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Sproutline: PlantUML Diagrams for Confluence

Sproutline draws PlantUML diagrams on Confluence Cloud pages. The official PlantUML engine runs in your browser, bundled inside the app, so your diagram source is never sent to a rendering server.

Add a diagram

  1. Edit a page, type /PlantUML and choose PlantUML diagram (Sproutline).
  2. The editor opens. Pick a template (sequence, class, activity, component, state, use case, C4 container, Gantt, mind map or blank) or paste your own PlantUML.
  3. The preview on the right redraws as you type. Give the diagram a title and, if you like, a note about what changed.
  4. Choose Save version 1, then publish the page.

To change it later, open the page (no need to edit the page) and choose Edit on the diagram. Every save adds a version.

The editor

  • Live preview. Small diagrams redraw as you type. Diagrams that take longer than about 1.5 seconds to draw update when you pause, and very large ones wait for Draw (or Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter).
  • Errors. A mistake is shown under the source with its line number, and the line is marked in the gutter. The last good picture stays visible, faded.
  • Light and dark preview. Switch with the Light preview / Dark preview button. Saving always draws both.
  • Keyboard. Tab inserts two spaces, Ctrl+S / Cmd+S saves, Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter draws.
  • Includes and display. Set an include name (see below), insert an include from the list, and (when editing from the page editor) choose how the diagram sits on the page: fit to the page width or actual size, a maximum height, alignment, and a caption.

What you can draw

Sequence, use case, class, object, activity, component, deployment, state and timing diagrams; Gantt charts, mind maps, work breakdown structures, JSON and YAML; themes (!theme cerulean), emoji (<:1f600:>), OpenIconic icons (<&heart>), creole formatting and skin parameters.

Bundled standard libraries: C4 (!include <C4/C4_Container> and the other C4 files), ArchiMate (!include <archimate/Archimate>) and EIP (!include <eip/EIP-PlantUML>). Other standard libraries are not bundled; the editor says so on the line that asks for one.

Not supported by the browser engine: @startdot (Graphviz DOT source).

Links

Write links the PlantUML way and they are clickable on the page and in a downloaded SVG:

class Order [[https://example.com/orders]]
participant "Web shop" as Shop [[https://example.com/runbooks/shop]]
note right of Order
  See [[https://example.com/spec the spec]]
end note

Web links open in a new tab; links that start with /wiki/ open in Confluence.

Shared includes

Any diagram can be shared as an include:

  1. Open the diagram's editor, choose Includes and display, and enter an Include name such as team/styles. Names are unique on the site.
  2. In another diagram, write !include team/styles. You can also write !include_once, !includesub team/styles!PART (for a !startsub PART ... !endsub section) or !include team/multi!1 (the second diagram in a source with several).

People only get an include from a page they can view. When the included diagram changes, diagrams that use it show the latest version on the page and note that their saved picture (used by PDF and Word export) is older; saving them again refreshes it.

Remote includes are never fetched (!includeurl, !include https://..., !import, !theme ... from ..., images from web addresses). Sproutline keeps every diagram inside your Atlassian site. Save the shared part as a Sproutline diagram with an include name instead.

Reading a diagram

  • The picture matches the reader's theme: diagrams are drawn for light and for dark mode when saved.
  • Hover the diagram for zoom controls: zoom out, Fit, 100%, zoom in. Wide diagrams scroll.
  • Source shows the PlantUML with a Copy source button.
  • Download saves SVG, PNG or the .puml source.
  • History lists every version with its note. Changes shows what changed in a version, Compare the last two versions compares the newest two, View shows an older version, and Restore saves an older version as the newest one.

PDF and Word export

Exports use the picture saved with the diagram (a PNG drawn at twice the size for sharp print, or the SVG). Very wide or tall diagrams are scaled to fit the page. A diagram that was saved with an error exports its source as a code block with a note.

Bring existing PlantUML into Sproutline

Pages that hold PlantUML as code blocks (language PlantUML, or blocks that start with @startuml) or as PlantUML macros brought over from Data Center can be converted:

  1. Open the page, choose More actions (...) > Apps > Convert PlantUML to Sproutline.
  2. Sproutline lists every PlantUML block on the page with its source and a preview.
  3. Untick anything you want to keep as it is, then choose Convert. The page is saved once, as a new version, so Page history can bring the old version back.

Blocks inside a list or panel cannot hold a macro in Confluence; they are listed with that reason so you can move them first.

Copies, templates and permissions

  • Viewing a diagram needs view access to its page; editing needs edit access to the page.
  • When a page is copied, its diagram becomes the copy's own diagram the first time someone who can see both pages opens the copy. Editing one never changes the other.

Size limits

Sources up to 200 KB; includes up to 8 levels deep and 40 per diagram; pictures up to 30,000 pixels on a side (larger diagrams ask you to split them or use newpage or scale); the newest 100 versions of each diagram are kept.

If the subscription is inactive

Diagrams stay readable and downloadable; editing, converting and redrawing turn off until the subscription is renewed. PDF and Word exports show the source instead of the picture.

Data and privacy

Sproutline runs entirely on Atlassian Forge ("Runs on Atlassian"). Diagram sources and pictures are stored in your site's Forge storage. Nothing is sent to Great Work or anyone else. See the privacy policy at https://greatwork.company/apps/sproutline/privacy.

Open-source software

Sproutline includes @plantuml/core 1.2026.8 (MIT License, Arnaud Roques and the PlantUML contributors), which bundles Viz.js (MIT) with Graphviz (Eclipse Public License 1.0) and Expat (MIT); C4-PlantUML, Archimate-PlantUML and EIP-PlantUML (MIT); and React (MIT).

Support

hello@greatwork.company. First response within one business day (US Central time).