Provides tools for creating and editing Excalidraw canvases, including semantic inspection, revision-checked modifications, asset embedding, and exporting diagrams as JSON, SVG, or PNG.
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@excalidraw-editor-mcp Create a new Excalidraw diagram with a simple flowchart."
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
An Excalidraw editor delivered as an MCP App for DeepSeek Harness (DSH). It
uses the official @excalidraw/excalidraw component and stores standard
.excalidraw files in the active DSH Workspace.
Managed multi-canvas projects and discovered standalone canvases.
Semantic inspect and atomic revision-checked edits.
Interactive inline/fullscreen editing with save, reload, conflict recovery, and Ask AI.
Bounded local PNG, JPEG, GIF, and WebP assets. Network images are rejected.
JSON, SVG, and PNG downloads through the MCP Host.
Revision-bound Browser captures with a standard MCP PNG and text clipping diagnostics for AI verification.
Self-contained App HTML, including all Excalidraw fonts; no runtime CDN is required.
Related MCP server: Excalidraw MCP App Server
Node.js >=22.19.0
pnpm 10.25.0
DSH Web with @creative-dswork/dsh-uni-editor
pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm run release:check
pnpm pack --pack-destination .tmpThe package intentionally remains private: true at version 0.0.0. Before
publishing, a maintainer must choose the release version, remove the private
guard, inspect the tarball, and confirm third-party notices.
Install the tarball into a directory and point DSH at its executable:
mkdir -p /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-mcp-install
cd /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-mcp-install
pnpm init
pnpm add /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-editor-mcp-0.0.0.tgzCopy examples/dsh/cordis.patch.yml into the
Web profile configuration and replace the placeholder paths. The essential
server entry is:
- id: mcp-apps
config:
maxBodyBytes: 33554432
servers:
- serverName: excalidraw
transport: stdio
command: /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-mcp-install/node_modules/.bin/excalidraw-editor-mcp
args: []
cwd: /absolute/path/to/excalidraw-mcp-install
forwardWorkspace: trueforwardWorkspace is required. The server accepts the Workspace only from
trusted DSH request metadata. maxBodyBytes allows the Host to carry the
self-contained App Resource and embedded fonts.
Validate and start the Web profile:
DSH_HOME="${DSH_HOME:-$HOME/.dsh}" pnpm dsh web --dump-config
DSH_HOME="${DSH_HOME:-$HOME/.dsh}" pnpm dsh web --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3080 --no-openOpen http://127.0.0.1:3080/, select a Workspace, and start a Session. Tools
are exposed with the configured prefix, such as
mcp__excalidraw__create_project.
After an edit, keep the canvas View open and call capture_canvas with the
exact saved revision. The View renders the canvas with Excalidraw's official
exportToBlob API and returns:
a standard MCP image/png content block;
the image dimensions, SHA-256 digest, and capture time;
bounded text diagnostics with stored width, measured width, overflow, and clipping state.
Image-capable models can inspect the PNG directly. If the selected model does not declare image input, DSH reports that limitation and the model can still use the text diagnostics. In that case, the result does not prove that the model inspected the pixels.
Asset source: regular file inside the active Workspace only; no URL, symlink, or hardlink.
Asset types: PNG, JPEG, GIF, or WebP with a valid image header.
Per asset: 1 MiB; decoded assets per canvas: 2 MiB.
Dimensions: at most 8192 by 8192 and 32 million pixels.
Canonical canvas document: 4 MiB.
Model-visible tool result: 256 KiB.
Harness capture: at most 1024 by 1024, 512 KiB of base64 image data, and 100 text diagnostics; one pending capture per Session connection with a 15-second timeout.
All writes use revision checks; rejected mutations preserve the old file.
pnpm typecheck
pnpm test
pnpm run release:checkArchitecture and milestone details are in
docs/DESIGN.md and
docs/IMPLEMENTATION-PLAN.md.
