Excalidraw MCP Server: Powerful Drawing API for LLM Integration

📣 NEWS: Version 1.0.0 is now published to npm! You can run Excalidraw MCP directly using npx excalidraw-mcp without installation. No setup required - just run and enjoy!

A comprehensive Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables seamless interaction with Excalidraw diagrams and drawings. This server provides LLMs (Large Language Models) with the ability to create, modify, query, and manipulate Excalidraw drawings through a structured, developer-friendly API.

Quick Start

You can run the Excalidraw MCP server directly using npx without installing anything:

npx excalidraw-mcp

If you prefer to install it globally:

npm install -g excalidraw-mcp
excalidraw-mcp

Options

The following command-line options are available:

-d, --debug            Enable debug logging
-?, --help             Show this help message

Note: The following options are currently only fully functional in the Docker version:

-p, --port <port>      Port to run the server on (default: 3000)
-h, --host <host>      Host to bind the server to (default: localhost)
-m, --mode <mode>      Transport mode: 'stdio' or 'http' (default: stdio)

Examples

Run with default options:

npx excalidraw-mcp

Enable debug logging:

npx excalidraw-mcp --debug

Features

• Full Excalidraw Element Control: Create, update, delete, and query any Excalidraw element
• Advanced Element Manipulation: Group, align, distribute, lock, and unlock elements
• Resource Management: Access and modify scene information, libraries, themes, and elements
• Easy Integration: Works with Claude Desktop and other LLM platforms
• Docker Support: Simple deployment with containerization options

API Tools Reference

Element Creation and Modification

• create_element

  • Create a new Excalidraw element (rectangle, ellipse, diamond, etc.)
  • Required inputs: type, x, y coordinates
  • Optional inputs: dimensions, colors, styling properties

• update_element

  • Update an existing Excalidraw element by ID
  • Required input: id of the element to update
  • Optional inputs: any element property to modify

• delete_element

  • Delete an Excalidraw element
  • Required input: id of the element to delete

• query_elements

  • Query elements with optional filtering
  • Optional inputs: type to filter by element type, filter object with key-value pairs

Resource Management

• get_resource
  • Get a specific resource like scene information or all elements
  • Required input: resource type (scene, library, theme, elements)

Element Organization

• group_elements

  • Group multiple elements together
  • Required input: elementIds array of element IDs to group

• ungroup_elements

  • Ungroup a group of elements
  • Required input: groupId of the group to ungroup

• align_elements

  • Align multiple elements based on specified alignment
  • Required inputs: elementIds array and alignment (left, center, right, top, middle, bottom)

• distribute_elements

  • Distribute elements evenly across space
  • Required inputs: elementIds array and direction (horizontal or vertical)

• lock_elements

  • Lock elements to prevent modification
  • Required input: elementIds array of elements to lock

• unlock_elements

  • Unlock elements to allow modification
  • Required input: elementIds array of elements to unlock

Integration with Claude Desktop

To use this server with the Claude Desktop application, add the following configuration to the "mcpServers" section of your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_excalidraw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "excalidraw-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Integration with Cursor

To use this server with the Cursor application, add the following configuration to the "mcpServers" section of your .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_excalidraw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "excalidraw-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Integration with Cursor

To use this server with Cursor, create a .cursor/mcp.json file in your workspace with the following configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_excalidraw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "excalidraw-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Make sure to:

1. Replace /path/to/your/directory with the actual absolute path to your mcp_excalidraw installation
2. Create the .cursor directory if it doesn't exist
3. Ensure the path to index.js is correct and the file exists

Docker Integration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excalidraw": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "mcp/excalidraw"],
      "env": {
        "LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "DEBUG": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Installation Guide

NPM Installation

# Install globally
npm install -g excalidraw-mcp

# Run the server
excalidraw-mcp

Local Development Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd excalidraw-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start the server
npm start

Docker Installation

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t mcp/excalidraw .

# Run the container
docker run -i --rm mcp/excalidraw

Configuration Options

The server can be configured using the following environment variables:

• LOG_LEVEL - Set the logging level (default: "info")
• DEBUG - Enable debug mode (default: "false")
• DEFAULT_THEME - Set the default theme (default: "light")

Usage Examples

Here are some practical examples of how to use the Excalidraw MCP server:

Creating a Rectangle Element

{
  "type": "rectangle",
  "x": 100,
  "y": 100,
  "width": 200,
  "height": 100,
  "backgroundColor": "#ffffff",
  "strokeColor": "#000000",
  "strokeWidth": 2,
  "roughness": 1
}

Querying Specific Elements

{
  "type": "rectangle",
  "filter": {
    "strokeColor": "#000000"
  }
}

Grouping Multiple Elements

{
  "elementIds": ["elem1", "elem2", "elem3"]
}

License

This Excalidraw MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.

Development

Clone the repository and install dependencies:

git clone <repository-url>
cd excalidraw-mcp
npm install

Start the development server:

npm run dev