Create, inspect, and edit draw.io diagrams through MCP tools.
Open editable diagrams in the draw.io editor from XML, CSV, or Mermaid.js.
Apply dark mode, read-only lightbox, ELK auto-layout, or libavoid obstacle-avoiding edge routing.
Retrieve XML or Mermaid generation references.
Search draw.io’s shape libraries and icon service for exact style strings.
List pages in local .drawio/.xml files, read a page, and replace one page without changing others.
The shape search tool can find Cisco shapes among 10,000+ draw.io library shapes.
Allows self-hosting the MCP App server, which renders draw.io diagrams inline in AI chat interfaces, on Cloudflare Workers.
The primary integration target - a draw.io MCP server that creates, opens, and renders diagrams in the draw.io editor, supporting XML, CSV, and Mermaid formats with various layout and export options.
Provides a draw.io skill as a plugin for GitHub Copilot CLI, generating native .drawio diagram files with optional export to PNG, SVG, PDF, or browser URL.
The shape search tool can find Kubernetes shapes among 10,000+ draw.io library shapes.
Supports creating diagrams in Mermaid.js format in addition to native draw.io XML, which can be opened in the draw.io editor.
Supports exporting diagrams to SVG format with embedded XML so exported files remain editable in draw.io.
The shape search tool can find UML shapes among 10,000+ draw.io library shapes.
The native diagram format supported across all approaches, rendered inline in chat or opened in the draw.io editor.
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., "@drawio MCP Server Create a flowchart diagram showing the user login process"
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.
The official draw.io MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables LLMs to create and open diagrams in the draw.io editor.
▶ Watch the video and set up draw.io in your AI assistant on drawio.com/mcp.
This repository offers four approaches for integrating draw.io with AI assistants. Pick the one that fits your setup:
How it works | Renders diagrams inline in chat | Opens diagrams in your browser | Generates | Claude generates draw.io URLs via Python |
Diagram output | Interactive viewer embedded in conversation | draw.io editor in a new tab |
| Clickable link to draw.io |
Requires installation | No (hosted at | Yes (npm package) | One-line plugin install (draw.io Desktop only for PNG/SVG/PDF export) | No — just paste instructions |
Supports XML, CSV, Mermaid | XML and Mermaid | ✅ All three | XML and Mermaid (Mermaid needs draw.io Desktop) | ✅ All three |
Editable in draw.io | Via "Open in draw.io" button | ✅ Directly | ✅ Directly | Via link |
Works with | Claude.ai, ChatGPT, VS Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot CLI, any MCP Apps host | Claude Desktop, Cursor, OpenCode, any MCP client | Claude Code, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, OpenCode | Claude.ai (with Projects) |
Best for | Inline previews in chat | Local desktop workflows | Local development workflows | Quick setup, no install needed |
Related MCP server: Draw.io MCP Server
User guides with tested prompts and examples are in the draw.io documentation, and the setup for each assistant is on drawio.com/mcp:
Write prompts: Mermaid or draw.io XML, speed and models
Diagram types and examples and the gallery of every diagram type
Change and style diagrams: changes by prompt, color themes, styles
The gallery is generated from docs/images/gallery/gallery.json and the editable light and dark SVGs next to it; drawio.com reads them when the site is built.
The MCP App server renders draw.io diagrams inline in AI chat interfaces using the MCP Apps protocol. Instead of opening a browser tab, diagrams appear directly in the conversation as interactive iframes.
The official hosted endpoint is available at:
https://mcp.draw.io/mcpAdd this URL as a remote MCP server in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Cursor, GitHub Copilot CLI, or any MCP Apps-compatible host — no installation required. On Claude.ai, draw.io is also listed in the connector directory and can be added from there in one click; in ChatGPT and Codex, in the plugin directory. In Cursor (≥ 2.6), diagrams render inline in the Agent chat (one-click install); on older builds, use the stdio @drawio/mcp tool server instead. In GitHub Copilot CLI, run copilot mcp add --transport http drawio https://mcp.draw.io/mcp; a terminal can't show diagrams inline, so it gets a link that opens each diagram in draw.io.
