# Flowchart2Mermaid: A Vision-Language Model Powered System for Converting Flowcharts into Editable Diagram Code

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.02170 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.02170/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 10 of its 25 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Dec 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.10084/) (2019)
- [Judging LLM-as-a-Judge with MT-Bench and Chatbot Arena](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.05685/) (2023)
- [MiniLM: Deep Self-Attention Distillation for Task-Agnostic Compression of Pre-Trained Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.10957/) (2020)
- [From Generation to Judgment: Opportunities and Challenges of LLM-as-a-judge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.16594/) (2024)
- [FlowVQA: Mapping Multimodal Logic in Visual Question Answering with Flowcharts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.19237/) (2024)
- [Structure Guided Prompt: Instructing Large Language Model in Multi-Step Reasoning by Exploring Graph Structure of the Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.13415/) (2024)
- [Beyond End-to-End VLMs: Leveraging Intermediate Text Representations for Superior Flowchart Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.16420/) (2024)
- [Confident AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.05957/) (2022)
- [Follow the Flow: Fine-grained Flowchart Attribution with Neurosymbolic Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01344/) (2025)
- [A Graph-based Approach for Multi-Modal Question Answering from Flowcharts in Telecom Documents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.22938/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [EvoDiagram: Agentic Editable Diagram Creation via Design Expertise Evolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.09568/) (2026)
- [EdgeFlow: Edge-Map Augmented VLM-Based Flowchart Processing for Industrial Requirements Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.27332/) (2026)
- [PathWISE: Multi-Agent Cancer Pathway Triaging Ontology Learning from Clinical Flowcharts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.25970/) (2026)
- [One Figure, Every Canvas: Editable Flowchart Relayout via Agentic Pipeline](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.06852/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Flowcharts are common tools for communicating processes but are often shared as static images that cannot be easily edited or reused. We present Flowchart2Mermaid, a lightweight web system that converts flowchart images into editable Mermaid.js code which is a markup language for visual workflows, using a detailed system prompt and vision-language models. The interface supports mixed-initiative refinement through inline text editing, drag-and-drop node insertion, and natural-language commands interpreted by an integrated AI assistant. Unlike prior image-to-diagram tools, our approach produces a structured, version-controllable textual representation that remains synchronized with the rendered diagram. We further introduce evaluation metrics to assess structural accuracy, flow correctness, syntax validity, and completeness across multiple models.