What it is
Archify generates architecture, workflow, sequence, data-flow and lifecycle diagrams, and delivers them as self-contained HTML — a single file that opens on its own, with motion and clean export. It is an agent skill: built to be used from a coding agent, not as a separate app.
It is MIT-licensed, written in JavaScript, and as of this note it has over 55,000 stars since it appeared in April 2026. Its own authors tag it as a Mermaid alternative.
Why it helps someone working with data
Documenting how a pipeline is put together is part of the job and almost nobody does it, because drawing it by hand is tedious and the diagram is stale a week later. A diagram generated from text can be versioned next to the code and regenerated when the pipeline changes.
The diagram types it produces are exactly the ones that come up when you explain a data system: the flow of data between sources and destinations, the sequence of a process, the lifecycle of a table.
When it isn't what you want
- It is not lineage. Lineage is derived from real data and queries — that's the job of a governance tool such as OpenMetadata. Archify draws what you tell it to draw: if your diagram and your pipeline drift apart, it won't notice.
- It doesn't replace documenting your transformations. If you work with dbt, the graph of your models already comes out of your own code and is more trustworthy than a redrawn one.
- It assumes you work with a coding agent. If that isn't your workflow, the entry friction is higher than writing the diagram by hand.
Why this is a note and not a catalogue entry
The KioskoAI catalogue is closed on purpose: an entry is a commitment to keep it current, so a tool goes in only if it fills a real gap in the stack or if readers ask for it repeatedly.
A dated note lets us tell you this exists without that commitment. If it turns out to stick — and people ask for it — it graduates to an entry. In the meantime you have the link and the date we looked at it.