Modeling diagrams in Dawiso visually represent data and its relationships through fully customizable diagrams. Create new entities directly in the diagram, or add existing objects from your environment by searching and dragging them into place.
Objects can be connected using notations such as crow’s foot and styled with shapes and colors to reflect their type or role. This flexibility adapts diagrams to a variety of modeling needs, such as:
- Conceptual models to capture high-level business relationships.
- Semantic models to clarify meaning and context.
- Logical models to describe entities and attributes in greater detail.
Available elements and relations depend on the diagram configuration. For example, semantic model diagrams have a different selection than logical model diagrams.
Unlike lineage diagrams, which show how data flows and transforms across systems, or entity relation diagrams (ERDs), which focus on the structural relationships between database entities, modeling diagrams are fully customizable. They aren’t limited to technical dependencies and can include any objects you choose to represent, linked in ways that best reflect your use case.
Create a model
First, make sure your application has an object type that supports modeling diagrams. Admins can add object types that have the create_as_diagram feature to applications. For more information, see Object Type Features.
- In your application, click Create in the top navigation bar.
- Name the object and select Diagram object type.
- Dawiso opens the diagram creation page.
You can generate the diagram with AI instead of building it manually. See Generate and refine with AI.
Generate and refine with AI
Instead of building a diagram manually, generate one using AI and keep refining it in the same panel.
- In Edit mode, click Generate with AI in the action panel at the bottom of the diagram to open the Ask AI to edit chat panel.
- Describe the model you want, or the change to make, in plain language. Type
/to open the object picker and reference an existing object. References appear as chips above the message field, and you can remove them before sending. - Send the message with the Send button or by pressing Enter.
Press Shift + Enter to add a line break instead of sending.
Keep sending messages to refine the diagram further. For example, ask the assistant to:
- Add or remove objects.
- Create relations between objects, including crow’s foot notation.
- Change the color of an element.
- Create a folder and move objects into it.
- Add sticky notes or text.
- Tidy up the layout.
Each response the assistant applies is a single step, so you can undo it in one action. If a request can’t be fully applied, the diagram rolls back to its state from before that request, so you never see a half-applied change.
Request status
| State | What happens |
|---|---|
| Working | The panel shows Thinking…, the message field is locked, and Send is replaced with Stop. |
| Stopped or failed | The request is discarded and the diagram stays unchanged. The chat shows Stopped. Nothing was applied. |
Closing the panel while a request is running cancels it the same way, so send the request again afterward to get that change.
Build your diagram
Modeling diagrams are built from two building blocks: the objects and elements placed on the canvas, and the relations that connect them.
- Objects and elements: Add objects, shapes, and images, group them in folders that mirror the metadata repository, and manage element actions like copy, lock, and resize.
- Relations: Connect objects and elements, and edit a relation’s color, type, and style.