Generate a diagram with AI

Describe a business process in plain language and let Bonita Process Designer generate a BPMN 2.0 diagram for you to review and refine.

Instead of dragging every element onto the canvas yourself, you can describe a process in natural language and let Bonita Process Designer build a first draft for you. AI generation is the fastest way to go from an idea to a working diagram you can then edit by hand.

AI generation is only available when an administrator has registered the installation and configured AI for it. If the AI option is greyed out, ask your administrator to enable it. See First-time setup and Manage AI quota.

Before you start

To generate a diagram with AI you need:

  • The Creator or Admin role in the group you are working in. Readers cannot create or generate diagrams.

  • AI enabled for the installation (your administrator handles this).

  • Available group quota — each group has a limited number of AI generations over a rolling 30-day window. Generation is blocked once the group reaches its cap.

Start a generation

  1. Create a new diagram (give it a title and an optional description).

  2. On the empty canvas, the first-time dialog appears with two choices:

    • Start from scratch — open an empty canvas and build the diagram manually.

    • Generate with AI — open the AI generation dialog.

      Choose Generate with AI.

  3. In the Generate tab, type a description of the process you want. Be specific about the steps, who performs them, and the decision points. A character counter shows how much room you have left (the maximum is configurable, 500 characters by default).

    Write the process as you would explain it to a colleague — for example: "An employee submits a leave request. Their manager reviews it. If approved, the request goes to HR for processing; if rejected, it returns to the employee for revision."

    Descriptions must be written in English. Very complex processes may not generate accurately — generate a first draft, then refine it by hand.

  4. If your installation offers more than one AI provider, pick the one you want from the provider selector. This choice applies to the current generation only and overrides the administrator’s default; if no selector is shown, the default provider is used.

  5. Select Generate diagram.

The AI panel, Generate tab, with a description and the character counter

Watch the progress

Generation runs in the background, so it keeps going even if you close the tab or briefly lose your connection. A progress overlay shows the current phase as the diagram is built:

Phase What is happening

Queued

Your request is waiting for a free slot.

Planning

The structure of the process is being worked out.

Generating

The BPMN diagram is being produced (this is the longest phase).

Validating

The generated diagram is being checked.

Finalizing

Layout is applied and the diagram is finished.

The progress bar advances as each phase is reached. When the remaining time can be estimated it fills smoothly; otherwise it shows an indeterminate pulse. Select Continue working to dismiss the overlay without cancelling — the generation finishes in the background and loads when it is ready.

If you reload the editor while a generation is still running, Bonita Process Designer reattaches to it automatically and resumes showing progress. A generation that finished while the tab was closed is imported on your next visit, as long as its result has not expired.

Review the result

When generation succeeds, the diagram is imported onto the canvas, automatically zoomed to fit, and a success notification appears. You now have a normal editable diagram.

Because Bonita Process Designer produces only BPMN elements that are compatible with Bonita Studio, any unsupported element in the generated output is converted or removed during import. When that happens, a migration log is created so you can see exactly what changed:

  • Each entry shows the element, what was done (converted, removed, or moved to the top level), and why.

  • Select an entry to focus the corresponding element on the canvas.

  • You can mark entries as reviewed once you have checked them.

See Supported BPMN elements for the list of elements and how migration works.

Refine the diagram

The generated diagram is a starting point. From here you can:

  • Edit it directly on the canvas — see Create your first diagram and Edit a diagram.

  • Ask the AI to modify the current diagram with a follow-up instruction (for example, "Add a manager approval step after the first task"), or analyze it to get a plain-language summary. These actions are available from the Modify and Analyze tabs of the AI dialog. A modify request counts against your group quota; an analyze request does not.

If generation is unavailable or fails

  • AI option greyed out — the installation is not registered or AI is not configured. Contact your administrator.

  • Quota exceeded — your group has used all its AI generations for the current 30-day window. Wait for usage to age out of the window or ask an administrator to raise the group quota.

  • Generation failed or the service is unreachable — try again; if it persists, contact your administrator.

For the full reference on AI generation, the modify and analyze actions, the provider picker, and quota behavior, see AI diagram generation.