Boost productivity with Lucid AI

Lucid AI basics

Currently, our AI capabilities are optimized for English only. Some functionality may not work as expected when used in another language.

Lucid AI is currently in beta.

Access Lucid AI

To access Lucid AI, follow these steps:

1. Open a Lucid document.
2. Select the Lucid AI icon from the top of the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the page.

From this panel you can type a request into the text-entry box, click the microphone icon to enter a prompt using voice-to-text, or select one of the options below the text box.

To start a new chat after you’ve already sent a message to Lucid AI, select the New chat icon from the top-right corner of the Lucid AI panel and click New chat.

Lucid AI capabilities

With Lucid AI, you can expedite your work in several ways:

• Generate a diagram: Create a flowchart, ERD, mind map, and other types of diagrams based on a text description.
  • Recreate a diagram from an image file.
• Generate a board: Create a brainstorm board, project kickoff, and other types of boards based on a text description.
• Brainstorm ideas: Generate new ideas or generate similar ideas based on selected content.
• Sort: Sort sticky notes into AI-generated categories.
• Summarize: Summarize content in the document.
• Apply formatting rules: Describe a conditional formatting rule to create it.
• Ask questions: Ask questions about the document or get help from the Lucid Help Center.
• Export a document: Download a Lucid document as a PDF, PNG, JPEG, or SVG.
• Link data to a Lucid document: Use AI prompts to generate data-linked shapes on the canvas.
• Feature find: Use Lucid AI to search for any tool in your Lucidchart document.

Check out the sections below for more details on each of these capabilities.

Plan mode

Before entering a prompt into Lucid AI, you have the option to enable Plan mode. Plan mode is designed to fine-tune and coordinate complex, vague, or large-scale requests. When enabled, Lucid AI will ask questions before making changes to your document.

Enable Plan mode by following these steps from the Lucid AI panel:

1. Click the plus sign icon in the bottom-left corner of the text box.
2. Select Plan mode.

The Plan mode icon will appear, indicating that it is enabled. Click the X next to the icon to disable it.

After you enter a prompt, Lucid AI will respond with a tentative plan for how to proceed. Click Accept plan to continue or Make changes if you need to clarify or provide more details.

Once you’ve accepted a plan, Lucid AI will generate an initial draft or ask follow-up questions as needed.

Process Agent

Lucid AI’s Process Agent is an interactive tool designed to help you build process diagrams and refine them through intelligent, clarifying questions. 

Enable the Process Agent by following these steps from the Lucid AI panel:

1. Click the plus sign icon in the bottom-left corner of the text box.
2. Select Process Agent.

The Process Agent icon will appear, indicating that it is enabled. Click the X next to the icon to disable it.

For more information, check out our Use Lucid AI's Process Agent to build complex diagrams faster article.

Generate a diagram

To generate a diagram in Lucidchart based on a prompt, follow these steps:

1. Select the Lucid AI icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the canvas.
2. In the text-entry box, type a detailed description of the diagram you want to generate.
   • You can also click one of the options below the text-entry box such as Build a diagram or Design a process.
3. Optionally, click plus sign icon in the bottom-left corner of the text-entry box, and select Add files to attach one or more images, PDFs, or TXT files that Lucid AI can reference in addition to your prompt.
   • Check out this post in the Lucid Community for specific examples of attaching files to generate more intelligent diagrams.
4. Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the arrow in the bottom-right corner to submit your prompt.

The AI-generated diagram will appear on the canvas.

Edit a diagram with AI

You can edit any Lucidchart diagram with AI by following these steps:

1. Select any diagram on the canvas.
2. Type a prompt into the Lucid AI panel.
   • Example: "Add an escalation path to this workflow."

Lucid AI will edit the diagram as instructed. For further modifications, you can manually move shapes and lines as you would with any Lucidchart diagram.

Outline a diagram

You can use Lucid AI to outline a detailed text version of a diagram in your Lucidchart document. Here’s how:

1. Select the diagram you want to outline.
2. Right-click the selection.
3. Hover your cursor over “Lucid AI”.
4. Select Outline diagram.

A detailed outline of the diagram will appear on the canvas. In the bottom-right corner, you have the option to copy the text to your computer’s clipboard, or generate a share link that goes directly to the outline when clicked.

Recreate a diagram from an image

You can use Lucid AI to recreate a JPG or PNG file into a Lucidchart diagram with editable shapes by following these steps:

1. Select the Lucid AI icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the canvas.
2. Click plus sign icon in the bottom-left corner of the text-entry box.
3. Select Add files.
4. Select a JPG or PNG file from your device.
5. Type a prompt such as “Recreate the attached image as an editable flowchart”.
6. Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the arrow in the bottom-right corner to submit your prompt.
   • You may be prompted with follow-up questions to answer before Lucid AI can recreate the image.

A diagram matching the image file will appear on the canvas.

Generate a board

To generate a Lucidspark board based on a prompt, follow these steps:

1. Select the Lucid AI icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the canvas.
2. In the text-entry box, type a detailed description of the board you want to generate.
   • You can also click one of the options below the text-entry box such as Facilitate a sprint retrospective, Run a brainstorming session, or Kick off a project.
3. Optionally, click plus sign icon in the bottom-left corner of the text-entry box, and select Add files to attach one or more images, PDFs, or TXT files that Lucid AI can reference in addition to your prompt.
4. Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the arrow in the bottom-right corner to submit your prompt.

