@markdown-viewer/drawio2svg

A lightweight, pure TypeScript library for converting DrawIO (.drawio) diagrams to SVG format.

Features

• Zero browser dependencies - Works in browser and fibjs server-side environments
• Full DrawIO support - Parses both compressed (deflate+base64) and plain XML formats
• Comprehensive shape rendering - Supports 100+ built-in shapes and custom stencils
• Edge routing - Intelligent edge routing with multiple arrow styles
• Text measurement - Pluggable text measurement providers for accurate text layout
• Stencil support - Load and render custom mxGraph stencil libraries

Installation

npm install @markdown-viewer/drawio2svg

Quick Start

import { convert } from '@markdown-viewer/drawio2svg';

// Convert DrawIO XML to SVG
const drawioXml = fs.readFileSync('diagram.drawio', 'utf-8');
const svg = convert(drawioXml);

fs.writeFileSync('diagram.svg', svg);

API Reference

convert(drawioXml, options?)

Convert a DrawIO XML string to SVG in one call.

import { convert } from '@markdown-viewer/drawio2svg';

const svg = convert(drawioXml, {
  pageIndex: 0,           // Page index to render (default: 0)
  backgroundColor: null,  // Background color (default: transparent)
  padding: 2,             // Padding around the diagram (default: 2)
  scale: 1,               // Scale factor (default: 1)
  fontFamily: 'Arial',    // Default font family (optional)
  stencils: null          // StencilBundle for custom stencils
});

parse(drawioXml) / DrawioParser

Parse DrawIO XML into a structured format for inspection or custom processing.

import { parse, DrawioParser } from '@markdown-viewer/drawio2svg';

// Functional API
const parsed = parse(drawioXml);

// Class-based API
const parser = new DrawioParser();
const parsed = parser.parse(drawioXml);

// Access diagram structure
console.log(parsed.diagrams[0].name);    // Diagram name
console.log(parsed.diagrams[0].cells);   // Array of cells (shapes/edges)

SvgRenderer

Low-level renderer for custom rendering pipelines.

import { DrawioParser, SvgRenderer } from '@markdown-viewer/drawio2svg';

const parser = new DrawioParser();
const parsed = parser.parse(drawioXml);

const renderer = new SvgRenderer({
  pageIndex: 0,
  padding: 10,
  scale: 2,
  fontFamily: 'Arial',
  stencils: myStencilBundle
});

const svg = renderer.render(parsed);

decompress(xml)

Decompress DrawIO files that contain compressed diagram content.

import { decompress } from '@markdown-viewer/drawio2svg';

// Decompress all <diagram> tags with compressed content
const decompressedXml = decompress(compressedDrawioXml);

Stencil Support

Load and use custom mxGraph stencil libraries.

import { createStencilBundle, convert } from '@markdown-viewer/drawio2svg';

// Create a stencil bundle from a source
const stencilBundle = createStencilBundle({
  groups: () => ['aws4', 'gcp2', 'kubernetes'],
  load: (group) => {
    // Return compressed stencil data for the group
    return fs.readFileSync(`stencils/${group}.json`, 'utf-8');
  }
});

// Use stencils in conversion
const svg = convert(drawioXml, { stencils: stencilBundle });

Supported Shapes

The library supports a comprehensive set of shapes including:

Core Shapes

• Rectangle, Ellipse, Rhombus, Triangle
• Hexagon, Octagon, Pentagon
• Parallelogram, Trapezoid
• Cylinder, Cloud, Actor
• Swimlane, Table

Diagram Types

• Flowcharts - Standard flowchart symbols
• UML - Class, sequence, activity, state diagrams
• BPMN - Business process modeling notation
• ER - Entity-relationship diagrams
• Network - Cisco, AWS, GCP, Azure icons
• Architecture - C4, ArchiMate, SysML
• Mockups - UI wireframe components
• Infographics - Charts, timelines, lists

Stencil Libraries

Pre-built stencil support for:

• AWS (aws3, aws3d, aws4)
• Google Cloud Platform (gcp, gcp2)
• Microsoft Azure
• Kubernetes
• Cisco networking
• IBM, Alibaba Cloud
• Bootstrap, iOS, Android
• And many more...

Edge Features

• Multiple edge styles (straight, orthogonal, entity relation)
• Arrow types (classic, block, diamond, oval, etc.)
• Edge labels with positioning
• Waypoints and routing
• Dashed/dotted lines

Architecture

lib/
├── index.ts              # Main entry point
├── convert.ts            # High-level convert() function
├── parser.ts             # DrawIO XML parser
├── renderer.ts           # SVG renderer (4000+ lines)
├── decompress.ts         # Compressed content handler
├── svg-builder.ts        # DOM-based SVG construction
├── stencils.ts           # Stencil bundle management
├── text-measure.ts       # Text measurement abstraction
├── edge-router/          # Edge routing algorithms
│   ├── perimeter/        # Perimeter point calculation
│   └── utils/            # Routing utilities
└── renderer/             # Renderer components
    ├── shapes/           # Shape handlers (50+ modules)
    ├── edge/             # Edge rendering
    ├── text/             # Text/label rendering
    └── ...               # Color, geometry, styles

Data Types

ParsedDrawio

interface ParsedDrawio {
  diagrams: Diagram[];
}

interface Diagram {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  model: MxGraphModel;
  cells: MxCell[];
}

interface MxCell {
  id: string;
  value?: string;
  style: MxStyle;
  parent?: string;
  source?: string;
  target?: string;
  vertex?: boolean;
  edge?: boolean;
  geometry?: MxGeometry;
}

Dependencies

• pako - For deflate/inflate compression

License

MIT