Syntax Quick Reference

A compact reference for TDL syntax. For complete details, see the Specification.

Shapes

All TDL shapes

Shape	Shorthand	Use Case
rect	(default)	Services, components
cyl	|cyl	Databases
diamond	|diamond	Decisions
oval	|oval	Start/end
cloud	|cloud	External services
hex	|hex	APIs
doc	|doc	Documents
grp	|grp	Containers
terminator	|terminator	Flowchart terminals
data	|data	Data I/O
subproc	|subproc	Subprocesses
manual	|manual	Manual input
connector	|connector	Junctions

Edge Operators

Operator	Type	Example
->	Solid arrow	api->db:query
-->	Dashed arrow	db-->api:response
..	Dotted line	a..b:association
<->	Bidirectional	peer1<->peer2:sync
<-->	Bidirectional dashed	a<-->b:gossip

Properties

Node Properties

id:Label|shape|color:value|group:id|tags:a,b|icon:name

Edge Properties

source->target:Label|color:red|width:2|dash:4,2|style:name

Group Properties

group_id:Label|color:blue|expandable

Named Colors: red, blue, green, orange, purple, yellow, cyan, pink, gray, black

Sections

Section	Purpose	Example
[nodes]	Define entities	api:API Gateway
[edges]	Define connections	api->db:queries
[groups]	Define containers	vpc:AWS VPC
[flow:name]	Define walkthroughs	1:api->db:step
[styles]	Define reusable styles	error:color:red
[nested:id]	Sub-diagrams	Nested sections
[code]	Code blocks (ext)	fn:ts:Title

Named Styles

Define once, use everywhere:

[styles]
  error:color:red|width:2|dash:4,2
  success:color:green

[edges]
  api->db:fails|style:error

Quick Examples

Basic diagram:

@arch My App

[nodes]
  api:API|hex
  db:Database|cyl

[edges]
  api->db:queries

Groups:

[groups]
  vpc:AWS VPC
    api
    db

Shorthand groups:

[groups]
  backend=api,db,cache