Excalidraw Obsidian

Excalidraw Obsidian Diagrams

Create or update Excalidraw drawings in the Obsidian vault at ~/notes/obsedian/Excalidraw/.

File Format

Files use the .md extension (NOT .excalidraw or .excalidraw.md) and follow this structure:

---

excalidraw-plugin: parsed
tags: [excalidraw]

---
==Switch to EXCALIDRAW VIEW in the MORE OPTIONS menu of this document.==


# Excalidraw Data

## Text Elements
<text content> ^<element-id>

## Drawing
` ` `json
{
  "type": "excalidraw",
  "version": 2,
  "source": "https://excalidraw.com",
  "elements": [...],
  "appState": {
    "viewBackgroundColor": "#ffffff",
    "gridSize": null
  },
  "files": {}
}
` ` `
%%

Key Rules

1. File extension: Always .md, never .excalidraw or .excalidraw.md
2. Text Elements section: List every text element's content followed by ^<id> — one blank line between each
3. Drawing section: Wrapped in %% at the end (the %% before ## Drawing and after the closing triple backticks)
4. JSON format: Use raw json code fence, NOT compressed-json. The plugin will compress it on load.
5. Frontmatter: Must include excalidraw-plugin: parsed and tags: [excalidraw]

Updating Existing Files

The plugin compresses JSON into compressed-json format on save. You CANNOT surgically edit compressed content. To update an existing file:

1. Reconstruct the full elements array from context or by re-reading the .excalidraw source if available
2. Rewrite the entire ## Drawing section with raw json
3. Update the ## Text Elements section to include any new text elements
4. The plugin will re-compress on next load

Element Format Reference

Use the Excalidraw MCP read_me tool to get the full element format reference including color palettes, element types, and examples. Call it once per session before creating diagrams.

Workflow

1. Call the Excalidraw MCP read_me tool (once per session) to get element format reference
2. Optionally use create_view to preview the diagram inline first
3. Write the .md file to the Excalidraw folder
4. If updating, rewrite the full file since compressed JSON can't be edited in place

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS — Description of what to draw or which file to update