Diagram editor that exports to Mermaid
Built for Technical writers and engineers who want to create diagrams in a GUI but output to version-control-friendly Mermaid format..
“[declined by jgraph/drawio: closed as not planned] Would love to be able to graphically draw and then export to mermaid. https://mermaidjs.github.io/ Versio…”
The receipts — real demand
“[declined by jgraph/drawio: closed as not planned] Would love to be able to graphically draw and then export to mermaid. https://mermaidjs.github.io/ Version 3 of the functionality would restrict my drawing abilities so that during drawing I can always be assured the result would export to mermaid.”
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Why this is a gap
Surfaced from a high-intensity complaint with clear willingness to pay and a specific, reachable audience.
The market
Technical writers and engineers want GUI diagram creation with version-control output. No search volume, but the pain (jgraph declined the feature) shows demand exists and is unmet by the market leader.
Competition & the opening
Draw.io, Lucidchart, Miro dominate GUI diagramming but export to Mermaid is low priority or absent. The gap is an export format: Mermaid output that preserves structure enough to be edit-friendly in git.
What's hard to build
Draw.io, Lucidchart, and Miro all use proprietary data models optimized for visual fidelity, not text output. Reverse-engineering Mermaid export from their internal representations is lossy and fragile; every shape type, connector, and style must map correctly. Feasibility 8/10 is high because Mermaid is simple, but competing against entrenched GUI tools with better UX is the real barrier.
Why now
Mermaid adoption is growing for docs-as-code but no visual editor bridges the gap between drawing and markdown syntax.
How you'd monetize
$19/mo SaaS or one-time $79 desktop app