Service flows for security audits — that's a specific and useful use case!

A few thoughts:

What might work today: - Sequence diagrams can model service-to-service flows (API calls, auth handoffs)

- Flowcharts with subgraphs can represent VPC boundaries, security groups

- C4-style (context, container, component) is sometimes modeled with flowcharts

What would make it better:

- Custom shapes/icons (AWS service icons)

- Annotations for security boundaries, trust zones

- Data flow direction markers

Alternative you might try now:

D2 (https://d2lang.com) has better icon support and was designed for architecture diagrams. It has an AWS icon pack. Structurizr also does C4 well.

That said, if there's demand for architecture-specific diagrams in Ferrite's Mermaid renderer, I could look at:

1. Custom icon/shape support via external SVGs

2. A dedicated "architecture" diagram type with security-relevant annotations

Would a template or example for modeling security flows in Mermaid's current syntax help as a starting point?

Yeah, an example would be good. Tbh the examples on https://d2lang.com/ don't seem to fit the bill of a typical AWS Architecture diagrams! https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/reference-architecture-d...

You're right, neither Mermaid nor D2 really nail AWS architecture diagrams out of the box. Mermaid lacks icons entirely, and D2's AWS pack is more 'icons exist' than 'architecture patterns are easy.'

Honestly, this is a gap in the ecosystem. For now, most people either:

- Use draw.io/Excalidraw despite the pain

- Build diagrams programmatically (Diagrams-as-code Python library has good AWS support)

- Just accept text-based flowcharts without icons

If I add custom icon/shape support to Ferrite's Mermaid renderer (v0.3.0+), AWS icons could be a good test case. No promises, but I hear the frustration.