PlantUML

A tool for drawing UML diagrams from text.

PlantUML reads a small declarative language and produces UML diagrams (sequence, class, activity, component, state, deployment, use case) plus a number of non-UML diagram types (Gantt charts, mind maps, work-breakdown structures). The text input means diagrams can be diffed, reviewed, and version- controlled alongside the code they document.

The implementation is in Java and renders to PNG, SVG, and LaTeX. Internally PlantUML often delegates to Graphviz for layout. Editor integrations exist for VS Code, IntelliJ, Eclipse, Vim/Emacs, and Atom, and a server mode lets PlantUML be used as a remote rendering service for documentation pipelines.

Arnaud Roques started PlantUML in 2009 and has continued as the primary maintainer. The project is GPL-licensed and is widely used inside source-code repositories where text-based diagrams can be treated like any other code asset. Confluence, GitLab, and several other documentation platforms integrate PlantUML rendering natively.

License: GPL-3.0-or-later

Category: Documentation

Website: https://plantuml.com/

Install

Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install plantuml
Fedora/RHEL:   sudo dnf install plantuml
macOS:         brew install plantuml

Authors

Arnaud Roques (creator)

PreviousPipeWire NextPodman