plantuml-ascii

Create text-based ASCII art diagrams using PlantUML. Perfect for documentation in terminal environments, README files, emails, or any scenario where graphical diagrams aren't suitable. PlantUML can generate diagrams as plain text (ASCII art) instead of images. This is useful for: Output is saved as diagram.atxt (ASCII) or diagram.utxt (Unicode). Standard ASCII ( -txt ) : Unicode ASCII ( -utxt ) : Problem : Garbled Unicode characters Problem : Diagram looks misaligned Problem : Command not found Problem : Output file not created - Terminal-based workflows - Git commits/PRs without image support - Documentation that needs to be version-controlled - Environments where graphical tools aren't available - Keep it simple : Complex diagrams don't render well in ASCII - Short labels : Long text breaks ASCII alignment - Use Unicode ( -utxt ) : Better visual quality with box-drawing chars - Test before sharing : Verify in terminal with fixed-width font - Consider alternatives : For complex diagrams, use Mermaid.js or graphviz - Solution : Ensure terminal supports UTF-8 and has proper font - Solution : Use fixed-width font (Courier, Monaco, Consolas) - Solution : Install PlantUML or use Java JAR directly - Solution : Check file permissions, ensure PlantUML has write access