Overview

Excalidraw MCP is a Model Context Protocol server that enables AI assistants to create, modify, and manage diagrams using Excalidraw, the popular open-source virtual whiteboard for hand-drawn style diagrams. It provides a full canvas toolkit for programmatic diagram generation, element manipulation, and export capabilities through a standardized MCP interface.

Multiple implementations exist including an official version from the Excalidraw team and several community-built servers. These connectors allow AI assistants to add shapes, text, arrows, and connectors to diagrams, manage scene layouts, perform grouping and alignment operations, and export results to PNG, SVG, or JSON formats — all through natural language interactions.

Excalidraw has become a go-to diagramming tool for software teams thanks to its clean aesthetic and collaborative features. The MCP server extends this by letting AI assistants generate architecture diagrams, flowcharts, and visual plans on demand — transforming verbal descriptions into visual artifacts without manual drawing effort.

Key Features

Programmatic Diagram Creation

AI assistants can create diagrams from scratch by adding rectangles, circles, arrows, text, and other elements with precise positioning, sizing, and styling.

Element Manipulation

Full control over diagram elements including move, resize, recolor, group, align, and layer operations. AI assistants can iteratively refine diagrams based on feedback.

Mermaid Diagram Conversion

Convert Mermaid diagram syntax into Excalidraw elements on the canvas, enabling quick generation of flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and entity-relationship diagrams.

Export and Sharing

Export diagrams to PNG, SVG, or native Excalidraw JSON format for embedding in documentation, presentations, or collaborative workspaces.

Real-Time Browser Synchronization

Some implementations support live synchronization with an open Excalidraw browser session, allowing users to watch diagrams being built in real time.

Capabilities

Excalidraw MCP exposes 4 tools for AI agents.

2 Read2 Write

Tool	Operation	Risk	Description
`create_diagram` Creates a new diagram	Write	Low Risk	Creates a new diagram
`update_diagram` Modifies existing diagram	Write	Low Risk	Modifies existing diagram
`export_diagram` Exports diagram as image/SVG	Read	Low Risk	Exports diagram as image/SVG
`list_diagrams` Lists available diagrams	Read	Low Risk	Lists available diagrams

Use Cases

Strategy-Aligned Use Cases

Architecture Documentation

AI assistants can generate system architecture diagrams from verbal descriptions or code analysis, accelerating the documentation process and keeping visual documentation current.

Meeting and Planning Visuals

Create flowcharts, process diagrams, and strategic planning visuals on demand during meetings or planning sessions, turning discussions into shareable visual artifacts immediately.

Technical Onboarding Materials

Generate visual guides for new team members showing system architectures, data flows, and process workflows based on existing documentation and code structure.

Incident Response Diagrams

Quickly create visual representations of system topologies and failure points during incident response, helping teams communicate about complex distributed systems more effectively.

Considerations

Before You Adopt

Architecture diagrams, system designs, and strategic planning visuals may contain proprietary information about systems, processes, and business strategy. Exported diagrams should be treated as sensitive assets.
AI-generated diagrams may contain inaccuracies in system representations or process flows. Diagrams used for documentation or decision-making should be reviewed by subject matter experts before distribution.
Exported diagrams should be shared through governed channels rather than ad-hoc file sharing. Organizations should define policies for where AI-generated visual artifacts are stored and who can access them.
As a creative and productivity tool with no access to organizational data, Excalidraw MCP presents minimal data security risk. Governance focus should be on output quality and intellectual property management.

Stratafy Fit

Integration Potential

2/5

Excalidraw MCP is a low-priority governance target for Stratafy. As a diagramming tool with no access to organizational data systems, it presents minimal data security or compliance risk. The primary governance value lies in managing intellectual property contained in generated diagrams and ensuring quality standards for AI-generated visual documentation. Stratafy can provide output review workflows and storage policies for generated artifacts, but the overall governance burden is light compared to data-access or communication tools. Organizations will benefit from including it in their tool inventory for completeness but should prioritize governance resources on higher-risk connectors.