You can also run the server locally via Node.js or the jgraph/drawio-mcp Docker image, or deploy your own instance to Cloudflare Workers.
Tools:
create_diagram — Renders draw.io XML or Mermaid (28 diagram types) as an interactive diagram inline in chat
search_shapes — Searches 10,000+ shapes across all draw.io libraries (AWS, Azure, GCP, P&ID, electrical, Cisco, Kubernetes, UML, BPMN, etc.) by keyword, supplemented by the draw.io icon service (brand logos and general-purpose concept icons) when the built-in libraries have no good match. Returns exact style strings that can be used directly in XML. Use this to find the correct shape before calling create_diagram.
get_drawio_reference — Returns the XML or Mermaid generation reference, which the model reads once per format before its first diagram.
Note: Diagrams appear inline in hosts that support the MCP Apps extension, such as Claude.ai, ChatGPT, VS Code with GitHub Copilot and Cursor. In other hosts, such as GitHub Copilot CLI, the tool still works and answers with a link that opens the diagram in draw.io.
The original MCP server that opens diagrams directly in the draw.io editor. Supports XML, CSV, and Mermaid.js formats with lightbox and dark mode options. Published as @drawio/mcp on npm.
Quick start: npx @drawio/mcp
Setup instructions are available for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Cursor (with one-click install), and OpenCode.
The drawio skill packaged as a plugin for AI coding assistants (under plugins/): it generates native .drawio files, with optional export to PNG, SVG, or PDF (with embedded XML so the exported file remains editable in draw.io) — or a browser URL that opens the diagram directly in app.diagrams.net. The Claude Code and Cursor plugins also bundle the hosted MCP App Server, so diagrams show inline where the host supports it; the Codex and Copilot ports need no MCP setup. The same skill ships for four hosts:
Claude Code (full documentation →) — install from this repo's marketplace:
/plugin marketplace add jgraph/drawio-mcp
/plugin install drawio@drawioOr load it directly from a local clone with claude --plugin-dir ./plugins/claude-code.
Codex CLI (full documentation →) — install from the same marketplace repo:
codex plugin marketplace add jgraph/drawio-mcp
codex plugin add drawio@drawioGitHub Copilot CLI (full documentation →) — install from the same marketplace repo:
copilot plugin marketplace add jgraph/drawio-mcp
copilot plugin install drawio@drawioOther Copilot surfaces (VS Code agent mode, the coding agent, code review) load the same skill from a repo's .github/skills/ directory instead — see the plugin README.
Cursor (full documentation →) — the same skill plus the hosted MCP App Server, so diagrams also render inline in Cursor's Agent chat. Install it from the Cursor Marketplace (Customize → drawio → Install), or copy plugins/cursor to ~/.cursor/plugins/local/drawio and reload the window.
Antigravity (full documentation →) — install from the plugin's directory on GitHub:
agy plugin install https://github.com/jgraph/drawio-mcp/tree/main/plugins/antigravityOpenCode needs no plugin at all: it discovers skills in .opencode/skills/ and .claude/skills/ (and their ~/ equivalents), so the Claude Code skill folder works as-is — see OpenCode (no plugin needed) for the one-line install.
By default, the plugin writes a .drawio file and opens it in draw.io. Mention a format in your request to change the output:
png / svg / pdf — exports using the draw.io desktop CLI with --embed-diagram
url — compresses the XML with Node.js's built-in zlib and opens the result at app.diagrams.net. No draw.io Desktop needed; the .drawio file is kept locally as a persistent copy.
An alternative approach that works without installing anything. Add instructions to a Claude Project that teach Claude to generate draw.io URLs using Python code execution. No MCP server, no desktop app — just paste and go.
