Skinparam command

You can change colors and font of the drawing using the skinparam command.

Example:

skinparam backgroundColor transparent

Usage

You can use this command : * In the diagram definition, like any other commands, * In an link::preprocessing[included file], * In a configuration file, provided in the link::command-line[command line] or the link::ant-task[ANT task].

Nested

To avoid repetition, it is possible to nest definition. So the following definition :

skinparam xxxxParam1 value1
skinparam xxxxParam2 value2
skinparam xxxxParam3 value3
skinparam xxxxParam4 value4

is strictly equivalent to:

skinparam xxxx {
    Param1 value1
    Param2 value2
    Param3 value3
    Param4 value4
}

Black and White

You can force the use of a black&white output using skinparam monochrome true command.

@startuml

skinparam monochrome true

actor User
participant "First Class" as A
participant "Second Class" as B
participant "Last Class" as C

User -> A: DoWork
activate A

A -> B: Create Request
activate B

B -> C: DoWork
activate C
C --> B: WorkDone
destroy C

B --> A: Request Created
deactivate B

A --> User: Done
deactivate A

@enduml

Shadowing

You can disable the shadowing using the skinparam shadowing false command.

@startuml

left to right direction

skinparam shadowing<> false
skinparam shadowing<> true

actor User
(Glowing use case) <> as guc
(Flat use case) <> as fuc
User -- guc
User -- fuc

@enduml

Reverse colors

You can force the use of a black&white output using skinparam monochrome reverse command. This can be useful for black background environment.

@startuml

skinparam monochrome reverse

actor User
participant "First Class" as A
participant "Second Class" as B
participant "Last Class" as C

User -> A: DoWork
activate A

A -> B: Create Request
activate B

B -> C: DoWork
activate C
C --> B: WorkDone
destroy C

B --> A: Request Created
deactivate B

A --> User: Done
deactivate A

@enduml

Colors

You can use either link::color[standard color name] or RGB code.

@startuml
colors
@enduml

transparent can only be used for background of the image.

Font color, name and size

You can change the font for the drawing using xxxFontColor, xxxFontSize and xxxFontName parameters.

Example:

skinparam classFontColor red
skinparam classFontSize 10
skinparam classFontName Aapex

You can also change the default font for all fonts using skinparam defaultFontName.

Example:

skinparam defaultFontName Aapex

Please note the fontname is highly system dependent, so do not over use it, if you look for portability. Helvetica and Courier should be available on all systems.

A lot of parameters are available. You can list them using the following command:

java -jar plantuml.jar -language

Text Alignment

Text alignment can be set to left, right or center in skinparam sequenceMessageAlign. You can also use direction or reverseDirection values to align text depending on arrow direction.

Param name Default value Comment

sequenceMessageAlign

left

Used for messages in sequence diagrams

sequenceReferenceAlign

center

Used for ref over in sequence diagrams

 
@startuml
skinparam sequenceMessageAlign center
Alice -> Bob : Hi
Bob -> Alice : This is very long
@enduml
@startuml
skinparam sequenceMessageAlign right
Alice -> Bob : Hi
Bob -> Alice : This is very long
@enduml
@startuml
skinparam sequenceMessageAlign direction
Alice -> Bob : Hi
Bob -> Alice: Hi
@enduml

Examples

@startuml
skinparam backgroundColor #EEEBDC
skinparam handwritten true

skinparam sequence {
ArrowColor DeepSkyBlue
ActorBorderColor DeepSkyBlue
LifeLineBorderColor blue
LifeLineBackgroundColor #A9DCDF

ParticipantBorderColor DeepSkyBlue
ParticipantBackgroundColor DodgerBlue
ParticipantFontName Impact
ParticipantFontSize 17
ParticipantFontColor #A9DCDF

ActorBackgroundColor aqua
ActorFontColor DeepSkyBlue
ActorFontSize 17
ActorFontName Aapex
}

actor User
participant "First Class" as A
participant "Second Class" as B
participant "Last Class" as C

User -> A: DoWork
activate A

A -> B: Create Request
activate B

B -> C: DoWork
activate C
C --> B: WorkDone
destroy C

B --> A: Request Created
deactivate B

A --> User: Done
deactivate A
@enduml
@startuml
skinparam handwritten true

skinparam actor {
BorderColor black
FontName Courier
        BackgroundColor<< Human >> Gold
}

skinparam usecase {
BackgroundColor DarkSeaGreen
BorderColor DarkSlateGray

BackgroundColor<< Main >> YellowGreen
BorderColor<< Main >> YellowGreen

ArrowColor Olive
}

User << Human >>
:Main Database: as MySql << Application >>
(Start) << One Shot >>
(Use the application) as (Use) << Main >>

User -> (Start)
User --> (Use)

MySql --> (Use)
@enduml
@startuml
skinparam roundcorner 20
skinparam class {
BackgroundColor PaleGreen
ArrowColor SeaGreen
BorderColor SpringGreen
}
skinparam stereotypeCBackgroundColor YellowGreen

Class01 "1" *-- "many" Class02 : contains

Class03 o-- Class04 : aggregation
@enduml
@startuml
skinparam interface {
  backgroundColor RosyBrown
  borderColor orange
}

skinparam component {
  FontSize 13
  BackgroundColor<> LightCoral
  BorderColor<> #FF6655
  FontName Courier
  BorderColor black
  BackgroundColor gold
  ArrowFontName Impact
  ArrowColor #FF6655
  ArrowFontColor #777777
}

() "Data Access" as DA
[Web Server] << Apache >>

DA - [First Component]
[First Component] ..> () HTTP : use
HTTP - [Web Server]
@enduml
@startuml
[AA] <>
[BB] <>
[CC] <>

node node1
node node2 <>
database Production

skinparam component {
    backgroundColor<> DarkKhaki
    backgroundColor<> Green
}

skinparam node {
borderColor Green
backgroundColor Yellow
backgroundColor<> Magenta
}
skinparam databaseBackgroundColor Aqua
@enduml

List of all skinparam parameters

You can use -language on the command line or generate a "diagram" with a list of all the skinparam parameters using : * help skinparams * skinparameters

Command Line: -language command

Since the documentation is not always up to date, you can have the complete list of parameters using this command:

java -jar plantuml.jar -language

Command: help skinparams

That will give you the following result, from this page (code of this command): CommandHelpSkinparam.java

@startuml
help skinparams
@enduml

Command: skinparameters

@startuml
skinparameters
@enduml

All Skin Parameters on the Ashley’s PlantUML Doc

You can also view each skinparam parameters with its results displayed at the page All Skin Parameters of Ashley's PlantUML Doc: * https://plantuml-documentation.readthedocs.io/en/latest/formatting/all-skin-params.html.