Excalidraw Diagrams

Overview

Generate .excalidraw JSON files and export to PNG/SVG.

Two export options:

• Kroki API (curl), zero install, SVG output only
• excalidraw-brute-export-cli, local Firefox-based, PNG + SVG

Supported formats: PNG (local CLI only), SVG (both options). PDF is NOT supported.

When to Use

Explicit triggers: user says "画图", "diagram", "visualize", "flowchart", "draw", "架构图", "流程图"

Proactive triggers:

• Explaining a system with 3+ interacting components
• Describing a multi-step process or decision tree
• Comparing architectures or approaches side by side

Skip when: a simple list or table suffices, or user is in a quick Q&A flow

Prerequisites

Option A: Kroki API (recommended, zero install, SVG only)

# Just needs curl (pre-installed on macOS/Linux/Windows Git Bash)
curl --version

No additional setup. SVG rendered via https://kroki.io.

Option B: Local CLI (required for PNG)

The CLI uses Firefox (not Chromium). Check and install:

npm install -g excalidraw-brute-export-cli
npx playwright install firefox

macOS patch (one-time, required):

CLI_MAIN=$(npm root -g)/excalidraw-brute-export-cli/src/main.js
sed -i '' 's/keyboard.press("Control+O")/keyboard.press("Meta+O")/' "$CLI_MAIN"
sed -i '' 's/keyboard.press("Control+Shift+E")/keyboard.press("Meta+Shift+E")/' "$CLI_MAIN"

Windows/Linux: No patch needed.

Workflow

1. Check deps, use Kroki (curl) for SVG; use local CLI for PNG
2. Plan, identify diagram type, pick a visual pattern, choose color palette
3. Generate, write .excalidraw JSON file (section-by-section for large diagrams)
4. Export, run Kroki or CLI command
5. Report, tell user the output file path

Design Principles

Default style