# Pele Mermaid Renderer, Explained

> Pele is Obsidian's open-source Mermaid-to-SVG renderer (MIT, github.com/obsidianmd/pele). It claims a 230 kB gzip bundle, zero dependencies, and 0.05-0.3 ms renders vs 6-82 ms for Mermaid.js (project-reported, not independently verified). This page includes a live side-by-side render test that times both renderers in your browser, install snippets, a Pele vs Mermaid.js comparison table, theming docs, and FAQ.

Pele renders Mermaid diagram syntax to SVG. It was built by Obsidian for its own diagram needs and open-sourced in October 2026 (presented October 17; 558 Hacker News points in 24 hours; 1,800+ GitHub stars within two weeks). It is named after Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes and fire.

Speed claims (from pele.run, project-reported): bundle 230 kB gzip vs Mermaid.js 1.6 MB; render 0.05-0.3 ms vs 6-82 ms (up to 500x); 0 vs 23 direct dependencies; adapts layout on small screens while Mermaid.js scales the diagram; theming via CSS variables with no re-render.

Install: npm install pele, then import { render } from 'pele'. Plain HTML: load https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pele@1/dist/pele.global.js and call pele.mount(el, text). Slimmer: import { register, render } from 'pele/core' plus per-diagram imports; lazy: import { renderAsync } from 'pele/lazy'.

Theming: set CSS variables on the diagram or a parent element: --pele-bg, --pele-fg, --pele-muted, --pele-line, --pele-surface, --pele-surface-alt, --pele-border, --pele-accent, --pele-font, --pele-radius. Charts use --pele-series-1 through --pele-series-8. Color changes apply without re-rendering.

Compatibility: targets Mermaid 12.1.0 syntax (flowcharts, sequence, class, state, ER, Gantt, pie, mindmap, timeline, and the rest). Layout and visual style are Pele's own, not pixel-identical to Mermaid.js. Parsers tested against Mermaid's parser specs plus differential fuzzing. Security: escapes diagram text, filters links and styles, limits source and output size.

Caveats: speed numbers are vendor claims with no published test setup; Mermaid.js plugins and custom themes do not carry over; Obsidian has not announced when Pele ships inside the Obsidian app itself (checked October 19, 2026).

Guide: https://lab.awaara.cn/pele-mermaid/
Official site: https://pele.run/
Source: https://github.com/obsidianmd/pele
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