How would you want to export Lucid diagrams as text (Mermaid, JSON and more)?

Hi everyone,

I'm Hailey, a product manager on the team working on Mermaid and diagram-as-code in Lucid. Many of you have told us you want to get diagrams out of Lucid and into text form, and we want to make sure we build the right thing.

Today, you can export a Lucid diagram as JSON and a few other image formats. We do not currently export to Mermaid or to other text formats that AI tools tend to work with most. Before we decide what to build, we would like to understand how you would use a text version of a diagram and which formats matter to you.

What we are hoping to learn

• What you want to do with a text version of a diagram
• Which formats you would choose, and why
• What a good export needs to look like for your workflow

Questions

1. What would you use a text version of your diagram for? For example: storing it in a repo next to code, giving context to an AI tool or coding assistant, embedding it in documentation or a README, version control and review, or something else.
2. Which formats would you want? Mermaid, JSON, YAML, PlantUML, D2, Graphviz DOT, XML, Markdown description, plain-language summary, or something else? If you have more than one, which comes first?
3. Which tools or destinations would the exported text go into (GitHub, GitLab, Confluence, Jira, Notion, an AI assistant, an IDE)?
4. How faithful does the export need to be? Is it enough to capture the structure (shapes, connections, labels), or do you need styling, layout, and other details to survive too?
5. If your diagram contains something the format can't express, what would you want to happen? For example: skip it, simplify it, or get a warning.
6. How do you do this today, and what is the most painful part of that workflow?

Fill in the blank (optional)

• I would export my diagrams as ________ so that I can ________.
• The reason I cannot do this today is ________.

Examples are very helpful, so feel free to share a sample of the output you would want, or a screenshot of the workflow you use now.

Thank you in advance. Your answers will help us decide which formats to invest in first.