HKUDS cli-anything-drawio
A CLI harness for Draw.io — create, edit, and export diagrams from the command line.
Installation
This CLI is installed as part of the cli-anything-drawio package:
pip install cli-anything-drawio
Prerequisites:
- Python 3.10+
- drawio must be installed on your system
Usage
Basic Commands
# Show help
cli-anything-drawio --help
# Start interactive REPL mode
cli-anything-drawio
# Create a new project
cli-anything-drawio project new -o project.json
# Run with JSON output (for agent consumption)
cli-anything-drawio --json project info -p project.json
REPL Mode
When invoked without a subcommand, the CLI enters an interactive REPL session:
cli-anything-drawio
# Enter commands interactively with tab-completion and history
Command Groups
Project
Project management: new, open, save, info.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
new |
Create a new blank diagram |
open |
Open an existing .drawio project file |
save |
Save the current project |
info |
Show detailed project information |
xml |
Print the raw XML of the current project |
presets |
List available page size presets |
Shape
Shape operations: add, remove, move, resize, style.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
add |
Add a shape to the diagram |
remove |
Remove a shape by ID |
list |
List all shapes on a page |
label |
Update a shape's label text |
move |
Move a shape to new coordinates |
resize |
Resize a shape |
style |
Set a style property on a shape |
info |
Show detailed info about a shape |
types |
List all available shape types |
Connect
Connector operations: add, remove, style.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
add |
Add a connector between two shapes |
remove |
Remove a connector by ID |
label |
Update a connector's label |
style |
Set a style property on a connector |
list |
List all connectors on a page |
styles |
List available edge styles |
Page
Page operations: add, remove, rename, list.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
add |
Add a new page |
remove |
Remove a page by index |
rename |
Rename a page |
list |
List all pages |
Export
Export operations: render to PNG, PDF, SVG.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
render |
Export the diagram to a file |
formats |
List available export formats |
Session
Session management: status, undo, redo.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
status |
Show current session status |
undo |
Undo the last operation |
redo |
Redo the last undone operation |
save-state |
Save session state to disk |
list |
List all saved sessions |
Examples
Create a New Project
Create a new drawio project file.
cli-anything-drawio project new -o myproject.json
# Or with JSON output for programmatic use
cli-anything-drawio --json project new -o myproject.json
Interactive REPL Session
Start an interactive session with undo/redo support.
cli-anything-drawio
# Enter commands interactively
# Use 'help' to see available commands
# Use 'undo' and 'redo' for history navigation
Export Project
Export the project to a final output format.
cli-anything-drawio --project myproject.json export render output.pdf --overwrite
State Management
The CLI maintains session state with:
- Undo/Redo: Up to 50 levels of history
- Project persistence: Save/load project state as JSON
- Session tracking: Track modifications and changes
Output Formats
All commands support dual output modes:
- Human-readable (default): Tables, colors, formatted text
- Machine-readable (
--jsonflag): Structured JSON for agent consumption
# Human output
cli-anything-drawio project info -p project.json
# JSON output for agents
cli-anything-drawio --json project info -p project.json
For AI Agents
When using this CLI programmatically:
- Always use
--jsonflag for parseable output - Check return codes - 0 for success, non-zero for errors
- Parse stderr for error messages on failure
- Use absolute paths for all file operations
- Verify outputs exist after export operations
More Information
- Full documentation: See README.md in the package
- Test coverage: See TEST.md in the package
- Methodology: See HARNESS.md in the cli-anything-plugin
Version
1.0.0