DiagramGPT — Eraser

How to generate a swimlane diagram

Tips on making a Swimlane Diagram

• Instead of starting from scratch, copy from business process docs, workflow scripts, or onboarding materials.
• Ask an LLM to structure the flow as a numbered list of interactions between actors–it can save time and help catch missing steps.

Example diagrams

• Auth0 SSO
• Message publishing flow via PubSub proxy
• Kubernetes container start flow

1. Write a prompt describing the business or system process

The best prompts are 3–4 sentences long. Use the structure below for good results:

• List the actors involved. These will be shown as vertical columns (e.g. Customer, Sales Rep, Inventory System).
• Describe the interactions between actors as a sequence of messages. For each step, specify who sends what to whom.
• Include groupings or phases if helpful (e.g. Onboarding, Fulfillment).

2. Make a diagram with the prompt

Each actor will appear as a column, and arrows (messages) will show how work passes between them.

3. Edit the diagram with follow-up prompts

(requires signing in to Eraser).

4. Manually adjust the layout

using GUI controls (requires signing in to Eraser).

Generate any type of diagram with AI

• Architecture
• Sequence
• Flowchart
• ERD
• Data Flow
• Network
• AWS
• Azure
• Terraform
• Kubernetes
• Use Case
• State
• UML
• Block
• Process Flow
• Process Map
• User Journey Map
• Workflow
• User Flow
• Org Chart
• System Architecture
• Mermaid Editor
• PlantUML Editor

Frequently asked questions

• Can I edit the generated swimlane diagram? Yes. Click “Save and Edit Diagram” to open it in Eraser, where you can edit using diagram-as-code syntax or the visual GUI.
• What can I use as a prompt? Plain English, a nested list, or a code snippet. You can also paste excerpts from requirements docs, transcripts, or knowledge-base articles.
• Can I use this from an AI agent? Yes. Eraser runs an MCP server, so any MCP-compatible client – Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT – can create and edit these diagrams directly. See the MCP catalog for what it exposes.
• Who created this tool? The swimlane diagram maker was created by the team at Eraser, leveraging frontier AI models. Eraser is an AI tool for technical design and documentation.
• Is it free? Generating a swimlane diagram is free and requires no sign-up. Sign in to a free Eraser account to edit, save, and export your diagrams.
• Is there an API? Yes, you can read our API documentation. The API is only available to Starter, Business, and Enterprise Plan teams.
• Is there an MCP server? Yes. The Eraser MCP server lets an agent create, search, read, update and export diagrams from clients like Claude, Cursor, VS Code and ChatGPT. It is free to use, subject to the AI credit limits of your plan.
• Do you use my data to train AI models? No. Neither Eraser nor our model providers use your data to train AI models. Eraser may analyze usage to improve and enhance our AI features.
• How do I get started? Describe what you need in the prompt box above and generate. You can keep refining the result with follow-up prompts.
• What’s next for this tool? It only gets better from here. We’re working to improve accuracy and layout customization. If there’s something you’d like to see, drop us a note at hello@eraser.io.
• How do I get in touch? We’d love to hear from you. Reach out at hello@eraser.io, on X (@eraserlabs), or join our Slack community.