Sequence diagrams

A sequence diagram is an interaction diagram that shows how processes operate with one another and in what order.

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Basic example

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Participants

Participants can be defined explicitly to control their order of appearance:

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Actors

Use actor symbols instead of rectangles:

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Participant types

You can specify different participant types using JSON configuration:

Available participant types

• boundary - Boundary symbol
• control - Control symbol
• entity - Entity symbol
• database - Database symbol
• collections - Collections symbol
• queue - Queue symbol

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Aliases

Define aliases for convenient identifiers: You can also define aliases inline:

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Messages

Messages can be displayed with solid or dotted lines and various arrow types:

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Arrow types

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Bidirectional arrows (v11.0.0+)

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Activations

Activate and deactivate actors: Shortcut notation: Activations can be stacked:

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Notes

Add notes to your diagram: Notes spanning two participants:

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Loops

Express loops in a sequence diagram:

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Alt (alternative paths)

Express alternative paths:

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Parallel

Show actions happening in parallel:

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Critical region

Show actions that must happen automatically:

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Break

Indicate a stop in the sequence flow:

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Background highlighting

Highlight flows with colored backgrounds:

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Grouping with boxes

Group actors in colored boxes:

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Sequence numbers

Add sequence numbers to arrows:

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Actor menus

Add popup menus with links to actors:

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Comments

Add comments with %%:

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Entity codes

Escape special characters: