd use your tool in a heartbeat. Unfortunately there's probably not a large market for that sort of thing.

For work especially if it's for a large audience I use Visio or GraphViz. For my own consumption (and a couple co-workers) I really prefer mermaidjs, especially just to have it embedded in markdown files.

None of the visual diagramming tools pass muster for me. They are all too fiddly and trying to use them requires a lot of yak-shaving to get the layout acceptable.

The diagrams I draw are all done with something like graphviz, plantuml, mermaid, Structurizr, or d2.

Very rarely I'll use excalidraw to throw together a one-off.

It depends on the use. If it is simple enough, mermaid diagrams have several advantages, like easy to understand versioning, and integration with many note taking programs.

miro

MermaidJS

excalidraw as already mentioned above

I use Mermaid.js - either through Notion or via an Mkdocs static site.

Increasingly, I'm describing my diagrams to an LLM and letting _it_ generate the Mermaid.

I find Miro the least vexing to use, but they are all pretty limited.

plantuml, it's hard to beat diagrams as code

Well I make https://gojs.net, so I just use the GoJS diagramming library to make diagrams :D

Of course, its made for developers trying to make applications, not end users.

Also, https://draw.io/

I use http://multiplayer.app/

It connects to your system using OpenTelemetry and it lets you automatically document all the components, dependencies, APIs, etc. I prefer it to static, drag and drop whiteboards because I get immediate visibility without having to waste time moving boxes and arrows.

(Of course you can still create sketches if you want, but the real value is in getting the information you need immediately)