Next AI Draw.io

Next AI Draw.io - Claude Code Plugin

AI-powered Draw.io diagram generation with real-time browser preview for Claude Code.

Installation

From the Claude Code community marketplace

/plugin install next-ai-drawio --marketplace anthropics/claude-plugins-community

This needs Claude Code 2.1.275 or later. On an older version, run /plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community first, then /plugin install next-ai-drawio@claude-community.

Manual Installation

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/packages/claude-plugin

Or add the MCP server directly, for every project (--scope user):

claude mcp add --scope user drawio -- npx @next-ai-drawio/mcp-server@latest

Features

• Real-time Preview: Diagrams appear and update in your browser as Claude creates them. The preview is the web app's canvas: a change Claude makes to the page on screen is outlined, and one Ctrl+Z takes it back
• Selection: Select shapes in the preview and say "move these"; Claude reads what you selected with get_selection
• Drawing Rules and Shape Libraries: Claude gets the web app's layout and style rules and the icon docs for AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes and more
• Self-check: Claude can take a screenshot of the rendered diagram and fix what looks wrong
• Draw from Your Files: ask Claude to draw from a document, image or web page; it reads the source with its own tools and draws. Existing .drawio files open with load_diagram
• Version History: The last 20 versions appear as cards next to the canvas, with thumbnails; restore one, undo the latest, or compare a version with the canvas
• Natural Language: Describe diagrams in plain text - flowcharts, architecture diagrams, etc.
• Edit Support: Modify existing diagrams with natural language instructions, including your own edits in the browser
• Export: Save diagrams as .drawio, .png, .svg, or .drawio.svg files
• Auto-save: Each diagram is saved to ~/.next-ai-drawio/, so claude --resume can pick it up again
• Custom Instructions: keep your own drawing rules in ~/.next-ai-drawio/instructions.md (for example "Always draw in minimal style"); they are appended to the drawing guide on every call
• Self-contained: Embedded server and the draw.io editor in one package; the preview works offline after install

Use Case Examples

1. Create Architecture Diagrams

Generate an AWS architecture diagram with Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB,
and S3 for a serverless REST API

2. Flowchart Generation

Create a flowchart showing the CI/CD pipeline: code commit -> build ->
test -> staging deploy -> production deploy with approval gates

3. System Design Documentation

Design a microservices e-commerce system with user service, product catalog,
shopping cart, order processing, and payment gateway

4. Cloud Architecture (AWS/GCP/Azure)

Generate a GCP architecture diagram with Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, and
Cloud Storage for a web application

5. Sequence Diagrams

Create a sequence diagram showing OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow
between user, client app, auth server, and resource server

6. Draw From a Document

Read docs/architecture.md and draw the system as a diagram

7. Recreate a Sketch

Recreate the whiteboard photo at ~/Desktop/sketch.jpg as a clean draw.io diagram

Available Tools

Tool	Description
start_session	Opens browser with real-time diagram preview; the result includes the drawing rules. Pass session_id to continue a saved diagram
list_saved_diagrams	List the auto-saved diagrams of earlier sessions, newest first, with their pages
get_drawing_guide	Return the drawing rules again
get_shape_library	Return the shapes and icon styles of a library such as aws4
create_new_diagram	Create a new diagram from XML
load_diagram	Load a .drawio or .drawio.svg file from disk
edit_diagram	Edit diagram by ID-based operations; all or nothing
get_diagram	Get the current diagram XML
get_selection	Return the shapes and edges you selected in the preview, so Claude can act on "these"
screenshot_diagram	Return a PNG of a page so Claude can check the result
export_diagram	Save diagram to a .drawio, .png, .svg, or .drawio.svg file
list_pages, add_page, rename_page, delete_page	Work with multi-page diagrams
restore_version	Undo: go back to an earlier version from History (redo is possible too)

How It Works

Claude Code <--stdio--> MCP Server <--http--> Browser (draw.io)

1. Ask Claude to create a diagram
2. Claude calls start_session to open a browser window
3. Claude generates diagram XML and sends it to the browser
4. You see the diagram update in real-time!

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	6002	Port for the embedded HTTP server
DRAWIO_BASE_URL	unset (the bundled draw.io)	An external draw.io, such as a self-hosted instance. With it Claude's changes are not outlined on the canvas, Ctrl+Z does not take them back and get_selection cannot read the selection
DRAWIO_DATA_DIR	~/.next-ai-drawio	Folder for auto-saved diagrams and your instructions.md; off turns auto-save off (instructions.md is then read from the default folder)
DRAWIO_LANG	unset	Language of the draw.io editor, such as en, zh, zh-tw, ja or de. Unset, draw.io chooses (the browser language on embed.diagrams.net, English on a self-hosted draw.io) and the user can change it under Extras > Language
DRAWIO_UI	unset	draw.io theme: kennedy, atlas, dark, min, sketch or simple. Unset, the user picks one under Extras > Theme
DRAWIO_DARK	auto	Dark mode of the preview and the editor until the user switches it with the button at the top right: auto follows the system, 1 starts dark, 0 starts light
DRAWIO_PREVIEW_UI	shell	The preview page; classic opens the previous preview page for one more release
DRAWIO_AUTO_SCREENSHOT	unset	Set to true to attach a screenshot to every create_new_diagram and edit_diagram result (costs 2 to 10 s per call)
DEBUG	unset	Set to true to log debug messages

Links

• Homepage
• GitHub Repository
• MCP Server Documentation

License

Apache-2.0