Flow Visual Explainer

Generate self-contained HTML files for technical diagrams, visualizations, and data tables. Always open the result in the browser. Never fall back to ASCII art when this skill is loaded.

Output directory: ~/clawd/output/diagrams/ Open in browser: exec: open ~/clawd/output/diagrams/filename.html

Trigger Conditions

Use this skill when:

• User asks to "draw", "diagram", "visualize", "chart", "map out", or "explain" something visually
• User asks for architecture overview, system diagram, flow diagram, sequence diagram, ER diagram
• User asks for a diff review, plan review, project recap, or fact-check
• User asks for a slide deck or presentation
• You are about to render a table with 4+ rows or 3+ columns — render HTML instead automatically
• User asks to compare N things against M criteria (always a table → always HTML)

Do not wait for the user to ask for HTML. If the output would be a complex table or diagram, render it visually.

Commands (Natural Language Triggers)

Any command that produces a scrollable page also supports --slides flag:

"review this diff as slides"
→ generates slide deck version instead of scrollable page

Workflow

Step 1: Think First (30 seconds)

Before writing HTML, commit to a direction. Answer three questions:

Who is looking? Developer? PM? Investor? Shapes density and complexity.

What type of content?

• Architecture (text-heavy cards) → CSS Grid
• Architecture (topology, connections matter) → Mermaid
• Flowchart / pipeline / state machine → Mermaid
• Sequence diagram → Mermaid
• ER / schema → Mermaid
• Data table / comparison / matrix → HTML \x3Ctable>
• Dashboard / metrics → Chart.js
• Slide deck → scroll-snap sections

What aesthetic? Pick one. Commit. Read references/css-patterns.md for patterns.

Constrained aesthetics (prefer these — harder to make generic):

• Blueprint: technical drawing, dot/grid background, slate/blue palette, monospace labels
• Editorial: serif headlines (Instrument Serif, Crimson Pro), generous whitespace, muted earth tones or navy + gold
• Paper/ink: warm cream #faf7f5 background, terracotta/sage accents, informal
• Monochrome terminal: green/amber on near-black, monospace, CRT glow optional

Flexible aesthetics (use with discipline):

• IDE-inspired: commit to a real named scheme (Dracula, Nord, Catppuccin Mocha, Gruvbox, One Dark) — use the actual palette
• Data-dense: small type, tight spacing, maximum info, muted colors

Forbidden forever:

• Neon dashboard (cyan + magenta + purple on dark) — AI slop
• Gradient mesh (pink/purple/cyan blobs) — too generic
• Inter font + violet/indigo accents + gradient text combination

Vary each time. If the last diagram was dark and technical, make the next one light and editorial.

Step 2: Read Reference Material

Before generating, read the relevant references:

For architecture (text-heavy cards): read references/css-patterns.md + templates/architecture.html For flowcharts / diagrams: read references/libraries.md + templates/mermaid-flowchart.html For data tables / comparisons: read templates/data-table.html For slide decks: read templates/slide-deck.html + references/slide-patterns.md For CSS/layout patterns: read references/css-patterns.md For 4+ sections (reviews, recaps, dashboards): also read references/responsive-nav.md

Step 3: Choose Rendering Approach

Step 4: Generate HTML

File naming: ~/clawd/output/diagrams/YYYY-MM-DD-{slug}.html Example: ~/clawd/output/diagrams/2026-03-10-nexus-architecture.html

All HTML must be:

• Self-contained (no external dependencies except CDN libs)
• Single file
• Dark/light theme support via @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark)
• Responsive (mobile-friendly)
• Real typography — Google Fonts or system font stack, never just sans-serif

Boilerplate structure:

\x3C!DOCTYPE html>
\x3Chtml lang="en">
\x3Chead>
  \x3Cmeta charset="UTF-8">
  \x3Cmeta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  \x3Ctitle>{Title}\x3C/title>
  \x3Clink rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
  \x3Clink href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Outfit:wght@300;400;500;600;700&family=Space+Mono:wght@400;700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
  \x3Cstyle>
    /* CSS custom properties for theme */
    /* Layout */
    /* Components */
  \x3C/style>
\x3C/head>
\x3Cbody>
  \x3C!-- Content -->
  \x3Cscript>
    /* JS only if needed (Mermaid, Chart.js, interactivity) */
  \x3C/script>
\x3C/body>
\x3C/html>

Step 5: Open in Browser

After writing the file:

open ~/clawd/output/diagrams/YYYY-MM-DD-{slug}.html

Tell the user the file path and that it's opened in their browser.

Diagram-Specific Notes

Mermaid Integration

• Always use theme: 'base' — only theme where all themeVariables are customizable
• Never use violet/indigo/fuchsia colors in themeVariables
• Always add CSS overrides for .mermaid .nodeLabel and .mermaid .edgeLabel to respect page color scheme
• Never use .node as a CSS class (conflicts with Mermaid internals) — use .ve-card instead
• Add zoom/pan controls for complex diagrams (see css-patterns.md)
• Import ELK layout engine only when needed — adds significant bundle weight

Slide Decks

• Use scroll-snap: each slide is 100dvh, scroll-snap-align: start
• Add keyboard navigation (ArrowLeft/ArrowRight/Space)
• Add slide counter (e.g., "3 / 12")
• Add progress bar
• Inventory ALL source content before assigning to slides — never silently drop content
• A source doc with 7 sections typically → 18–25 slides, not 10–13

Data Tables

• Sticky header
• Alternating row colors
• Sortable columns if >8 rows (add click handlers)
• Status badges for status columns (color-coded)
• Export to CSV button for data tables

Share to Web

To deploy any generated HTML page to a live URL:

~/clawd/skills/flow-visual-explainer/scripts/share.sh ~/clawd/output/diagrams/filename.html

Requires Vercel CLI: npm i -g vercel. Returns a live URL that can be shared.

Flowverse Design System

When generating diagrams for FlowStay / FlowVue / FlowTron / any Flowverse product, use the official brand palette:

:root {
  --flow-hero: #008FFF;
  --flow-hero-light: #33A5FF;
  --flow-hero-dark: #0070CC;
  --flow-glow: rgba(0, 143, 255, 0.25);
  --flow-bg: #0a0a0f;        /* FlowVue dark bg */
  --flow-surface: #13131a;
  --flow-border: rgba(255,255,255,0.08);
  --flow-text: #e8e8f0;
}

FlowVue is dark-only. FlowStay and FlowTron support both themes.

Examples

"Draw me a diagram of the API gateway architecture" → Mermaid architecture diagram, Blueprint aesthetic, shows Client → Gateway → Auth → Services → Database

"Make a comparison table of all our third-party integrations" → HTML table, data-dense aesthetic, columns: Service | Category | Auth | Rate Limit | Status | Cost

"Give me a project recap on the checkout refactor" → Scrollable HTML page, sections: Status, Recent Commits, Active Work, Blockers, Next Steps

"Slide deck on our Q2 go-to-market plan" → 15–20 slide deck, editorial aesthetic, covers ICP, target pipeline, GTM channels, urgency argument

"Review the Phase 9 routing diff" → Visual diff review: before/after architecture, code quality assessment, risk flags

Adapted from nicobailon/visual-explainer (MIT) for OpenClaw — March 2026