Our Story

Our Mission: Great Diagrams

Gliffy was founded in 2005 in a San Francisco apartment by two software engineers who liked solving problems together, wanted a job that didn’t feel like one, and thought an online diagramming tool would save time for their fellow engineers.

With a growing team and millions of diagrams later, Gliffy is part of the proverbial toolkit for companies like Pixar, Netflix, Nike, and Harvard.

In 2019, Gliffy became a part of Perforce, a global leader in software development lifecycle, version control, and code analysis software.

While tech has changed in too many ways to count since 2005, we still believe in the power of a great diagram. Visuals can bridge communication gaps, foster creative thinking, and facilitate collaboration. Gliffy puts that power at any team’s fingertips. Learn more about our apps here:

Gliffy for Atlassian   Gliffy Online

Who’s That at the Top of The Page?

That's our mascot, Djedi! Shortly after starting Gliffy, the team invited our customers to submit mascot ideas. With their suggestions, our robot friend and mascot of over 15 years was born.

The significance of Djedi is two-fold. The name Djedi first appeared on the Westcar Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian scroll dated to approximately 2000-1800 BCE. In one of its many stories, Djedi is a 100-year-old magician who eats 500 loaves of bread and drinks 100 jugs of beer every day. The king of Egypt turns to Djedi as a consult while building of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

Djedi also knew secrets about the shrine of Thoth, the Egyptian god of hieroglyphics. Because the name Gliffy was inspired by the word "glyph," this historical connection fit all too well.

4,000 years later, robots began exploring and photographing the interiors of the great pyramids of Egypt. While we were building a diagramming tool, the University of Leeds was building one of these robots, who would later explore the pyramids in 2009 as part of Project Djedi.

We love these connections for many reasons. We believe drawings and diagrams are powerful, working like magic to help people communicate. We love the spirit of discovery in Djedi’s modern, robotic counterpart. And, perhaps most importantly, we want to help people build great things.

Gliffy for Atlassian   Gliffy Online