Quick start

To add an initial class diagram to your project, follow these steps:

1. Enter your project's top level directory and run:

   clang-uml --init

2. Edit the generated .clang-uml file and set the following:

   # Path to `compile_commands.json` directory
   compilation_database_dir: .
   # Path to diagram output directory
   output_directory: diagrams
   diagrams:
     # This is the name of the diagram
     some_class_diagram:
       type: class
       # Parse only translation units in `src` subdirectory
       glob:
         - src/*.cc
       # Render all names relative to `myproject` namespace
       using_namespace: myproject
       include:
         # Include only elements in `myproject` namespace
         namespaces:
           - myproject
       exclude:
         # Exclude elements in `myproject::detail` namespace
         namespaces:
           - myproject::detail

3. Run clang-uml in the project's top directory:

   clang-uml
   # or to see generation progress for each diagram
   clang-uml --progress

4. Generate SVG images from the PlantUML diagrams:

   plantuml -tsvg diagrams/*.puml

   or generate also MermaidJS diagram (requires mermaid-cli):

   clang-uml --progress -n some_class_diagram -g mermaid
   mmdc -i diagrams/some_class_diagram.mmd -o diagrams/some_class_diagram.svg

   Steps 3 and 4 can be combined into one step:

   clang-uml -p -n some_class_diagram -g plantuml -r --plantuml-cmd="/usr/bin/plantuml -tsvg diagrams/{}.puml"

   where -r enables diagram rendering and --plantuml-cmd specifies command to execute on each generated diagram.

5. Add another diagram:

   clang-uml --add-sequence-diagram another_diagram

6. Now list the diagrams defined in the config file:

   clang-uml -l
   The following diagrams are defined in the config file:
     - another_diagram [sequence]
     - some_class_diagram [class]

7. Generate only the new diagram in JSON format:

   clang-uml -n another_diagram -g json