Two optional, independent layout passes can run after the AI generates a diagram — one re-arranges the nodes, the other only reroutes the edges. Which are available depends on the approach:
Layout pass | What it does | App Server ( | Tool Server ( | Assistant Plugins | Project Instructions |
ELK auto-layout ( | Re-arranges nodes into a clean layered layout; routes the edges as part of it | ✅ | — | ✅ via draw.io Desktop CLI ( | — |
libavoid routing ( | Keeps node positions; reroutes connectors orthogonally around the shapes | ✅ | ✅ from v1.3.0 | ✅ via draw.io Desktop CLI ( | — |
These apply to draw.io XML diagrams. Mermaid diagrams are auto-laid-out already, so neither pass is needed.
The App Server applies these in the inline viewer after the diagram renders; the Tool Server applies libavoid server-side before opening the draw.io editor; the plugins run them through the locally installed draw.io Desktop CLI.
Pick one, not both: ELK already routes its own edges, so adding libavoid on top is redundant. Use postLayout to re-arrange a layout, or routing to tidy the connectors on a layout you placed deliberately.
If you're deploying in an environment with strict data restrictions, here is exactly where diagram data goes for each approach.
No component sends your diagram to a cloud rasterizer. convert.diagrams.net (or
any cloud export endpoint) is not called anywhere in this repository, and there is no
"local dependency missing → fall back to cloud" path. PNG/SVG/PDF export happens only
in the assistant plugins, which shell out to your locally installed draw.io Desktop CLI
(located via which drawio); if it isn't installed, the .drawio file is kept and
nothing is sent.
Approach | Diagram leaves the machine? |
MCP App Server — hosted ( | Yes — it is sent to the draw.io server as the MCP request. Self-host instead (below) to keep it local. |
MCP App Server — self-hosted (local Node, the | No — processed by your server and embedded in HTML that renders client-side. |
MCP Tool Server ( | No — carried in the URL |
Assistant Plugins (Claude Code, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity) | No — written locally and exported by your local draw.io Desktop CLI. The Claude Code and Cursor plugins also bundle the hosted App Server: diagrams drawn with it are sent to |
By default the servers do not write diagram content to their logs — only request
metadata (method, session, status, timing). The Cloudflare-hosted App Server logs
response bodies only when run with DEBUG=true.
Even when the diagram itself stays local, the rendering loads draw.io's web-app /
viewer code from app.diagrams.net and viewer.diagrams.net by default. These
fetch application code and assets — not your diagram — but they are still outbound
requests. To reduce or remove them:
App Server: build with the VIEWER_PATH environment variable to inline the
viewer instead of loading it from viewer.diagrams.net. Server-side, it makes a
version check against viewer.diagrams.net at startup and daily (no data, 5 s
timeout, safe to block), and search_shapes queries icons.diagrams.net with the
search terms unless DRAWIO_ICON_SERVICE_URL=off. Set DRAWIO_BASE_URL to a
self-hosted draw.io instance to have "Open in draw.io" and the link for clients
without inline diagrams open there; the inline viewer still loads its code and
shape images from diagrams.net.
Tool Server: set the DRAWIO_BASE_URL environment variable to a self-hosted
draw.io instance. Its two server-side passes also fetch code from
viewer.diagrams.net once per draw.io release and cache it per user: the libavoid
routing core (routing: "libavoid", also primed at install time) and the
drawio-elk bundle (postLayout: "elk", fetched on first use, overridable with
DRAWIO_ELK_URL). Not requesting those passes makes no such call; the diagram is
never part of one either way.
Assistant Plugins: the opt-in url output mode opens the diagram at
app.diagrams.net (hardcoded — no DRAWIO_BASE_URL equivalent). Use the default
.drawio output or local Desktop export instead if you need to avoid that request.
The diagram is generated by the LLM. If you use a hosted model, the diagram content is produced in that provider's cloud regardless of where this MCP server runs. End-to-end isolation requires a locally hosted model as well.
The only reliable way to confirm a deployment makes no outbound calls is to run it with network egress blocked (or watch the browser's Network tab) and verify it still renders. We recommend this for any strict-isolation deployment.