The AI-generated board will appear on the canvas.

Unblock brainstorming sessions

With Lucid AI, you can generate new ideas about a given topic, or you can generate similar ideas based on content already on your board.

Generate ideas

To generate sticky notes containing new ideas from a prompt or keywords, follow these steps:

1. Select the Lucid AI icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the canvas.
2. In the text-entry box, type keywords or phrases related to the topic you want ideas for.
   • You can also click Brainstorm ideas below the text-entry box for additional options.
3. Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the arrow in the bottom-right corner to submit your prompt.

AI-generated ideas will be added to the canvas as a group of contained sticky notes.

Generate similar ideas

To populate similar ideas on the canvas from existing sticky notes:

1. Select one or more sticky notes.
   • Hold “Shift” on your keyboard to select multiple objects.
2. Access the Lucid AI options:
   • In Lucidchart, right-click the selection, then hover your cursor over “Lucid AI”.
   • In Lucidspark, click the Lucid AI icon from the context menu that appears.
3. Select Brainstorm similar.

The additional ideas that are generated will be added to the canvas as a group of contained sticky notes.

Sort ideas

To sort a group of sticky notes using Lucid AI:

1. Select six or more sticky notes.
   • Hold “Shift” on your keyboard to select multiple objects.
2. Access the Lucid AI options:
   • In Lucidchart, right-click the selection, then hover your cursor over “Lucid AI”.
   • In Lucidspark, click the Lucid AI icon from the context menu that appears.
3. Select Sort or Sort ideas.

Lucid AI will sort the sticky notes into categories separated into containers.

Summarize selected content

Summarize content in your Lucid document with AI by following these steps:

1. Select the content you want to summarize.
   • For example, you could select a flowchart or a selection of sticky notes from a brainstorming session.
2. Access the Lucid AI options:
   • In Lucidchart, right-click the selection, then hover your cursor over “Lucid AI”.
   • In Lucidspark, click the Lucid AI icon from the context menu that appears.
3. Select Summarize.

An AI-generated summary of the content will appear on the canvas. In the bottom-right corner, you have the option to copy the text to your computer’s clipboard, or generate a share link that goes directly to the summary when clicked.

You can also type directly into the Lucid AI chat, asking it to summarize the entire document or selected content.

Create a conditional formatting rule

You can use Lucid AI to create a conditional formatting rule by describing what formatting you want under defined conditions, including basic rules and complex multi-step logic. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Select the Lucid AI icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the canvas.
2. In the text-entry box, type a detailed description of the conditional formatting rule you want to create.
   • Example descriptions: “Make all employees who are located in Germany have yellow fill color” or “Give every shape with text a green outline.”
3. Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the arrow in the bottom-right corner to submit your prompt.

An AI-generated rule will be created and applied to the selected shapes on the canvas.

You can make changes to an AI-generated rule from the conditional formatting panel. If you are using Lucid AI in Lucidspark, you’ll need to use universal canvas to switch to Lucidchart to access this panel. 

Ask questions and get help

With Lucid AI, you can ask questions about the document or get help working in Lucid. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Select the Lucid AI icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the canvas.
2. In the text-entry box, type a question about the document or about how to use Lucid.
   • You can also click Ask questions below the text-entry box for additional options.
   • Example questions: “What action items are included in this document?” or “How do I add a layer to my document?”
3. Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the arrow in the bottom-right corner to submit your prompt.

Lucid AI will provide an answer to the question or it may ask follow-up questions if it needs more information. For questions about how to use Lucid, Lucid AI provides the steps as well as a link to the Lucid Help Center article containing the answer to the question.

Export a document

For a faster workflow, you can use Lucid AI to handle your export. Lucid AI automatically detects your canvas type, cropping to content for infinite canvases and respecting page sizes for fixed layouts. Lucid AI supports exporting documents as a PDF, PNG, JPEG, or SVG. 

1. Click the Lucid AI icon on the left side toolbar. 
2. Type out a prompt to export.
   • Example:” Export the current page as a PDF”

The file will download automatically once the process is complete.
 

Link data to shapes in Lucidchart

You can use Lucid AI to generate shapes and diagrams that are directly connected to data you have imported into your document. By specifying that you want the generated shapes to be linked, Lucid AI will map your imported dataset to the new shapes on the canvas rather than just generating plain text.

To generate data-linked shapes with Lucid AI, follow these steps after attaching a dataset to your Lucidchart document:

1. Select the Lucid AI icon from the Primary Toolbar on the left side of the canvas.
2. In the text-entry box, type your prompt. Be sure to explicitly instruct Lucid AI to link the generated shapes to your uploaded dataset.
   • Example prompt: "Look at the selected shape on the canvas. Create data-linked shapes for the rest of the rows in the spreadsheet that was imported through the data linking panel.”
3. Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click the arrow in the bottom-right corner to submit your prompt.

The AI-generated shapes will appear on the canvas, complete with active data links.

FAQ

Resources

To learn more about this feature, explore the additional resources below. These resources are available in English only.

Video
How to use Lucid AI for productive meetings

Give feedback on this article