Published: February 6, 2025
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Writing walls of text to tell an AI what to do is painful. Our community discovered something interesting: using Mermaid diagram code for custom instructions instead of paragraphs. Here's what it looks like in practice 🧵

Image in tweet by Cline

1/6 Traditional prompt: "First check the context, then validate files..." Mermaid version: flowchart TD Start --> ReadFiles ReadFiles --> Verify Verify --> Execute

2/6 Here's a real example from our Memory Bank sytem: Instead of paragraphs explaining relationships, the hierarchy is instantly clear through visualization.

Image in tweet by Cline

3/6 Why might this work better? >Each node & connection is explicit >No room for ambiguity >Clear decision points >Visual representation of process flow It's like giving AI a map instead of written directions.

4/6 Memory Bank uses these diagrams to solve a common AI problem: Every new chat = complete memory reset. Instead of re-explaining your project each time, Memory Bank gives Cline a structured way to rebuild context.

5/6 Want to experiment with this? Add Mermaid diagrams to your Cline custom instructions. The process is simple -- take your current custom instructions and have AI convert it to a Mermaid diagram.

6/6 This is cutting-edge stuff we're exploring. No guarantees, but the early feedback from our community is promising.

Build better with Cline: https://marketplace.visualstud... Join our community: - Discord: https://discord.gg/cline - Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/cline

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