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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Framework

Excalidraw CLI

Generate editable Excalidraw diagrams from text or JSON for agents and developer workflows.

Visit Excalidraw CLI4.4

  • Rating

    4.4 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Intermediate

  • Works on

    macOS, Windows, Linux

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What is Excalidraw CLI?

Excalidraw CLI turns plain text or JSON into editable Excalidraw diagrams from the terminal, making it easy for AI agents and developer workflows to produce diagrams that stay fully editable.

Third-party open-source projects. We are not affiliated with their authors; repositories are provided as-is by their maintainers. Review each project's license, code and security before installing. See our Disclaimer.

Pros: what Excalidraw CLI does well

  • Generates fully editable Excalidraw diagrams
  • Works from text or JSON input
  • Fits naturally into agent and developer workflows

Cons: where it falls short

  • Requires command-line comfort
  • Focused on Excalidraw output only

Who Excalidraw CLI is for

Developers and agent builders who want to generate editable diagrams programmatically.

Who can skip it

People who prefer drawing diagrams by hand in a visual editor.

What people use Excalidraw CLI for

  • Turning a short text description into an editable Excalidraw flowchart
  • Letting an AI coding agent draw architecture or process diagrams for docs
  • Converting Graphviz DOT files into hand-drawn style Excalidraw diagrams
  • Exporting diagrams to PNG or SVG, including dark mode, from a script

How to get started

  1. 1Install it with npm (npm install -g @swiftlysingh/excalidraw-cli) or Homebrew (brew install swiftlysingh/tap/excalidraw-cli). It needs a recent Node.js.
  2. 2Create a diagram from the simple text syntax, for example: excalidraw-cli create --inline "[A] -> [B]" -o diagram.excalidraw
  3. 3Open the .excalidraw file in Excalidraw to edit it by hand.
  4. 4Use excalidraw-cli convert to export the file to PNG or SVG.

Excalidraw CLI pricing

excalidraw-cli is free and open source under the MIT licence. There are no paid plans. See current prices on Excalidraw CLI's site

Checked 2026-10-14. Prices change, so double-check before you pay.

Excalidraw CLI FAQ: quick answers

What input formats does it accept?
Its own short text syntax, JSON for programmatic use, and Graphviz DOT.
Are the diagrams editable?
Yes. It writes normal .excalidraw files, laid out automatically, that you can open and change in Excalidraw.
Is it made by the Excalidraw team?
No. It is an independent open-source project published on GitHub by swiftlysingh.

Excalidraw CLI alternatives

Not sold on Excalidraw CLI? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Workflows resources

EGC

Focus: coding, memory and context. Shares ai agents and open source with Excalidraw CLI. Adds Web. Same 4.4 rating.

FrameworkFreeWeb
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Railtracks

Focus: python and framework. Shares ai agents and developer tools with Excalidraw CLI. Same 4.4 rating.

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Context Loader

Focus: git, context and python. Shares cli and ai agents with Excalidraw CLI. Rated 4.3 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

FrameworkFreemacOS, Windows
4.3Visit

Dive

Focus: go and framework. Shares ai agents and developer tools with Excalidraw CLI. Rated 4.3 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

FrameworkFreeCross-Platform
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Gear

Focus: rsi and harnesses. Shares ai agents and developer tools with Excalidraw CLI. Rated 4.3 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

FrameworkFreeCross-Platform
4.3Visit

Google Artemis

Focus: android, automation and google. Shares ai agents and open source with Excalidraw CLI. A website, not a framework. Adds Web. Rated 4.8 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.8Visit

Free alternatives to Excalidraw CLI

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Ego Lite

Focus: ai browser, browser automation and codex. Shares ai agents and open source with Excalidraw CLI. A website, not a framework. Adds Web. Rated 4.7 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

WebsiteFreeWeb, macOS
4.7Visit

Tardigrade

Focus: typescript framework, durable agents and agentic workflows. Shares ai agents and developer tools with Excalidraw CLI. A website, not a framework. Adds Web. Rated 4.7 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

WebsiteFreeWeb
4.7Visit

brag

Focus: launch video and marketing. Shares cli and open source with Excalidraw CLI. A desktop app, not a framework. Rated 4.6 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.6Visit

gptme

Focus: llm agent, code generation and local. Shares ai agents and cli with Excalidraw CLI. A desktop app, not a framework. Rated 4.6 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit

Wake

Focus: sessions, rust and search. Shares ai agents and open source with Excalidraw CLI. A desktop app, not a framework. Rated 4.6 (Excalidraw CLI: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit
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