# Excalidraw

Create diagrams and visual drawings using Excalidraw (.excalidraw files).

- Repository: https://github.com/nimbalyst/nimbalyst (2013 stars)
- Category: Data and ML
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-31
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill excalidraw -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill excalidraw -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill excalidraw -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill excalidraw -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add nimbalyst/nimbalyst`

## Description

Create diagrams and visual drawings using Excalidraw (.excalidraw files). Use when the user wants flowcharts, architecture diagrams, system diagrams, sketches, or any visual diagram. For database schemas and entity relationship diagrams, use the DataModelLM extension instead.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Excalidraw Diagrams

Excalidraw is Nimbalyst's whiteboard-style diagram editor for creating flowcharts, architecture diagrams, system diagrams, and visual sketches.

## STOP AFTER ONE PASS, Do Not Thrash

The single biggest failure mode with this skill is agents creating a diagram, capturing a screenshot, noticing minor cosmetic imperfections, then clearing and rebuilding the diagram two, three, or four times without being asked. This is the wrong behavior. The user sees every rebuild, and iterations the user did not ask for are a waste of their time and attention.

Follow these rules:

1. **One-shot by default.** Build the diagram, capture a screenshot once, describe what you made, and stop. Do not iterate on visual polish unless the user explicitly asks for a change.
2. **Never use `excalidraw.clear_all` followed by a rebuild as a way to "redo" the diagram.** `clear_all` is only for user-requested rebuilds. If you just produced a diagram, looked at it, and feel like starting over, don't, stop and hand control back to the user.
3. **Minor imperfections are fine.** Excalidraw is a whiteboard / hand-drawn-style tool. Slight overlaps, arrows that route imperfectly, labels that aren't perfectly centered, and asymmetric spacing are all acceptable and expected. Do not rebuild to fix these. Do not re-run `import_mermaid` because the auto-layout isn't pixel-perfect.
4. **Only one screenshot per diagram.** Capture once to verify the diagram exists and is roughly what you intended, then stop screenshotting. Repeated screenshots drive perfectionism loops.
5. **If something is actually broken, make a targeted fix, not a rebuild.** Use `update_element`, `move_element`, `remove_element`, or `align_elements` on the specific problem. Do not wipe and restart.
6. **"Good enough to convey the idea" is the bar.** The diagram's job is to communicate structure or flow to a human reader. Once it does that, you are done. Do not keep polishing.

The rest: https://github.com/nimbalyst/nimbalyst/blob/HEAD/packages/extensions/excalidraw/claude-plugin/skills/excalidraw/SKILL.md