Say Goodbye to draw.io: Introducing the Open‑Source Archify Diagram Skill

Developers often need clear diagrams to explain a project or feature, but plain text can be hard to understand and manual tools like draw.io are time‑consuming.

Although AI can generate images, the results are usually unsatisfactory. The author discovered an open‑source skill called Archify on GitHub, which produces much better diagrams.

Archify can be loaded into agent tools such as Claude Code, Codex, or OpenCode. By describing a requirement in natural language—e.g., “User request passes through the gateway, authentication goes through Redis, cache miss falls to Postgres”—the agent generates a corresponding sequence diagram.

The skill can also analyze the current codebase, automatically extract the architecture, and render it as a diagram.

The generated output is a self‑contained HTML file without any dependencies, ready to share with teammates. It includes built‑in light and dark themes that can be switched with a single click, making it easy to capture screenshots for documentation.

Beyond architecture diagrams, Archify supports workflow, sequence, data‑flow, lifecycle, CI/CD pipelines, approval processes, ETL pipelines, and state‑machine diagrams—essentially covering most common technical diagrams.

Export options include PNG, JPEG, SVG, and WebP at four‑times native resolution. The exported SVG contains both light and dark theme assets and automatically adapts to the system’s appearance setting when embedded in a GitHub README.

If the diagram is not satisfactory, users can continue refining it through the agent conversation until the result meets expectations. Before exporting, Archify checks the diagram for broken arrows or incorrect connections, fixing them automatically.

Installation via the project README is somewhat involved, but the author demonstrates that an agent can handle the installation with a simple command like

Install this skill: https://github.com/tt-a1i/archify

. The only hurdle is a third‑party package required for rendering validation, which agents typically install automatically.

In summary, while diagramming may seem simple, it greatly aids technical communication such as product reviews, onboarding, and post‑mortems. Archify reduces the effort to a single sentence in Claude Code or Codex, turning agents into a powerful productivity platform enriched by specialized skills.