name: "cli-anything-drawio"
description: >-
Command-line interface for Drawio - A CLI harness for Draw.io — create, edit, and export diagrams from the command line....

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 (--json flag): 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 --json flag 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