@icarusmx/vandeley

CLI tool for batch converting Mermaid diagrams (.mmd) to PDF

Simple, fast, and focused. Convert all your Mermaid diagrams to PDFs with a single command.

Installation

# Use with npx (no installation needed)
npx @icarusmx/vandeley

# Or install globally
npm install -g @icarusmx/vandeley

# Or as a dev dependency in your project
npm install --save-dev @icarusmx/vandeley

Usage

Basic Usage

By default, vandeley looks for .mmd files in a mmd/ directory and outputs PDFs to pdf/:

vandeley

This converts:

mmd/
├── sequence-diagram.mmd
├── architecture.mmd
└── erd.mmd

To:

pdf/
├── sequence-diagram.pdf
├── architecture.pdf
└── erd.pdf

Custom Directories

Specify custom input and output directories:

vandeley -i diagrams -o exports
vandeley --input src/docs --output dist/pdf

Help

vandeley --help

Project Structure

Recommended project structure for documentation:

your-project/
├── docs/
│   └── diagrams/
│       ├── mmd/              # Source files (track in git)
│       │   ├── sequence.mmd
│       │   ├── architecture.mmd
│       │   └── erd.mmd
│       └── pdf/              # Generated files (commit or ignore)
│           ├── sequence.pdf
│           ├── architecture.pdf
│           └── erd.pdf
└── package.json

NPM Script

Add to your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "docs:diagrams": "vandeley -i docs/diagrams/mmd -o docs/diagrams/pdf"
  }
}

Then run:

npm run docs:diagrams

Features

• ✅ Batch converts all .mmd files in a directory
• ✅ Creates output directory automatically
• ✅ Shows progress for each file
• ✅ Summary of conversions (success/failed)
• ✅ Transparent backgrounds on PDFs
• ✅ Works with any Mermaid diagram type
• ✅ Clean, minimal CLI interface

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18.0.0
• Puppeteer dependencies (usually installed automatically)

Error Handling

If a diagram fails to convert, vandeley will:

1. Mark it as failed
2. Continue with remaining diagrams
3. Show error summary at the end
4. Exit with error code if any conversions failed

Why "Vandeley"?

Named after Vandeley Industries from Seinfeld - because sometimes you need a simple, reliable tool that just works.

License

MIT © Icarus MX