# zumen [Health: Active]

**Category:** 📊 Data Visualization  
**Repository:** https://github.com/meta-taro/zumen  
**GitHub Stars:** 0  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 319  
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**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/zumen

## Description
AI-editable diagrams as code: draw from YAML, propose diffs a human applies, export SVG/Mermaid.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "zumen": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","@metataro/zumen-mcp"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What zumen does

zumen treats one YAML file as the source of truth for diagrams. The file contains nodes, edges, placement data, styles, and other drawing details that both people and agents can read or modify. The same source can produce SVG and can be exported to Mermaid or draw.io XML. Diagrams can also be embedded in Markdown.

The workflow is designed for diagrams that change repeatedly. An agent proposes an update, the application displays the change as a diff, and a person chooses whether to apply it. This makes the generated structure reviewable instead of silently replacing the existing drawing.

The format covers more than conventional boxes-and-arrows diagrams. Examples include architecture, UML, ER, network, floor-plan, transit, electrical, lighting, periodontal, sports-field, and other specialist drawings. The project includes hundreds of worked examples using a shared set of primitives.

## How it works

People’s layout corrections are stored in a separate `pins:` section. Agent regeneration rewrites the `nodes:` and `edges:` sections but is not allowed to write to `pins:`. When the diagram is rendered again, pinned positions are retained and shown with a heavier outline in the editor.

The desktop editor can open a diagram, display an agent’s proposal, and provide Apply and Cancel actions. The YAML format is intended to remain readable in source control and to support independent implementations based on its separate specification.

Placement drawings can describe doors and openings, hinge and swing direction, reusable style tables, floor patterns, screenshots with numbered callouts, and source attribution. Images can be embedded in the generated SVG, while source names, retrieval dates, licenses, and URLs can appear along the bottom of a figure.

## Setup and configuration

For an agent using the MCP server, the documented setup command is:

```bash
claude mcp add zumen -- npx -y @metataro/zumen-mcp
```

A source checkout can be installed and run with pnpm:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/meta-taro/zumen.git
cd zumen
corepack enable
pnpm install
pnpm mcp
```

`pnpm dev` starts the editor in a browser at `http://localhost:5173`. The package can also be added to an application for direct SVG rendering, using `toSvg(source)` after installing `@metataro/zumen`.

The desktop application is distributed for Windows x64, Windows ARM64, and macOS Apple silicon. The listed executables are not code-signed yet.

## Tools and capabilities

- Generate and revise diagrams from YAML source through an MCP-connected agent.
- Review proposed changes as diffs before applying them.
- Preserve human layout adjustments with the protected `pins:` block.
- Automatically lay out diagrams and validate source with checks that explain drawing problems.
- Render light or dark SVG output.
- Export diagrams as Mermaid or draw.io XML.
- Add embedded images, callouts, dimensions, openings, patterns, styles, and attribution data.

## Limitations and notes

zumen is still being developed in the open rather than presented as finished software. Its desktop releases are currently not code-signed. The MCP workflow depends on an agent that can be configured with an MCP server, and the diagram source must follow the zumen format. The full format specification is maintained separately so other implementations can read and write the same files.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/zumen/readme_