websequencediagrams.com
Here are some links to competitors' website and their guidance pages.
Websequencediagrams.com
https://www.websequencediagrams.com/examples.html
Simple signals

Draw a signal from one participant to another like this:
# This is a comment.
Alice-
>
Bob: Filled arrow
Alice-
>
>
Bob: Open arrow
Bob--
>
Alice: Dotted line
Bob--
>
>
Alice: Dotted Line, open arrow
Bob
<
-
>
Alice: Double arrow
The participants are automatically created when they are used. Use the "-->" syntax to draw a dotted line.
To include a colon in a participant name, enclose it in quotes.
":Alice"-
>
":Bob": Hello
The next section describes how to save typing by declaring participant names.
Changing the order of participants

If you want to participants to be shown in a different order than they are used, declare them first using theparticipant
keyword. You can also rename them this way to save typing.
participant Bob
participant Alice
participant "I have a really\nlong name" as L
Alice-
>
Bob: Authentication Request
Bob-
>
Alice: Authentication Response
Bob-
>
L: Log transaction
Signal to Self

A participant can send a signal to itself. This will result in an arrow that turns back on itself.
You may break the text into multiple lines by using "\n".
Alice-
>
Alice: This is a signal to self.\nIt also demonstrates \nmultiline \ntext.
Grouping signals together

You can group signals together using thealt/else
,opt
,loop
, andpar
keywords. All of them can take a text description that will be displayed in the group header. Use theend
keyword to signal the end of a group. The groups may be nested to any depth.
Alice-
>
Bob: Authentication Request
alt successful case
Bob-
>
Alice: Authentication Accepted
else some kind of failure
Bob-
>
Alice: Authentication Failure
opt
loop 1000 times
Alice-
>
Bob: DNS Attack
end
end
else Another type of failure
Bob-
>
Alice: Please repeat
end
Notes in the diagram

You can add notes to your diagram. Notes can be placed to the left of a participant or to the right of a participant. In addition, you can centre a note over one or more participants.
If a note contains more than one line, it will be not be word-wrapped. Instead, it will be formatted exactly as written.
participant Alice
participant Bob
note left of Alice
This is displayed
left of Alice.
end note
note right of Alice: This is displayed right of Alice.
note over Alice: This is displayed over Alice.
note over Alice, Bob: This is displayed over Bob and Alice.
Lifeline Activation and Destruction
Use the+
and-
with signals to denote object activation. While activated, the participant's lifeline will be highlighted.+
will activate the receiver, and-
will deactivate the sender.
Use*
with signals to create a participant.A->*B: hello
.
You can use thedestroy
keyword to destroy a participant. The participant's lifeline will end at the previous signal.
User-
>
+A: DoWork
A-
>
*+B:
<
<
createRequest
>
>
B-
>
*+C: DoWork
C--
>
B: WorkDone
destroy C
B--
>
-A: RequestCreated
A-
>
User: Done
Alternate Syntax
Get more control over activations using the
activate
and
deactivate
keywords. The commands apply to the previous signal.
Alice-
>
Bob: Do some work!
activate Bob
Bob-
>
Bob: Work routine
activate Bob
deactivate Bob
Bob-
>
Alice: All done!
deactivate Bob
Only arrows can cause activations
Activations and deactivations attach themselves to the previous signal. Neither a note or a state can cause a deactivation. If you want to deactivate spontaneously, use a signal-to-self.
A-
>
+B: Activate please
B-
>
-B: I'm deactivating now\n by myself
One arrow can activate/deactivate many participants at a time
A-
>
B:
activate A
activate B
B-
>
C:
deactivate A
deactivate B
activate C
C-
>
C:
deactivate C
Include other diagrams (available in a purchased version)
You can refer to and include other diagrams that you have saved in your account without retyping the text. Use the word
include
followed by the filename in quotes.
title LTE Call Flow
include "LTE Attach procedure"
include "LTE Call Setup"
You can use any file to which you have access, including those in shared folders.
Extended Text Descriptions (available in a purchased version)
You can explain the sequences that follow
simply by indenting your explanations
with a space.
Alice-
>
Bob: Wow!
Parallel signals (available in purchased version)

You can make different things happen at the same time using theparallel
keyword.
parallel {
Client-
>
Proxy: Request
Proxy-
>
Server: Forwarded Request
note right of Server: Web proxy in operation
}
Use the serial keyword within a parallel block to describe two parallel sequences of operations.
parallel {
serial {
Alice-
>
Bob: Hello
Bob-
>
Alice: Hello
}
serial {
Eve-
>
Carol: Hello
Carol-
>
Eve: Hello
}
}
States (available in purchased version)

A rounded box can be useful to show state information. The syntax is identical to thenote
keyword, except thatstate
is used.
participant Client
participant Server
parallel {
state over Server: LISTEN
state over Client: CLOSED
}
Client-
>
Server: SYN
parallel {
state over Client: SYN-SENT
state over Server: SYN_RECEIVED
}
Server-
>
Client: ACK
Autonumbering (available in purchased version)

Autonumbering will automatically prefix all signals with a number. To use it, include the line autonumber followed by the number to start with. To turn off autonumbering, use "autonumber off"
autonumber 2
UE-
>
GANC: Register Request
GANC-
>
UE: Register Reject
Reference other sequences (available in purchased version)
You can summarize or refer to sequences by drawing a box over one or more participants.
ref over Mobile, Base Station
Refer to 3GPP 44.060 6.6.4.1
end ref
You can optionally have a signal going into the box or one coming out of it.
Alice-
>
ref over Bob, Mary: input
refer to other diagram
end ref --
>
Alice: output
Footer types (available in purchased version)
Change the way the bottom of your diagram looks usingoption footer=.
option footer=none
Alice-
>
Alice:
option footer=bar
Alice-
>
Alice:
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