diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ee3ce6d1..e9bf06d9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ RUNNER_IMAGE_NAME := ${IMAGE_REPO}/node
 RUNNER_IMAGE_TAG  := bookworm
 PUPPETEER_IMAGE_NAME := ${IMAGE_REPO}/node-puppeteer
 PUPPETEER_IMAGE_TAG  := bookworm
+MERMAID_IMAGE_NAME := ${IMAGE_REPO}/mermaid
+MERMAID_IMAGE_TAG  := bookworm
 AUTH_PROXY_IMAGE_NAME := ${IMAGE_REPO}/auth-proxy
 AUTH_PROXY_IMAGE_TAG  := latest
 CONTAINER_PROXY_IMAGE_NAME := ${IMAGE_REPO}/container-socket-proxy
@@ -230,7 +232,7 @@ image_runner_node_ios: submodules image_runner_node
 		-f './imags/cocoapods-runner/Containerfile' \
 		./imags/cocoapods-runner
 
-# for mermaid etc
+# base for mermaid etc
 image_runner_node_puppeteer: IMAGE_NAME = ${PUPPETEER_IMAGE_NAME}
 image_runner_node_puppeteer: IMAGE_TAG = ${PUPPETEER_IMAGE_TAG}
 image_runner_node_puppeteer: submodules # image_runner_node
@@ -242,6 +244,17 @@ image_runner_node_puppeteer: submodules # image_runner_node
 		-f './imags/node-puppeteer/Containerfile' \
 		./imags/node-puppeteer
 
+image_runner_mermaid: IMAGE_NAME = ${MERMAID_IMAGE_NAME}
+image_runner_mermaid: IMAGE_TAG = ${MERMAID_IMAGE_TAG}
+image_runner_mermaid: submodules # image_runner_node
+	${CMD} buildx build \
+		${BUILD_OPTIONS} \
+		--build-arg "SHELL=${USER_SHELL}" \
+		--build-arg "NODE_VERSION=20" \
+		-t "${IMAGE_NAME}:${IMAGE_TAG}" \
+		-f './imags/node-puppeteer/Containerfile.mermaid' \
+		./imags/node-puppeteer
+
 image_runner_node_all: IMAGE_NAME = ${RUNNER_IMAGE_NAME}
 image_runner_node_all: IMAGE_TAG = ${RUNNER_IMAGE_TAG}
 image_runner_node_all: image_runner_node_20 image_runner_node_18 image_runner_node_22 # image_runner_node_ios
@@ -489,6 +502,9 @@ images: images_deps image_runner_node image_dnsmasq image_gpg_pk image_dev_shell
 
 images_gui: images image_xterm image_firefox image_vnc
 
+# these are optional and not enabled by default due to extra build time and disk usage
+images_opt: images_runner_mermaid image_runner_node_all
+
 images_test: images image_nvim_test
 
 test: test_nvim test_runner_node test_gpg_pk
diff --git a/contrib/bin/mmdc b/contrib/bin/mmdc
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..f806e444
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/bin/mmdc
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+export RUNNER_IMAGE=localhost/l7/mermaid:bookworm
+RUNNER_OPTS="${RUNNER_OPTS} -i "
+RUNNER_ENV="${RUNNER_ENV} PUPPETEER_CACHE_DIR=/opt/puppeteer"
+l7-run-node mmdc ${@}
diff --git a/imags/node-puppeteer/Containerfile.mermaid b/imags/node-puppeteer/Containerfile.mermaid
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9117cb7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/imags/node-puppeteer/Containerfile.mermaid
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.4-labs
+ARG BASE_IMAGE=localhost/l7/node-puppeteer:bookworm
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
+USER root
+
+WORKDIR /usr/local/lib
+RUN NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX='' npm add 'git+https://github.com/legobeat/mermaid-cli/#02153e234a876c95b44e1af84d02bca65681f6d1' \
+  && chown -R node /home/user /home/node \
+  # allow user installing new engines but not modifying bundled ones \
+  && chown node /opt/puppeteer/ /opt/puppeteer/*
+
+USER node