diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs.yml b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
index 38435d1cdb..0ce7998f44 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ jobs:
               with:
                   mdbook-version: "0.4.10"
 
-            - name: Install mdbook-combiner
-              run: cargo install mdbook-combiner
+            - name: Install mdbook extensions
+              run: cargo install mdbook-combiner mdbook-mermaid
 
             - name: Prepare docs
               run: |
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3d737137ce..2d157538e4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -28,3 +28,5 @@ electron/pub
 /src/modules.ts
 /build_config.yaml
 /book
+/mermaid*
+/index.html
diff --git a/book.toml b/book.toml
index 24275dc61c..e37b56a8d4 100644
--- a/book.toml
+++ b/book.toml
@@ -24,3 +24,9 @@ git-repository-url = "https://github.com/vector-im/element-web"
 
 # The path that the docs are hosted on
 site-url = "/element-web/"
+additional-js = ["mermaid.min.js", "mermaid-init.js"]
+
+[preprocessor]
+
+[preprocessor.mermaid]
+command = "mdbook-mermaid"
diff --git a/docs/app-load.md b/docs/app-load.md
index 6f137bc888..849e95cb8d 100644
--- a/docs/app-load.md
+++ b/docs/app-load.md
@@ -4,78 +4,67 @@
 been kept untouched for posterity.
 
 Old slow flow:
-![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/2403652/73848963-00a2a080-4821-11ea-97d4-1200fc2638f3.png)
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    A1(((load_modernizr))) --> B
+    A2((rageshake)) --> B
+    B(((skin))) --> C
+    C(((olm))) --> D
+    D{mobile} --> E
+    E((config)) --> F
+    F((i18n)) --> G
+    style F stroke:lime
+    G(((theme))) --> H
+    H(((modernizr))) --> app
+    style H stroke:red
+```
 
 Current more parallel flow:
-![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/2403652/83146440-303a2900-a0ee-11ea-806b-4f53f039b957.png)
 
-<details><summary>Code</summary>
-<p>
-<pre><code>
-digraph G {
-  node [shape=box];
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    subgraph index.ts
+        style index.ts stroke:orange
 
-subgraph cluster_0 {
-color=orange;
-node [style=filled];
-label = "index.ts";
+        A[/rageshake/] --> B{mobile}
+        B-- No -->C1(.)
+        B-- Yes -->C2((redirect))
+        C1 --> D[/olm/] --> R
+        C1 --> E[platform] --> F[/config/]
+        F --> G1[/skin/]
+        F --> R
+        G1 --> H
+        G1 --> R
+        F --> G2[/theme/]
+        G2 --> H
+        G2 --> R
+        F --> G3[/i18n/]
+        G3 --> H
+        G3 --> R
+        H{modernizr}-- No --> J((incompatible))-- user ignore --> R
+        H-- Yes --> R
 
-    entrypoint, s0, ready [shape=point];
-    rageshake, config, i18n, theme, skin, olm [shape=parallelogram];
-    mobile [shape=diamond, label="mobile"];
-    modernizr [shape=diamond];
-    redirect, incompatible [shape=egg];
+        linkStyle 0,7,9,11,12,14,15 stroke:blue;
+        linkStyle 4,8,10,13,16 stroke:red;
+    end
 
-    entrypoint -> rageshake;
-    rageshake -> mobile [color=blue];
-    mobile -> s0 [label="No"];
-    mobile -> redirect [label="Yes"];
+    R>ready] --> 2A
+    style R stroke:gray
 
-    s0 -> platform;
-    s0 -> olm;
-    platform -> config;
+    subgraph init.tsx
+        style init.tsx stroke:lime
+        2A[loadApp] --> 2B[matrixchat]
+    end
 
-    config -> i18n [color=blue];
-    config -> theme [color=blue];
-    config -> skin [color=blue];
-
-    i18n -> modernizr [color=blue];
-    theme -> modernizr [color=blue];
-    skin -> modernizr [color=blue];
-
-    modernizr -> ready [label="Yes"];
-    modernizr -> incompatible [label="No"];
-    incompatible -> ready [label="user ignore"];
-
-    olm -> ready [color=red];
-    config -> ready [color=red];
-    skin -> ready [color=red];
-    theme -> ready [color=red];
-    i18n -> ready [color=red];
-
-}
-
-subgraph cluster_1 {
-color = green;
-node [style=filled];
-label = "init.tsx";
-
-    ready -> loadApp;
-    loadApp -> matrixchat;
-
-}
-}
-</code></pre>
-
-</p>
-</details>
+```
 
 Key:
 
 -   Parallelogram: async/await task
 -   Box: sync task
 -   Diamond: conditional branch
--   Egg: user interaction
+-   Circle: user interaction
 -   Blue arrow: async task is allowed to settle but allowed to fail
 -   Red arrow: async task success is asserted
 
@@ -86,4 +75,34 @@ Notes:
 -   Everything is awaited to be settled before the Modernizr check, to allow it to make use of things like i18n if they are successful.
 
 Underlying dependencies:
-![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/2403652/73848977-08624500-4821-11ea-9830-bb0317c41086.png)
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    A((rageshake))
+    B{mobile}
+    C((config))
+    D(((olm)))
+    E((i18n))
+    F(((load_modernizr)))
+    G(((modernizr)))
+    H(((skin)))
+    I(((theme)))
+    X[app]
+
+    A --> G
+    A --> B
+    A-- assert -->X
+    F --> G --> X
+    G --> H --> X
+    C --> I --> X
+    C --> E --> X
+    E --> G
+    B --> C-- assert -->X
+    B --> D --> X
+
+    style X stroke:red
+    style G stroke:red
+    style E stroke:lime
+    linkStyle 0,11 stroke:yellow;
+    linkStyle 2,13 stroke:red;
+```