The draw.io XML generation reference — covering edge routing, containers, layers, tags, metadata, dark mode, style properties, and XML well-formedness — lives in a single canonical file:
All four approaches above use this file as their single source of truth for LLM prompts:
Approach | How it accesses the reference |
MCP App Server | Reads the file at startup / build time and returns it from the |
MCP Tool Server | Reads the file at startup (from repo or bundled copy via |
Assistant Plugins (Claude Code, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot) | Fetch the condensed |
Project Instructions | Users copy the condensed |
When updating XML generation guidance, edit shared/xml-reference.md — changes propagate to all consumers automatically. If the change touches a rule that shared/xml-essentials.md summarizes, update that line there too.
The search_shapes tool is powered by a pre-built index of all draw.io shapes. The index is generated from the live draw.io client (https://app.diagrams.net/js/app.min.js) by running all sidebar palette initializations in Node.js via jsdom and capturing the shape data.
Icons from the draw.io icon service (icons.diagrams.net — the same grouped icon search the editor sidebar uses) are not part of this index: search_shapes queries the service live when the local index has no strong match for a query, returning the icons as shape=image styles. Set DRAWIO_ICON_SERVICE_URL to a self-hosted service to override the endpoint, or to off to disable icon supplementation.
shape-search/search-index.json is committed to the repository. The Update Shape Search Index GitHub Action regenerates it from the released draw.io client after every draw.io release (drawio-dev dispatches drawio-release when its build has finished) and daily as a fallback, and opens a pull request when the shapes changed. Once merged, the tool server picks it up from the CDN; the hosted app server bundles it, so it needs a deploy.
To regenerate the index manually (e.g. when iterating on the generator itself):
cd shape-search
npm install
npm run generate
# Rebuild the MCP App Server worker to embed the updated index
cd ../mcp-app-server
npm run build:workerThe generator fetches app.min.js directly from the public draw.io web app, so no local checkout of the draw.io source is needed.
# MCP App Server
cd mcp-app-server
npm install
npm start
# MCP Tool Server
cd mcp-tool-server
npm install
npm startdraw.io - Free online diagram editor
draw.io Desktop - Desktop application
@drawio/mcp on npm - This package on npm
drawio-mcp on GitHub - Source code repository
Returns a full draw.io diagram generation reference as Markdown. Format "mermaid": the header keyword and syntax hints for every Mermaid type draw.io supports, flowchart styling and the ELK layout; call it once before the first Mermaid diagram in a conversation. Format "xml": everything beyond the rules in the open_drawio_xml description (layers, tags, metadata and placeholders, tables, cross-functional grids, dark-mode colors, more styles and examples); only needed when a diagram uses those. A reference stays valid for the rest of the conversation.
Inputs: format (required).
Reads one page (diagram) from a local .drawio file and returns its raw mxGraphModel XML, decompressing it first if the file stores that page compressed. Use list_pages first to find the index, name, or id of the page you need.
Inputs: page (required), path (required).
Lists the pages (diagrams) in a local .drawio file without loading full page content. Returns each page's index, id, name, and approximate stored size in bytes. Call this first on large multi-page files before get_page/set_page, so only the page you actually need gets loaded into context.
Inputs: path (required).
Opens the draw.io editor with a diagram generated from CSV data. The CSV format should follow draw.io's CSV import specification which allows creating org charts, flowcharts, and other diagrams from tabular data.
Inputs: content (required), dark, lightbox.
Opens the draw.io editor with a diagram generated from Mermaid.js syntax, converted into an editable draw.io diagram. The recommended default for flowcharts, sequence, class, state and ER diagrams, gantt charts, mind maps, timelines, C4, architecture and the other types draw.io's Mermaid parser supports (28 in all).
Call get_drawio_reference with format "mermaid" once before your first Mermaid diagram in a conversation: it lists the header keyword and syntax hints for every supported type (a misspelled header yields a blank diagram) and flowchart styling.
Inputs: content (required), dark, lightbox, postLayout.
Opens the draw.io editor with a diagram from draw.io XML. Use it for custom styling, precise positioning and stencil-based diagrams (cloud, network, P&ID, UI mockups, floor plans); prefer open_drawio_mermaid for flowcharts, sequence, class, ER and the other types Mermaid covers.
