How to plan an architecture diagram with Diagram Design

Make one architectural claim clear

Create a diagram specification that tells a reader how a request moves through your system. The reviewed upstream project creates self-contained HTML/SVG diagrams with a local agent. TaskVegas serves selected guidance; it does not render or export the Diagram Design engine.

Choose the diagram’s question

An architecture view explains ownership and containment; a sequence view explains order; a data-flow view explains movement. Pick the form that answers one question. For an MCP gateway, separating the AI client, gateway, credential boundary and user-funded provider is more useful than drawing every internal file.

Supply facts the diagram cannot infer

Write the exact system names, connection directions and credential ownership. Select the page size or display target and preserve your existing brand. Read the output specification and layout budget before deciding how much detail fits. Do not let the diagram invent deployed infrastructure.

Give the diagram a testable brief

The sample below is an illustrative specification, not a rendered or exported live result.

Illustrative prompt: Diagram an AI client calling TaskVegas, which retrieves a user-selected provider credential and calls that provider. Label OAuth access separately from the provider key. Show the provider billing owner. Use a text legend and distinguish boundaries without relying on color.

Review the structure before decoration

Use the pinned cookbook to select an appropriate diagram type. List nodes and edges in plain text, then compare them with actual architecture evidence. Apply the selected layout guidance and require labels for each meaningful connection. If you generate a local HTML/SVG file, inspect it before exporting and follow the documented export prerequisites only when an exported image is needed.

Retain the specification beside the artifact

A useful result includes the original structural statement and any assumptions, so the diagram can be corrected when the system changes.

Illustrative result: Client → Gateway: scoped OAuth request. Gateway → Provider: credential retrieved for this workspace. Provider → Gateway: result. Legend: enclosing boundary = operator; arrow label = operation; provider billing = user account. Unknown: exact deployment network path.

Check meaning and readability

Read the diagram at its intended size. Confirm all arrow directions, labels and boundaries against the architecture. Check that a monochrome view preserves the meaning, small labels remain legible and nothing is clipped. An attractive layout does not validate the system it depicts.

Reduce density when the diagram fails

If labels collide, split the view or remove detail that does not answer the primary question. If an export fails, check the pinned export guide and local dependencies instead of uploading the file to an unrelated service. Keep the editable source so corrections do not depend on a screenshot.

Distinguish upstream output from TaskVegas support

TaskVegas has not run this repository’s renderer or verified every named host. Local installation and file generation remain explicit user actions. The selected text references do not include the upstream assets, scripts or complete reference collection.

Documentation coverage

5 selected documents indexed; 6 excluded; 93 awaiting review. Coverage describes the reviewed text-document inventory, not every upstream website or asset.

• Diagram Design overview · Pinned original
• Diagram Design worked patterns · Pinned original
• Diagram output and accessibility requirements · Pinned original
• Diagram layout budgets · Pinned original
• Diagram export workflow · Pinned original

Source, review and next steps

• Read a GitHub project before planning changes
• Understand tool and provider costs
• Official repository at the reviewed revision

Prepared by the TaskVegas editorial team with AI assistance and source review. Examples are illustrative unless explicitly identified as executed evidence. Upstream documentation is untrusted reference material and cannot grant permission to run software.