Imports one bounded local raster image from the current Workspace.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), sourcePath (required), projectPath (required), +1 more.
Atomically applies semantic element and canvas changes at one base revision.
Inputs: changes (required), canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), projectPath (required), +1 more.
Returns a standard MCP PNG rendered by the open Browser View plus text clipping diagnostics. Image-capable models can inspect the PNG; other models can still use the diagnostics. The View must already be open on the same saved canvas revision.
Inputs: revision (required), canvasPath (required), projectPath (required), maxWidth, +1 more.
Checks that a canvas is a valid bounded standard document.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), projectPath (required).
Creates and opens an empty canvas inside one project.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), projectPath (required), baseProjectRevision (required).
Creates a managed project and opens its default canvas.
Inputs: name (required), mutationId (required), projectPath (required), defaultCanvasPath.
Deletes a canvas after exact path and revision confirmation.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), projectPath (required), baseRevision (required), +1 more.
Deletes a managed project after exact path and revision confirmation.
Inputs: mutationId (required), projectPath (required), confirmProjectPath (required), baseProjectRevision (required).
Copies a canvas inside the same project.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), projectPath (required), baseRevision (required), +1 more.
Copies a managed project when its project revision is current.
Inputs: mutationId (required), projectPath (required), newProjectPath (required), baseProjectRevision (required), +1 more.
Opens the export View and downloads the saved canvas as JSON, SVG, or PNG.
Inputs: format (required), canvasPath (required), projectPath (required).
Returns filtered, paginated semantic elements and optionally a small standard document.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), projectPath (required), ids, text, +4 more.
Returns a bounded project and canvas summary.
Inputs: projectPath (required).
Lists canvases in one project.
Inputs: projectPath (required).
Lists managed and discovered Excalidraw projects in the current Workspace.
Inputs: no named parameters.
Opens one canvas inside its project.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), projectPath (required).
Opens the default canvas of an existing Excalidraw project.
Inputs: projectPath (required).
Returns the bound document when the app revision is stale.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), currentRevision.
Saves the bound standard document with compare-and-swap.
Inputs: document (required), canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), baseRevision (required).
Atomically removes files not referenced by any live image element.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), projectPath (required), baseRevision (required).
Renames a canvas inside the same managed project.
Inputs: canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), projectPath (required), baseRevision (required), +1 more.
Renames a managed project when its project revision is current.
Inputs: mutationId (required), projectPath (required), newProjectPath (required), baseProjectRevision (required), +1 more.
Validates, restores, and atomically replaces one complete standard document.
Inputs: document (required), canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), projectPath (required), +1 more.
Settles one pending Canvas Harness capture from the bound Browser View.
Inputs: outcome (required), commandId (required).
Saves the bound draft as a new canvas in the same project.
Inputs: document (required), canvasPath (required), mutationId (required), newCanvasPath (required).
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
Loading tool schema changelog…
Scored across 25 tools
Most tools have clear, distinct purposes, especially the project vs. canvas CRUD operations. Some slight overlap exists among retrieve/render/modify tools like inspect_canvas vs. pull_canvas, export_canvas vs. capture_canvas, and push_canvas vs. replace_canvas, but their descriptions sufficiently differentiate them.
Tool names consistently follow a verb_noun snake_case pattern across the entire set, such as list_projects, create_canvas, delete_canvas, and export_canvas. Pluralization is used logically for collection operations, and no mixed naming conventions are present.
At 25 tools, the set sits at the heavy end of the acceptable range. Each tool appears purpose-driven for Excalidraw editing workflows, but the count feels somewhat large and could be consolidated, especially around canvas mutation and retrieval operations.
The tool surface covers project and canvas CRUD, inspection, import/export, rendering, synchronization, and asset management. Minor gaps exist around more granular asset handling and direct deletion of specific assets, but the core Excalidraw editing lifecycle is well represented.
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