diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d0c80b2..6c80d06 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ ghpdf *.md -O -q
 
 - GitHub-flavored markdown styling
 - Syntax highlighting for code blocks
+- Mermaid diagrams rendered as SVG
 - Tables, task lists, footnotes, and more
 - Page break support
 - Optional page numbers
@@ -124,6 +125,29 @@ Insert page breaks using any of these formats:
 \pagebreak
 ```
 
+### Mermaid Diagrams
+
+Fenced code blocks tagged with `mermaid` are rendered to SVG at conversion time and embedded in the PDF:
+
+````
+```mermaid
+flowchart LR
+    A[Markdown] --> B[ghpdf] --> C[PDF]
+```
+````
+
+**Renderers (in order of preference):**
+
+1. **Local — [mermaid-cli](https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid-cli) (`mmdc`)**: used automatically if `mmdc` is on `$PATH`. Works offline. Install once:
+   ```bash
+   npm install -g @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli
+   # or
+   brew install mermaid-cli
+   ```
+2. **Remote — [mermaid.ink](https://mermaid.ink)**: fallback when `mmdc` is not available. Requires network access.
+
+If both fail, the block is preserved as a regular code block. Set `GHPDF_MERMAID_OFFLINE=1` to disable the network fallback (offline-only mode).
+
 ## License
 
 MIT
diff --git a/src/ghpdf/converter.py b/src/ghpdf/converter.py
index 584f0d3..cea0863 100644
--- a/src/ghpdf/converter.py
+++ b/src/ghpdf/converter.py
@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
 """Core conversion functions for ghpdf."""
 
+import base64
 import io
+import os
 import re
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+import urllib.error
+import urllib.request
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import markdown
@@ -17,6 +24,18 @@
 )
 PAGE_BREAK_HTML = '<div class="pagebreak"></div>'
 
+# Mermaid fenced code blocks: ```mermaid ... ```
+MERMAID_PATTERN = re.compile(
+    r"^```mermaid[ \t]*\n(.*?)\n```[ \t]*$",
+    re.MULTILINE | re.DOTALL,
+)
+MERMAID_INK_URL = "https://mermaid.ink/img/{}?type=png"
+MERMAID_TIMEOUT = 15
+MERMAID_USER_AGENT = "ghpdf/1.0 (+https://github.com/atlekbai/md2pdf)"
+MERMAID_CLI_TIMEOUT = 60
+MERMAID_CLI_SCALE = "3"  # 3x SVG → ≥150 DPI when downscaled to A4 width
+MERMAID_OFFLINE_ENV = "GHPDF_MERMAID_OFFLINE"  # "1" disables network fallback
+
 # CSS for page numbers
 PAGE_NUMBERS_CSS = """
 @page {
@@ -40,8 +59,89 @@ def preprocess_pagebreaks(md_content: str) -> str:
     return PAGE_BREAK_PATTERN.sub(PAGE_BREAK_HTML, md_content)
 
 
+def _render_mermaid_png_local(source: str) -> bytes | None:
+    """Render via mermaid-cli (mmdc) to PNG. None if unavailable or failed.
+
+    PNG (rather than SVG) is used because mermaid lays out labels using HTML
+    metrics inside <foreignObject>, which downstream SVG rasterizers (e.g.
+    WeasyPrint) cannot reproduce — text would overflow and overlap.
+    """
+    cli = shutil.which("mmdc")
+    if not cli:
+        return None
+    try:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+            input_path = Path(tmpdir) / "diagram.mmd"
+            output_path = Path(tmpdir) / "diagram.png"
+            input_path.write_text(source, encoding="utf-8")
+            result = subprocess.run(
+                [
+                    cli,
+                    "-i", str(input_path),
+                    "-o", str(output_path),
+                    "-e", "png",
+                    "-s", MERMAID_CLI_SCALE,
+                    "-b", "white",
+                    "-q",
+                ],
+                capture_output=True,
+                timeout=MERMAID_CLI_TIMEOUT,
+            )
+            if result.returncode != 0 or not output_path.exists():
+                return None
+            return output_path.read_bytes()
+    except (subprocess.TimeoutExpired, OSError):
+        return None
+
+
+def _render_mermaid_png_remote(source: str) -> bytes | None:
+    """Render via mermaid.ink PNG endpoint. None on failure or non-200."""
+    encoded = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(source.encode("utf-8")).decode("ascii")
+    request = urllib.request.Request(
+        MERMAID_INK_URL.format(encoded),
+        headers={"User-Agent": MERMAID_USER_AGENT},
+    )
+    try:
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(request, timeout=MERMAID_TIMEOUT) as resp:
+            if resp.status != 200:
+                return None
+            return resp.read()
+    except (urllib.error.URLError, TimeoutError, OSError):
+        return None
+
+
+def _render_mermaid_png(diagram: str) -> bytes | None:
+    """Render mermaid source to PNG bytes.
+
+    Order of attempts:
+      1. Local mermaid-cli (mmdc) if installed — works offline.
+      2. mermaid.ink unless GHPDF_MERMAID_OFFLINE=1.
+    """
+    source = diagram.strip()
+    if not source:
+        return None
+
+    png = _render_mermaid_png_local(source)
+    if png is None and os.environ.get(MERMAID_OFFLINE_ENV) != "1":
+        png = _render_mermaid_png_remote(source)
+    return png
+
+
+def preprocess_mermaid(md_content: str) -> str:
+    """Replace ```mermaid blocks with rendered PNG; fall back to original on failure."""
+    def replace(match: re.Match) -> str:
+        png = _render_mermaid_png(match.group(1))
+        if png is None:
+            return match.group(0)
+        data_url = "data:image/png;base64," + base64.b64encode(png).decode("ascii")
+        return f'\n\n<div class="mermaid"><img src="{data_url}" alt="mermaid diagram"></div>\n\n'
+
+    return MERMAID_PATTERN.sub(replace, md_content)
+
+
 def markdown_to_html(md_content: str) -> str:
     """Convert markdown to HTML with extensions."""
+    md_content = preprocess_mermaid(md_content)
     md_content = preprocess_pagebreaks(md_content)
 
     extensions = [
diff --git a/src/ghpdf/static/github.css b/src/ghpdf/static/github.css
index abf63e7..1a4ff1e 100644
--- a/src/ghpdf/static/github.css
+++ b/src/ghpdf/static/github.css
@@ -376,6 +376,19 @@ kbd {
     vertical-align: super;
 }
 
+/* Mermaid diagrams (rendered to PNG before PDF generation) */
+.mermaid {
+    text-align: center;
+    margin: 16px 0;
+    page-break-inside: avoid;
+    break-inside: avoid;
+}
+
+.mermaid img {
+    max-width: 100%;
+    height: auto;
+}
+
 /* Abbreviations */
 abbr[title] {
     border-bottom: 1px dotted #656d76;