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Architecture diagrams are used to show the relationship between services and resources commonly found within Cloud or CI/CD deployments. Services (nodes) are connected by edges, and related services can be placed within groups to better illustrate how they are organized.
Architecture diagrams are available in Mermaid v11.1.0+. This is a beta feature and uses the architecture-beta keyword.

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Basic architecture diagram

This example shows a basic cloud API architecture with a database, storage, and server components:

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Syntax overview

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Building blocks

Architecture diagrams consist of four main building blocks:
  • Groups: Containers for related services
  • Services: Individual components or resources
  • Edges: Connections between services
  • Junctions: Special nodes for 4-way edge splits
All components use icons declared with (icon_name) and labels with [label text].

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Groups

Groups organize related services together: 
group {group_id}({icon_name})[{title}] (in {parent_id})?
Example:

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Services

Services represent individual components: 
service {service_id}({icon_name})[{title}] (in {parent_id})?
Example:

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Edge connections

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Edge direction

Specify which side of a service the edge connects to using L (left), R (right), T (top), or B (bottom):

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Arrows

Add directional arrows with < or >:

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Edges from groups

To create edges between groups, use the {group} modifier:

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Junctions

Junctions create 4-way splits for connecting multiple services:

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Icons

Architecture diagrams include these built-in icons:
  • cloud
  • database
  • disk
  • internet
  • server
You can use any of the 200,000+ icons from Iconify by registering an icon pack. After registration, use the format pack_name:icon_name:See the icon configuration guide for details on registering icon packs.

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Complete example

Here’s a more complex architecture diagram with nested groups and multiple connections:
Use groups to organize related services and make your architecture diagrams more readable. Groups can be nested within other groups for complex hierarchies.

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