This is the only diagramming language I end up actually using. And even then I usually end up redoing everything in OmniGraffle after I’ve roughed out a draft.

Cool! D2 seems to have the two things I really want:

* it's text-based

* it can generate animations. (Step 1, step 2... on separate slides)

its layout engine is the real magic for me, it allows complex diagrams that are just unreadable in graphviz or mermaid. a concise DSL and animation support are bonuses too