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ASCII Flowchart Generator

Sketch a small process for a README or code comment. Write the steps in order, optionally finish with a yes/no question, and copy connected boxes without aligning the arrows by hand.

Leave without saving your work?

Your input and artwork are not saved. Keep editing, or download the current result and check it before leaving.

Steps and decision

1-8 nonblank steps, up to 28 ASCII characters each. Outer spaces are trimmed; labels never wrap or get truncated.

Final decision and outcomes

Each field: 1-28 printable ASCII characters. Yes goes left; No goes right. Both outcomes end here.

Your flowchart

47 columns, 21 rows

             +-------------------+             
             | Write changes     |             
             +-------------------+             
                       |                       
                       v                       
             +-------------------+             
             | Run tests         |             
             +-------------------+             
                       |                       
                       v                       
             +-------------------+             
             | ? Tests pass?     |             
             +-------------------+             
                       |                       
          +------------+------------+          
          |                         |          
         Yes                       No          
          v                         v          
+-------------------+     +-------------------+
| Ship release      |     | Fix and retry     |
+-------------------+     +-------------------+

Scroll inside the preview for wide or long charts. Keep a monospace font with wrapping off; use Copy as Markdown in a README.

Try a release check

Enter these two steps, one per line:

Write changes
Run tests

Keep the final decision enabled. Set Decision question to Tests pass?, Yes outcome to Ship release and No outcome to Fix and retry. Generate flowchart. Read from top to bottom: Write changes leads to Run tests, then the boxed ? Tests pass? splits left to Yes and right to No. The two outcomes are terminal boxes; "Fix and retry" is a label, not a drawn loop back to Run tests.

The sample is 47 columns by 21 rows. Choose Copy as Markdown for a fenced code block in your README, or Download TXT for the unwrapped diagram. Turn off the final decision and generate again for a linear two-step chart: 21 columns by 8 rows.

A small diagram, not a graph language

Use 1-8 nonblank steps and up to 28 printable ASCII characters per label. Spaces around each label are trimmed. LF and CRLF step lists are accepted, including one final line break; blank interior lines, tabs, non-ASCII characters and oversized labels are rejected, never truncated. Box widths grow with the longest label; the optional decision receives a ? prefix. The widest branched chart is 75 columns. All output rows have equal width, including trailing spaces, with LF line breaks and no final newline.

Only one final decision with two ending outcomes is supported: no nested branches, loops, merging, multiple decisions, layout directions or Mermaid import/export. Names such as A --> B, backticks and pipes are literal label text, not commands or special syntax. The question uses a box with a question-mark prefix rather than a conventional diamond.

For a general graph with richer nodes and connections, see the Mermaid flowchart documentation. This tool is an independent plain-text renderer and does not run Mermaid. For an unconnected frame around text use the ASCII box generator; for a terminal screen rather than process arrows use the terminal mockup builder.

Publish the explanation with the diagram

Keep a short ordered-list or prose description beside the chart so the process is understandable without reading borders and arrows. Fenced Markdown preserves spacing but is not a semantic flowchart. In code comments, add the language's comment markers separately and check the extra columns and any comment-ending text. See the README and CLI guide and text-alternative lesson.

Formatting runs in your browser. This tool does not save steps or put labels in links. Export before leaving. Site analytics, storage and hosting are separate.