XML rules:
Skeleton: …. Unique ids. No XML comments.
Vertex:
Edge: . Never self-closing. No waypoints or exitX/entryX.
Labels: html=1 in every style; escape HTML in values (<b>Name</b><br>detail); line break <br>, never \n.
Shapes: rhombus (decision), ellipse, shape=cylinder3 (database), text.
Grid, no layout math: x=col180+40, y=row120+40, one node per cell; 140×60 boxes, 140×80 diamonds.
Containers: swimlane;startSize=24; (titled) or group; (invisible); children set parent="" with coordinates relative to it. An edge's parent is the innermost container holding both its ends, else "1".
Lanes: swimlane;horizontal=0;startSize=110; at x=0, y=lane150, height 150; nodes inside at x=120+col180, y=45.
Edges: orthogonal; entityRelationEdgeStyle for ER; labels 1-3 words; dashed=1 for one meaning, with a legend.
Cloud/network/P&ID icons or logos: call search_shapes, use its style.
Set postLayout "elk" for flowcharts, process and tree diagrams (ELK places nodes and routes edges), or routing "libavoid" for hand-placed layouts whose edges would cross shapes. Never both.
Only when the diagram needs layers, tags, metadata and placeholders, tables, cross-functional grids or dark-mode colors, call get_drawio_reference with format "xml" for the full reference.
Inputs: content (required), dark, routing, lightbox, +2 more.
Search the draw.io shape library by keywords. Returns matching shapes with their exact style strings, dimensions, and titles. Covers ~10,000 built-in stencils (cloud architecture, network topology, P&ID, electrical, Cisco, Kubernetes, BPMN) and, when those are sparse, supplements results with the draw.io icon service (brand/product logos and general-purpose concept icons, e.g. 'react', 'slack', 'shopping cart', 'solar panel'). Use ONLY for diagrams that need industry-specific, branded, or pictorial icons. Do NOT use for standard diagram types like flowcharts, UML, ERD, org charts, or mind maps — these use basic geometric shapes (rectangles, diamonds, circles, cylinders) that are already covered in the XML reference. Also skip if the user asks to use basic/simple shapes or says not to search. The style string from the results can be used directly in mxCell style attributes.
Inputs: query (required), limit.
Replaces the content of one page (diagram) in a local .drawio file with new mxGraphModel XML, leaving every other page in the file untouched. Compression of the replaced page matches whatever that page's original compression state was. Use list_pages/get_page first to find the target page.
Inputs: page (required), path (required), content (required).
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
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Scored across 8 tools
The three open_drawio_* tools share the 'open editor with a diagram' purpose and differ only by input format (CSV/XML/Mermaid), which could cause misselection. However, the descriptions explicitly cross-reference each other ('prefer open_drawio_mermaid for flowcharts', 'do NOT use search_shapes for standard diagrams'), so boundaries are well signposted. The file tools (list_pages/get_page/set_page/reference/search_shapes) are each clearly distinct.
Almost everything follows a clean verb_noun snake_case pattern: list_pages, get_page, set_page, search_shapes, get_drawio_reference. The open_drawio_csv/xml/mermaid trio inserts the product name mid-name, a minor deviation, but consistent with each other and readable.
Eight tools is well-scoped for a draw.io diagram server: three generation entry points, two file-page operations, a page lister, a reference doc, and a shape search. Each tool has a clear reason to exist with no redundancy.
Covers diagram creation (CSV/XML/Mermaid), reading and writing existing .drawio pages, shape lookup, and a reference. Gaps exist around lifecycle: no way to create a new .drawio file, add or delete a page, or list local files, forcing workarounds via set_page. Core workflows are otherwise covered.
Create and manage Mermaid.js flowcharts and diagrams with AI agents via MCP.
Render, verify, describe, and safely edit Mermaid diagrams through MCP.
Create workflow, sequence, architecture, and mind map diagrams via AI assistants.
Create, edit and organize hand-drawn diagrams (flowcharts, ER, architecture) from any AI agent.
