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MCP Excalidraw Server

Drive a live Excalidraw canvas through MCP with element editing, Mermaid conversion, screenshots, snapshots, and scene export.

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Install MCP Excalidraw Server

Pick your client, then add it in one click or paste the config.

STDIONode.js
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-excalidraw-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-excalidraw-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Settings → Developer → Edit Config, merge this into mcpServers, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Install not yet sandbox-tested— the server itself is confirmed live (we called its tools/list endpoint). The stdio install command is a separate, ongoing check.

Overview

mcp-excalidraw-server connects AI coding agents to a live Excalidraw canvas through an MCP stdio server, with CLI and REST access to the same canvas. Agents can create, inspect, modify, arrange, and remove individual elements, then use screenshots or structured scene descriptions to refine diagrams. Mermaid diagrams can be rendered into editable Excalidraw elements, while scenes can be imported, exported, snapshotted, or shared as encrypted URLs. Reach for it when diagrams need iterative, programmatic editing or repository-friendly .excalidraw artifacts rather than one-shot image generation.

Use cases

  • Draw architecture diagrams from codebase context
  • Convert Mermaid flowcharts into editable Excalidraw scenes
  • Inspect screenshots and refine diagram layout iteratively
  • Export diagrams beside source code as repository artifacts
  • Restore named canvas snapshots after experimental edits

Key features

  • Element-level Excalidraw CRUD and queries
  • Mermaid-to-Excalidraw conversion
  • Headless PNG and SVG rendering
  • Scene import, export, snapshots, and restoration
  • Structured scene descriptions and canvas screenshots
  • Viewport, layout, grouping, and locking controls

Tools26

What MCP Excalidraw Server lets your agent do. Expand a tool for its parameters.

Verified live~3.2k tokens of context

Security & health

What it can reach and how reliably it runs — from our own checks, not the maintainer’s claims.

ActiveLast checked Today

Recent health check succeeded.

What it can do

From the 26 tools this server returned when we ran it.

Can delete or modify data · 1Makes network requests · 1Read-only tools · 25
Network at startup3 connections
Files written at startup2
Install scriptsNone
npm provenanceSigned build
Package age479 days
Maintainers1

Observed 2026-11-03 in an isolated sandbox. A description of reach, not a security audit.

Supply-chain signal

No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

Critical 0High 0Medium 0Low 0

Scanned 16h ago via OSV.dev · mcp-excalidraw-server (npm)

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

GitHub stars2.6kStargazers on the source repository.
Last commit4d agoMost recent push to the default branch.
Tools exposed26Callable tools this server registers over MCP.

How MCP Excalidraw Server works

What mcp-excalidraw-server does

mcp-excalidraw-server gives an AI agent control of an editable Excalidraw workspace. The agent can work with individual shapes, text, arrows, groups, frames, and other scene elements instead of regenerating an entire diagram for every change. It can also inspect the canvas through structured descriptions and rendered screenshots, making it possible to identify overlaps, misplaced labels, or incorrect connections before continuing.

The project exposes the canvas through three entry points: an MCP server for compatible clients, a command-line interface, and a REST API for custom applications or frameworks. These interfaces operate on the same local canvas server, which provides the Excalidraw web UI, REST endpoints, and WebSocket synchronization.

How it works

Canvas-driving commands and the MCP process can start the local canvas automatically when it is not already running. The default canvas address is http://127.0.0.1:3000. MCP communication uses stdio, allowing a compatible client to launch the server as a local process.

Element operations cover the full editing cycle: creation, lookup, filtering, updates, deletion, duplication, grouping, alignment, distribution, and locking. Arrows can reference element IDs so they bind to shapes and route to their edges. Batch creation is available for diagrams that need many elements in one operation.

For visual verification, headless rendering produces PNG or SVG output without requiring an open browser tab. The server can also return a canvas screenshot to the agent. Scene descriptions provide element types, labels, positions, connections, spatial layout, and the overall bounding box in text form.

Setup and configuration

Node.js 20 or newer is required. The package can be launched without a global installation using:

Terminal
npx -y mcp-excalidraw-server <command>

Configure the MCP client to run the package as a stdio server. The CLI, MCP server, and REST-facing workflow share the automatically started canvas. Set EXCALIDRAW_NO_AUTOSTART=1 when the canvas should not be started automatically.

Local drawing does not require an API key or account. Mermaid conversion runs in the local canvas environment. The canvas page loads Excalidraw fonts from the esm.sh CDN.

Tools and capabilities

  • Create, update, delete, query, duplicate, and retrieve individual elements.
  • Create many elements in one call, including arrows bound to custom shape IDs.
  • Group, ungroup, align, distribute, lock, and unlock elements.
  • Convert Mermaid diagrams into editable Excalidraw content.
  • Import .excalidraw JSON, Obsidian .excalidraw.md, or raw scene JSON.
  • Export scenes to .excalidraw or Obsidian-compatible files, and render PNG or SVG images.
  • Save named snapshots and restore earlier canvas states.
  • Describe the scene, capture screenshots, read the diagram guide, and control the viewport.
  • Produce an encrypted, shareable excalidraw.com URL.

Limitations and notes

Viewport control requires the canvas frontend to be open in a browser. Sharing uploads the encrypted scene to excalidraw.com; anyone with the resulting URL can view it. The standard local workflow runs on Node.js, while image export and screenshots can use the server-side headless renderer without a browser tab. Multiple agents can operate on the same live canvas through its real-time synchronization layer.

Read the full README View source on GitHub

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Frequently Asked Questions about MCP Excalidraw Server

mcp-excalidraw-server is an MCP server that connects AI agents to a live Excalidraw canvas through stdio MCP tools. It supports element creation, querying, updating, deletion, layout operations, Mermaid conversion, scene import/export, screenshots, snapshots, and viewport control. Local execution lets coding agents iteratively inspect and refine diagrams.

Run it with `npx -y mcp-excalidraw-server <command>` and configure your MCP client to launch it over stdio. Node.js 20 or newer is required. Canvas-driving commands and the MCP process can automatically start the local canvas unless `EXCALIDRAW_NO_AUTOSTART=1` is set.

Yes, Cursor is named as a supported MCP client. Configure Cursor to launch the package as a stdio MCP server; the server then provides access to the shared local Excalidraw canvas and its drawing, inspection, export, and layout tools.

Use the export scene capability to write `.excalidraw` JSON, or use an `.md` path for the Obsidian Excalidraw plugin format. The server can also render the canvas to PNG or SVG, and it can create an encrypted excalidraw.com URL for sharing.

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