CI and automation

CI should answer two questions: is the source valid, and does the committed SVG match it? Keep the CLI local to the project so every developer and runner uses the same version.

Install locally

pnpm add --save-dev @ministryplace/flowmark-cli

package.json

{
  "scripts": {
    "diagrams:check": "flowmark check docs/architecture.flowmark",
    "diagrams:format": "flowmark format docs/architecture.flowmark --write",
    "diagrams:build": "flowmark render docs/architecture.flowmark --output docs/architecture.svg --theme light"
  }
}

Validate source

pnpm flowmark check docs/architecture.flowmark

Warnings and errors are written to stderr. The command exits non-zero when it finds an error. Add --json when another tool will consume diagnostics.

Verify generated files

Render, then ask Git whether the committed output changed:

pnpm run diagrams:build
git diff --exit-code -- docs/architecture.svg

This catches source changes whose generated image was not committed and renderer changes that need visual review.

GitHub Actions example

.github/workflows/diagrams.yml

name: Diagrams

on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  diagrams:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version-file: package.json
          cache: pnpm
      - run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
      - run: pnpm run diagrams:check
      - run: pnpm run diagrams:build
      - run: git diff --exit-code -- docs

Use your repository’s normal Node version source rather than copying a version into several workflow files.

Work with any editor

Flowmark files are text, so syntax-aware editor support is helpful but not required. The first-party VS Code extension provides the full language service, live preview, SVG export, and rendered Markdown fences in VS Code and compatible derivatives. Other editors can run flowmark lsp --stdio through a standard LSP client.

Keep flowmark check in CI even when every contributor uses an editor extension, and do not make a global CLI installation part of the team setup.

The complete command and flag contract is in the CLI reference.