Profile diagrams: stereotypes and metadata

简介 / Introduction

Stereotypes extend class diagram elements with semantic labels, distinguishing roles like “interface”, “service”, “entity”, and “enum” within the same diagram. Both PlantUML and Mermaid support <<stereotype>> notation, but with different details. This post compares syntax and rendering output.

PlantUML version

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@startuml
skinparam classAttributeIconSize 0

profile UserProfile {
  stereotype Entity <<entity>>
  stereotype Service <<service>>
  stereotype Interface <<interface>>
}

class User as "用户" <<entity>>
class AuthService as "认证服务" <<service>>
interface IUserRepo as "用户仓库" <<interface>>

User -- IUserRepo
AuthService ..> IUserRepo
@enduml

PlantUML’s profile block declares a namespace for stereotypes, and < <type> > annotations follow the class name directly. Common stereotypes like <<entity>>, <<service>>, and <<interface>> can be styled via skinparam directives.

Mermaid version

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classDiagram
    class User {
        <<entity>>
        +String name
        +int id
    }
    class AuthService {
        <<service>>
        +login()
        +logout()
    }
    class IUserRepo {
        <<interface>>
        +findById()
        +save()
    }
    User --> IUserRepo
    AuthService ..> IUserRepo

In Mermaid, <<stereotype>> appears as the first line inside a class block, equivalent to PlantUML’s < <type> > annotation. The classDiagram notation supports <<interface>>, <<abstract>>, <<service>>, and other common stereotypes.

对比 / Side-by-side

小结 / Wrap-up

Both engines share the same core concept — <<type>> denotes a stereotype — but PlantUML adds profile declarations and skinparam fine-tuning for complex enterprise建模. Mermaid wins on lightweight, Markdown-friendly authoring for inline documentation.