How do I install the Excalidraw skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add marsmike/excalidraw in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Excalidraw safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Excalidraw?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Excalidraw free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Excalidraw?

marsmike (@marsmike) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Excalidraw by marsmike — Agent Skill

Name: Excalidraw
Author: marsmike

File contents

feinbild — Excalidraw diagrams

Quick Start

/excalidraw flow.exc.dsl

feinbild is a command on your PATH. Expand a .exc.dsl to .excalidraw (brand colors resolved), then render to PNG.

feinbild excalidraw expand flow.exc.dsl --brand feinschliff   # -> flow.excalidraw
feinbild excalidraw render flow.excalidraw                    # -> flow.png
feinbild verify flow.excalidraw                               # lint: overflow, overlap, label collision

Primitives: box ellipse diamond dot line zone lane text and arrow <from> -> <to> [label:"…"]. Set theme dark in the DSL for a dark canvas. --brand selects the brand; render is brand-agnostic.

Default to clean

≤3 arrows per flow. More than that means the layout is wrong — re-chunk or pick another visualization.
No text over shapes. Labels live inside boxes or adjacent via a connector — never on a border.
Aspect-aware. Default 16:9 (1920×1080). If the brief specifies a target slot match it; otherwise embeds get squished.
Metaphor, not clutter. Briefs saying "messy" / "tangled" / "stitched" describe a CONCEPT — convey via composition (overlap, dim color, tight grouping), not by drawing actual chaos.

References

Methodology — argue-not-display patterns, depth assessment, hierarchy & arrow-routing rules
DSL syntax — full grammar: primitives, zone/lane, arrow flags, ports, colors, text levels
Design system — audience-calibrated complexity, visual vocabulary, 10 arrow-discipline principles
Examples — fan-out / pipeline-with-decision / multi-zoom blueprints
Deep examples — large layered architectures (MCU/Linux stacks, OTA flows, audience-contrast pairs); source DSL in examples/
Eval fixtures live in evals/evals.json; reusable DSL fixtures in examples/*.exc.dsl

Brand override

Override: inline @brand <name>, then --brand, then FEINSCHLIFF_BRAND. expand resolves brand colors; render is brand-agnostic.

---name: excalidrawdescription: Generate Excalidraw diagrams from a compact DSL with brand-resolved colors. Use for boxes/arrows flow diagrams.---# feinbild — Excalidraw diagrams## Quick Start```/excalidraw flow.exc.dsl````feinbild` is a command on your PATH. Expand a `.exc.dsl` to `.excalidraw`(brand colors resolved), then render to PNG.```bashfeinbild excalidraw expand flow.exc.dsl --brand feinschliff # -> flow.excalidrawfeinbild excalidraw render flow.excalidraw # -> flow.pngfeinbild verify flow.excalidraw # lint: overflow, overlap, label collision```Primitives: `box ellipse diamond dot line zone lane text` and`arrow <from> -> <to> [label:"…"]`. Set `theme dark` in the DSL for a darkcanvas. `--brand` selects the brand; `render` is brand-agnostic.## Default to clean- **≤3 arrows per flow.** More than that means the layout is wrong — re-chunk or pick another visualization.- **No text over shapes.** Labels live inside boxes or adjacent via a connector — never on a border.- **Aspect-aware.** Default 16:9 (1920×1080). If the brief specifies a target slot match it; otherwise embeds get squished.- **Metaphor, not clutter.** Briefs saying "messy" / "tangled" / "stitched" describe a CONCEPT — convey via composition (overlap, dim color, tight grouping), not by drawing actual chaos.## References- [Methodology](references/methodology.md) — argue-not-display patterns, depth assessment, hierarchy & arrow-routing rules- [DSL syntax](references/dsl-syntax.md) — full grammar: primitives, zone/lane, arrow flags, ports, colors, text levels- [Design system](references/design-system.md) — audience-calibrated complexity, visual vocabulary, 10 arrow-discipline principles- [Examples](references/examples.md) — fan-out / pipeline-with-decision / multi-zoom blueprints- [Deep examples](references/examples-deep.md) — large layered architectures (MCU/Linux stacks, OTA flows, audience-contrast pairs); source DSL in `examples/`- Eval fixtures live in `evals/evals.json`; reusable DSL fixtures in `examples/*.exc.dsl`### Brand overrideOverride: inline `@brand <name>`, then `--brand`, then `FEINSCHLIFF_BRAND`. `expand` resolves brand colors; `render` is brand-agnostic.

Frequently asked questions

Excalidraw