Browse Scient Docs Diagrams in chat

Diagrams in chat

Scient turns a completed mermaid Markdown fence into an inline diagram. This works well for research workflows, architectures, timelines, state changes, entity relationships, and other explanations where the connections matter. The same rendering is available for Mermaid fences in Markdown file previews. Ask the AI to make a Mermaid diagram when a process, hierarchy, or relationship would be easier to understand visually than as a list of steps.

The diagram card lets you:

  • expand and zoom the diagram;
  • show or copy its Mermaid source;
  • download a scalable SVG;
  • copy or download a high-resolution PNG;
  • retry or read the original source if the diagram is malformed;
  • in chat, choose Ask agent to fix beside the error to add a citation capsule to your composer. It includes the diagram and renderer error; use the capsule’s pencil to edit the repair request, or remove it with its close icon. Review the request, then send it. This does not send automatically or change the original answer; the agent replies with a correction;
  • use Copy error and source if you prefer to paste the request elsewhere or while reviewing a Markdown file. Its icon sits beside the error, along with Retry diagram.

For a rendered diagram, quiet Expand and More icons sit at the top-right. Any authored title remains visible; More diagram actions identifies the diagram and its type, and contains source, copy, and download actions. Source inspection opens on request. A failed diagram instead shows its error directly above a normal code block, with its language or title, syntax highlighting, copy, and line-wrap controls. Expanded viewers keep zoom, fit, and actual-size controls visible.

In an editable Markdown file, the source box shown below a diagram is already an editor. Click anywhere in its text and type there; the box stays in place. The diagram updates as you fix the source. Escape returns to the document, and the same source box remains visible while the error persists. Select source text and choose Ask in chat to add that exact passage as a file quote; this applies to visible source, not the rendered diagram. Read mode keeps the source selectable for copying.

Choose Move controls in More to expose a movement handle. Drag it or use arrow keys to move within the card; press Enter or Escape to finish. Reset controls position restores the default placement.

Diagrams are drawn without network access. If a diagram names an outside picture or style (an icon, an image shape, an image in a label), Scient draws the diagram without it and adds one line underneath listing what was not loaded; click a web address there to open it in your browser. This keeps a diagram from revealing to another site that, and when, you opened the conversation.

While an answer is still being written, an unfinished Mermaid fence remains an ordinary source code block. Once its closing fence arrives, the diagram can render near the visible conversation without waiting for the rest of the answer. A bad or unsupported diagram never makes the rest of the answer disappear.

For supported syntax mistakes—such as unquoted labels, misplaced separators, the common pie dash separator, quadrant coordinate parentheses, or a known command typo—Scient tries a local recovery before showing an error. Compatible fixes are tested together; if the diagram still cannot render, you get the original source and error with the usual repair actions. It never calls an AI automatically or guesses missing diagram content. A recovered diagram’s More menu offers Copy recovered source and Copy original source. Source inspection and editing still show the original text; neither the conversation nor a Markdown file is silently rewritten. Missing connections, ambiguous brackets, and incomplete diagram blocks still show an error rather than a guessed diagram. Recovery works in both chat and Markdown side-panel previews; it needs no extra click.

The Mermaid source remains the original content in the conversation. Copying the whole answer preserves a fenced mermaid block, so it remains readable where an interactive diagram is unavailable. Rendering and image export happen locally; Scient does not send diagram source to a rendering service.

Rendering is local and restricted: source callbacks and remote asset loaders are not activated. Very large diagrams are rejected instead of slowing the whole conversation.

An inline diagram is not automatically saved as a project file. Ask the agent to create a real .mmd, SVG, or other project artifact when you need something durable and editable outside the conversation.