Key Facts
- Category
- Developer & Web
- Input Types
- textarea, file, select, checkbox, number
- Output Type
- text
- Sample Coverage
- 4
- API Ready
- Yes
Overview
The Log Sequence Diagram Converter transforms structured service logs and trace data into clear, visual Mermaid or PlantUML sequence diagrams. By parsing JSON lines or trace-style text logs, this tool automatically maps cross-service interactions, annotates latency, and highlights errors, making it easier to debug microservice architectures and document system behavior.
When to Use
- •When debugging failed requests across multiple microservices to pinpoint exactly where an error occurred.
- •When documenting system architecture and API interactions based on real production traffic logs.
- •When analyzing performance bottlenecks by visualizing service hops and step-by-step latency.
How It Works
- •Paste your structured logs (JSON lines, arrow logs, or trace-style text) or upload a .log or .jsonl file.
- •Select your preferred diagram format (Mermaid or PlantUML) and configure options like latency notes and error highlighting.
- •Set a maximum step count to compress the output and ensure the diagram remains readable.
- •The tool parses the source, target, and action fields to generate a compact interaction summary and the corresponding diagram source code.
Use Cases
Examples
1. Visualizing a Microservice Login Trace
Backend Developer- Background
- A developer is investigating a failed login request that spans an API gateway, an auth service, and a user database.
- Problem
- Reading raw text logs makes it difficult to see the exact sequence of events and where the failure occurred.
- How to Use
- Paste the arrow-style trace logs into the Log Input, select 'Mermaid', and enable 'Highlight Errors'.
- Example Config
-
Diagram Format: Mermaid, Include Latency Notes: true, Highlight Errors: true - Outcome
- A Mermaid sequence diagram is generated, clearly showing the API calling the auth service, the database query, and a highlighted 401 error note on the auth step.
2. Generating PlantUML from JSON Lines
Site Reliability Engineer- Background
- An SRE has exported a batch of structured JSON logs from a monitoring tool showing a slow checkout process.
- Problem
- Needs to quickly visualize the service hops and latency to identify the bottleneck.
- How to Use
- Upload the .jsonl log file, select 'PlantUML' as the format, and ensure 'Include Latency Notes' is checked.
- Example Config
-
Diagram Format: PlantUML, Include Latency Notes: true, Max Steps: 20 - Outcome
- A PlantUML diagram is produced with latency markers (e.g., 82ms, 14ms) attached to each service interaction, revealing the slow database call.
Try with Samples
json, text, fileRelated Hubs
FAQ
What log formats are supported?
The tool supports JSON lines with source/target fields, arrow-style logs (e.g., api -> auth), and trace-style text logs.
Can I limit the size of the generated diagram?
Yes, you can set a 'Max Steps' limit (between 3 and 40) to compress the output and ensure the sequence diagram remains readable.
How are errors displayed in the diagram?
If you enable 'Highlight Errors', the tool annotates failing steps with specific error notes directly on the sequence diagram.
Does it support PlantUML?
Yes, you can choose between Mermaid and PlantUML as your output diagram format.
Can I upload a log file instead of pasting text?
Yes, you can upload .log, .txt, .json, or .jsonl files up to 20MB.