technical-svg-diagrams

name	technical-svg-diagrams
description	Generate clean, minimal technical SVG diagrams in a consistent Cloudflare-inspired style. Use when creating architecture diagrams, flow diagrams, or component diagrams for blog posts and documentation.

Generate technical SVG diagrams with consistent styling for blog posts and documentation. All diagrams use a unified visual language: grid backgrounds, monospace fonts, muted colors with semantic accents, and clean geometric shapes.

<quick_start>

1. Identify diagram type needed (architecture, flow, or component)
2. Read references/svg-patterns.md for templates and color palette
3. Generate SVG using the established patterns
4. Save to target directory with descriptive filename </quick_start>

<design_system>

Color Palette

Purpose	Color	Hex
Background	Light gray	#fafafa
Grid lines	Subtle gray	#e5e5e5
Primary text	Dark gray	#333
Secondary text	Medium gray	#666
Muted text	Light gray	#999
Borders/arrows	Gray	#ccc
Success/positive	Green	#27ae60
Error/negative	Red	#e74c3c
Primary accent	Blue	#3498db
Warning/sandbox	Orange	#f39c12
Process step	Purple	#9b59b6

Typography

• Font family: monospace for all text
• Title: 14px bold, #333
• Subtitle/tag: 12px, #888, in brackets [ LIKE_THIS ]
• Labels: 10-11px, color matches element
• Notes: 7-8px, #999

Common Elements

Grid background:

<pattern id="grid" width="20" height="20" patternUnits="userSpaceOnUse">
  <path d="M 20 0 L 0 0 0 20" fill="none" stroke="#e5e5e5" stroke-width="0.5"/>
</pattern>

Arrow marker:

<marker id="arrow" markerWidth="10" markerHeight="10" refX="9" refY="3" orient="auto">
  <path d="M0,0 L0,6 L9,3 z" fill="#ccc"/>
</marker>

Node (circle with inner dot):

<circle cx="X" cy="Y" r="35" fill="none" stroke="#ccc" stroke-width="2"/>
<circle cx="X" cy="Y" r="18" fill="#COLOR"/>

Box container:

<rect x="X" y="Y" width="W" height="H" fill="none" stroke="#ccc" stroke-width="2"/>

Dashed container (sandbox/isolation):

<rect x="X" y="Y" width="W" height="H" fill="none" stroke="#f39c12" stroke-width="2" stroke-dasharray="5,3"/>

Label box:

<rect x="X" y="Y" width="W" height="H" fill="none" stroke="#ccc" stroke-width="1"/>
<text x="CX" y="CY" font-family="monospace" font-size="11" fill="#666" text-anchor="middle">LABEL_NAME</text>

</design_system>

<diagram_types>

Architecture Diagrams

Horizontal left-to-right flow showing system components.

Use for: Before/after comparisons, system overviews, data flow

Structure:

• Title + tag at top left
• Components flow left to right
• Arrows connect components
• Bottom note summarizes key point

Dimensions: 800x350 to 800x400

Flow Diagrams

Vertical top-to-bottom showing process steps.

Use for: Execution flows, request lifecycles, step-by-step processes

Structure:

• Title + tag at top
• Dashed vertical guide line
• Steps connected by arrows with polygon heads
• Decision diamonds for branching
• Ellipses for start/end states

Dimensions: 600x700 (adjust height for steps)

Component Diagrams

Focused view of a single component's internals.

Use for: Showing internal structure, nested elements, detailed breakdowns

Structure:

• Outer container box
• Inner elements with semantic colors
• Labels above or below containers </diagram_types>

## Creating a Diagram

1. Determine type and dimensions

   • Architecture: 800x350-400, horizontal
   • Flow: 600x700+, vertical
   • Component: varies by content

2. Set up SVG structure

   <svg viewBox="0 0 WIDTH HEIGHT" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
     <defs>
       <!-- Grid pattern -->
       <!-- Arrow markers as needed -->
     </defs>
   
     <!-- Background -->
     <rect width="WIDTH" height="HEIGHT" fill="#fafafa"/>
     <rect width="WIDTH" height="HEIGHT" fill="url(#grid)"/>
   
     <!-- Title -->
     <text x="40" y="40" font-family="monospace" font-size="14" fill="#333" font-weight="bold">TITLE</text>
     <text x="X" y="40" font-family="monospace" font-size="12" fill="#888">[ TAG ]</text>
   
     <!-- Content -->
   
     <!-- Bottom note -->
     <text x="CENTER" y="BOTTOM" font-family="monospace" font-size="10" fill="#999" text-anchor="middle">summary note</text>
   </svg>
   

3. Add components using patterns from references/svg-patterns.md

4. Connect with arrows

   • Solid lines for primary flow
   • Dashed lines for secondary/return flow
   • Use opacity="0.5" for response arrows

5. Add labels

   • Component names in SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE
   • Action labels in lowercase_snake_case
   • Use text-anchor="middle" for centered text

6. Save with descriptive filename

   • diagram-before.svg, diagram-after.svg
   • diagram-flow.svg, diagram-architecture.svg

<success_criteria> Diagram is complete when:

• Uses consistent color palette
• All text is monospace
• Grid background applied
• Title with bracketed tag present
• Components properly connected with arrows
• Labels are clear and properly positioned
• Bottom summary note included
• SVG is valid and renders correctly </success_criteria>

<export_to_webp>

Convert SVG to WebP

After creating the SVG, convert to WebP for universal compatibility.

Using uv (cross-platform, recommended):

uvx --from cairosvg cairosvg diagram.svg -o diagram.png --output-width 1600
uvx --with pillow python -c "from PIL import Image; Image.open('diagram.png').save('diagram.webp', 'WEBP', lossless=True)"
rm diagram.png

Note: lossless=True is best for diagrams - smaller than lossy AND perfect quality.

Alternative tools (if available):

# ImageMagick
convert -background none -density 150 diagram.svg diagram.webp

# librsvg + cwebp
rsvg-convert -w 1600 diagram.svg -o diagram.png && cwebp diagram.png -o diagram.webp

Platform notes:

• macOS: brew install cairo if cairosvg fails
• Linux: apt install libcairo2-dev if needed
• Windows: uv works natively; or use WSL for other tools </export_to_webp>