visual-explainer
An agent skill that turns complex terminal output into styled HTML pages you actually want to read.
Ask your agent to explain a system architecture, review a diff, or compare requirements against a plan. Instead of ASCII art and box-drawing tables, it generates a self-contained HTML page and opens it in your browser.
> draw a diagram of our authentication flow
> /diff-review
> /plan-review ~/docs/refactor-plan.md
visual-explainer.mp4
Why
Every coding agent defaults to ASCII art when you ask for a diagram. Box-drawing characters, monospace alignment hacks, text arrows. It works for trivial cases, but anything beyond a 3-box flowchart turns into an unreadable mess.
Tables are worse. Ask the agent to compare 15 requirements against a plan and you get a wall of pipes and dashes that wraps and breaks in the terminal. The data is there but it's painful to read.
This skill fixes that. Real typography, dark/light themes, interactive Mermaid diagrams with zoom and pan. No build step, no dependencies beyond a browser.
Install
| Harness | Support | Install path / behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Marketplace plugin | Preserved marketplace shape with source at plugins/visual-explainer/ |
| Pi | Package metadata plus installer | package.json advertises the skill, prompts, and native visual_explainer tool with prepare and render actions; install-pi.sh installs copied skill/prompt resources for legacy manual installs |
| Codex CLI | Native skill path plus optional prompts | Copy to ~/.codex/skills/visual-explainer; optional prompts go in ~/.codex/prompts/ if your Codex build supports them |
| OpenCode/opencode | Observed skill/command paths | Copy to ~/.config/opencode/skill/visual-explainer; optional commands go in ~/.config/opencode/command/ |
| Cursor | Rules-based guidance | Add the supplied .mdc rule; Cursor is not treated as native Agent Skills support |
| OpenClaw | Lightweight AGENTS/rules guidance | Use the supplied AGENTS guidance with the canonical skill directory |
Claude Code (marketplace):
/plugin marketplace add nicobailon/visual-explainer
/plugin install visual-explainer@visual-explainer-marketplaceNote: Claude Code plugins namespace commands as /visual-explainer:command-name.
Pi:
pi install git:github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainerOr from a local checkout:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git
pi install ./visual-explainerThe package manifest advertises the canonical skill, command templates, and Pi tool:
"pi": {
"extensions": ["./plugins/visual-explainer/extension.ts"],
"skills": ["./plugins/visual-explainer"],
"prompts": ["./plugins/visual-explainer/commands"]
}The Pi extension registers one native visual_explainer tool. Use action: "prepare" to plan a visual explanation after generating or reviewing a substantial plan, architecture, diff, or implementation, and action: "render" to write complete HTML pages to ~/.agent/diagrams/. /generate-web-diagram remains the bundled prompt template command.
If you previously used the old curl/manual installer, remove those copied files before using pi install; otherwise Pi will report skill and prompt conflicts because the user-level copies shadow the package resources:
rm -rf ~/.pi/agent/skills/visual-explainer
rm -f ~/.pi/agent/prompts/{diff-review,fact-check,generate-slides,generate-visual-plan,generate-web-diagram,plan-review,project-recap}.md
rm -f ~/.pi/agent/prompts/s[h]are*.mdThe legacy installer still works if you prefer copied skill and prompt files over package management, but it does not install the native Pi tool:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer/main/install-pi.sh | bashCodex CLI:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git /tmp/visual-explainer
mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills ~/.codex/prompts
cp -R /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer ~/.codex/skills/visual-explainer
# Optional, only if your Codex build supports prompt templates:
cp /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer/commands/*.md ~/.codex/prompts/
rm -rf /tmp/visual-explainerInvoke with $visual-explainer or ask Codex to use the visual-explainer skill. If prompts are installed and supported, use /prompts:diff-review, /prompts:plan-review, etc.
OpenCode/opencode:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nicobailon/visual-explainer.git /tmp/visual-explainer
mkdir -p ~/.config/opencode/skill ~/.config/opencode/command
cp -R /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer ~/.config/opencode/skill/visual-explainer
# Optional command templates:
cp /tmp/visual-explainer/plugins/visual-explainer/commands/*.md ~/.config/opencode/command/
rm -rf /tmp/visual-explainerActivate it by asking OpenCode to use the visual-explainer skill. Command-template behavior depends on the installed OpenCode/opencode build.
Cursor:
Add configs/cursor/visual-explainer.mdc to your Cursor rules, or copy its contents into the project rules UI. This is rules-based guidance that points Cursor at the canonical skill; it does not claim native Agent Skills support.
OpenClaw:
Use configs/openclaw/AGENTS.md as lightweight project guidance and copy or reference plugins/visual-explainer/ as the canonical skill source. No native OpenClaw plugin adapter is included.
Commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/generate-web-diagram |
Generate an HTML diagram for any topic |
/generate-visual-plan |
Generate a visual implementation plan for a feature or extension |
/generate-slides |
Generate a magazine-quality slide deck |
/diff-review |
Visual diff review with architecture comparison and code review |
/plan-review |
Compare a plan against the codebase with risk assessment |
/project-recap |
Mental model snapshot for context-switching back to a project |
/fact-check |
Verify accuracy of a document against actual code |
The agent also kicks in automatically when it's about to dump a complex table in the terminal (4+ rows or 3+ columns) — it renders HTML instead.
Slide Deck Mode
Any command that produces a scrollable page supports --slides to generate a slide deck instead:
/diff-review --slides
/project-recap --slides 2w
visual-explainer-slides.mp4
How It Works
.claude-plugin/
├── plugin.json ← marketplace identity
└── marketplace.json ← plugin catalog
plugins/
└── visual-explainer/
├── .claude-plugin/
│ └── plugin.json ← plugin manifest
├── SKILL.md ← workflow + design principles
├── extension.ts ← Pi native tool
├── commands/ ← slash commands
├── references/ ← agent reads before generating
│ ├── css-patterns.md (layouts, animations, theming)
│ ├── libraries.md (Mermaid, Chart.js, fonts)
│ ├── responsive-nav.md (sticky TOC for multi-section pages)
│ └── slide-patterns.md (slide engine, transitions, presets)
└── templates/ ← reference templates with different palettes
├── architecture.html
├── mermaid-flowchart.html
├── data-table.html
└── slide-deck.html
Output: ~/.agent/diagrams/filename.html → opens in browser. In Pi package installs, agents can offer visual_explainer with action: "prepare" after generating or reviewing a substantial plan, architecture, diff, or implementation when a visual explanation would help, then call it with action: "render" as the final write/open step.
The skill routes to the right approach automatically: Mermaid for flowcharts and diagrams, CSS Grid for architecture overviews, HTML tables for data, Chart.js for dashboards.
Limitations
- Generated HTML is portable and self-contained, but auto-opening depends on the harness, browser access, and sandbox rules.
- All harnesses write visual output to
~/.agent/diagrams/unless the user asks for a different path. - Switching OS theme requires a page refresh for Mermaid SVGs.
- Results vary by model capability.
Credits
Borrows ideas from Anthropic's frontend-design skill and interface-design.
License
MIT
