Diagram and Rendering Policy

Spec Loop treats diagrams as specification artifacts: they make design intent reviewable at the same boundary as the surrounding text.

Where the task-file path guidance requires diagrams in task files, use PlantUML by default.

Mermaid is a poorer but still possible alternative when the User or another governing instruction explicitly prefers Mermaid, for example when GitHub or similar environments are used and PlantUML is not rendered.

PlantUML remains the recommended default in practice because it is usually easier to keep precise and reviewable for the structural and behavioral design work used in Spec Loop.

For inline PlantUML rendering in Markdown on the web, view the repo on GitLab. GitHub does not render PlantUML embedded in Markdown natively, so reading there can degrade the intended experience.

For local preview setup, use the spec-loop-setup-doc-rendering skill. If you do not want to use the skill and prefer manual setup, use these editor-specific references: VS Code-Based IDE Setup and JetBrains Setup Reference.