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title Microsoft Agent Framework Workflows - Visualization
description In-depth look at Visualization in Microsoft Agent Framework Workflows.
zone_pivot_groups programming-languages
author TaoChenOSU
ms.topic tutorial
ms.author taochen
ms.date 03/11/2026
ms.service agent-framework

Microsoft Agent Framework Workflows - Visualization

Sometimes a workflow that has multiple executors and complex interactions can be hard to understand from just reading the code. Visualization can help you see the structure of the workflow more clearly, so that you can verify that it has the intended design.

::: zone pivot="programming-language-csharp"

Workflow visualization can be achieved via extension methods on the Workflow class: ToMermaidString(), and ToDotString(), which generate Mermaid diagram format and Graphviz DOT format respectively.

using Microsoft.Agents.AI.Workflows;

// Create a workflow with a fan-out and fan-in pattern
var workflow = new WorkflowBuilder(dispatcher)
    .AddFanOutEdge(dispatcher, [researcher, marketer, legal])
    .AddFanInBarrierEdge([researcher, marketer, legal], aggregator)
    .Build();

// Mermaid diagram
Console.WriteLine(workflow.ToMermaidString());

// DiGraph string
Console.WriteLine(workflow.ToDotString());

To create an image file from the DOT format, you can use GraphViz tools with the following command:

dotnet run | tail -n +20 | dot -Tpng -o workflow.png

Tip

To export visualization images you need to install GraphViz.

For a complete working implementation with visualization, see the Visualization sample.

::: zone-end

::: zone pivot="programming-language-python"

Workflow visualization is done via a WorkflowViz object that can be instantiated with a Workflow object. The WorkflowViz object can then generate visualizations in different formats, such as Graphviz DOT format or Mermaid diagram format.

Creating a WorkflowViz object is straightforward:

from agent_framework import WorkflowBuilder, WorkflowViz

# Create a workflow with a fan-out and fan-in pattern
workflow = (
    WorkflowBuilder(start_executor=dispatcher)
    .add_fan_out_edges(dispatcher, [researcher, marketer, legal])
    .add_fan_in_edges([researcher, marketer, legal], aggregator)
    .build()
)

viz = WorkflowViz(workflow)

Then, you can create visualizations in different formats:

# Mermaid diagram
print(viz.to_mermaid())
# DiGraph string
print(viz.to_digraph())
# Export to a file
print(viz.export(format="svg"))
# Different formats are also supported
print(viz.export(format="png"))
print(viz.export(format="pdf"))
print(viz.export(format="dot"))
# Export with custom filenames
print(viz.export(format="svg", filename="my_workflow.svg"))
# Convenience methods
print(viz.save_svg("workflow.svg"))
print(viz.save_png("workflow.png"))
print(viz.save_pdf("workflow.pdf"))

Tip

For basic text output (Mermaid and DOT), no additional dependencies are needed. For image export, you need to install the graphviz Python package by running: pip install graphviz>=0.20.0 and install GraphViz.

For a complete working implementation with visualization, see the Concurrent with Visualization sample.

::: zone-end

The exported diagram will look similar to the following for the example workflow:

flowchart TD
  dispatcher["dispatcher (Start)"];
  researcher["researcher"];
  marketer["marketer"];
  legal["legal"];
  aggregator["aggregator"];
  fan_in__aggregator__e3a4ff58((fan-in))
  legal --> fan_in__aggregator__e3a4ff58;
  marketer --> fan_in__aggregator__e3a4ff58;
  researcher --> fan_in__aggregator__e3a4ff58;
  fan_in__aggregator__e3a4ff58 --> aggregator;
  dispatcher --> researcher;
  dispatcher --> marketer;
  dispatcher --> legal;
Loading

or in Graphviz DOT format:

The Mermaid diagram above also represents the Graphviz DOT format output, rendered as a directed graph.

Visualization Features

Node Styling

  • Start executors: Green background with "(Start)" label
  • Regular executors: Blue background with executor ID
  • Fan-in nodes: Golden background with ellipse shape (DOT) or double circles (Mermaid)

Edge Styling

  • Normal edges: Solid arrows
  • Conditional edges: Dashed/dotted arrows with "conditional" labels
  • Fan-out/Fan-in: Automatic routing through intermediate nodes

Layout Options

  • Top-down layout: Clear hierarchical flow visualization
  • Subgraph clustering: Nested workflows shown as grouped clusters
  • Automatic positioning: GraphViz handles optimal node placement

Next steps

[!div class="nextstepaction"] Orchestrations