Edit the diagram you see

Each example on this page has editable source and a live preview. Reset restores its checked-in source. Open in editor remains available when you want the standalone editor.

For a guided practice session, choose an exercise below. The full editor runs inside this page, with its real selection, command preview, source edit, diagnostics, and undo. Each exercise starts from its checked-in source; reset, switching exercises, or reloading the frame returns to that source. Practice edits stay separate from the draft saved in the standalone editor.

Practice in the full editor

Choose an exercise, make the source change, and compare it with the drawing. Use the editor's Undo or Reset exercise to return to the checked-in starting point.

Align nodes Order nodes Steer an edge Move into a group

Loading the checked-in exercise sources…

Reset exercise Focus on exercise Preparing the full editor.

Align several nodes

Select Draft, Review, and Publish in that order. Under Arrange items, choose Prefer row and read the statement in the preview before selecting Apply arrangement. Try Require column after resetting the exercise. Row and column alignment put all selected nodes on a shared axis; a preference can yield to stronger constraints, while an impossible requirement reports a conflict.

Align three workflow steps

Open in editor

Draft: box "Draft"
Review: box "Review"
Publish: box "Publish"

Order two nodes without aligning them

Select Draft first, then Review. Under Order two nodes, choose Prefer left of. The first selected node is the subject: the preview inserts a statement equivalent to prefer Draft left of Review and shows its source line. Select Apply node order. Reset the exercise and try Require below to see a vertical relation. These relations constrain order on one axis; they do not put the nodes on a shared row or column.

Order two workflow steps

Open in editor

Draft: box "Draft"
Review: box "Review"

Steer an edge

Select the unnamed arrow from Client to Server in the drawing or under Steer an edge. Choose Route below, inspect the source preview, then select Apply route. The editor adds route below to that arrow statement. Try the named Reply arrow as well. Route above, Route below, Route left, and Route right are route-side preferences; the final route can differ when constraints conflict, and the editor reports the result. Parallel arrows and each segment of a multi-hop arrow can also be selected separately.

Steer a request or return edge

Open in editor

direction right
Client: box "client"
Server: box "server"
Client -> Server
Reply: Server -> Client "response"

Move a node into a group

For a membership edit, select Task and Region in the in-page editor. Choose Move Task into Region, inspect the proposed source diff, then Apply move. Select Task alone afterward to see Move Task out of Region. The editor proves the move on the complete source before offering Apply; it does not leave a disconnected copy of the box behind.

Move a box into a group

Open in editor

Region: [
] "Region"
Task: box "Task"

Selection belongs to the current render. After a source change replaces a selected element, select again from the new diagram. Next, Icons add visual vocabulary to the same source-based workflow.