draw.io MCP Server

What is draw.io MCP Server?

The draw.io MCP Server is the official hosted MCP App from the draw.io team. It turns Mermaid.js or draw.io XML into interactive diagrams that appear inline in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, VS Code and Cursor, with no installation and no sign-in.

draw.io (also known as diagrams.net) is a widely used diagramming tool from JGraph. The hosted server at https://mcp.draw.io/mcp uses the MCP Apps extension: when the model calls create_diagram, the host renders the diagram in a sandboxed iframe using the official draw.io viewer, with zoom, pan, layers, fullscreen and an "Open in draw.io" button to keep editing. The code is open source under Apache 2.0 in jgraph/drawio-mcp, and the same server can be self-hosted.

How to use draw.io MCP Server?

Add the URL as a remote MCP server; the server needs no sign-in, so leave authentication off.

https://mcp.draw.io/mcp

Diagrams render inline in hosts that support MCP Apps: Claude.ai, ChatGPT, VS Code with GitHub Copilot 1.109 or later, and Cursor 2.6 or later. In other hosts, such as Claude Code, the server returns a link that opens the diagram in draw.io.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http drawio https://mcp.draw.io/mcp

Claude Code's terminal can't show diagrams inline, so you get an app.diagrams.net link for each diagram.

Claude Desktop and claude.ai

draw.io is listed in Claude's connector directory and can be added in one click. You can also open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector and paste the URL.

Cursor

From the draw.io README, in ~/.cursor/mcp.json or .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drawio": {
      "url": "https://mcp.draw.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code

From the draw.io README, in .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "drawio": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.draw.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Click Start above the entry, then ask Copilot Chat in Agent mode for a diagram.

Key features of draw.io MCP Server

• Official server from the draw.io team, hosted at mcp.draw.io with no account required.
• Inline, interactive diagrams in MCP Apps hosts, with zoom, pan, layer toggling, lightbox and fullscreen.
• Accepts Mermaid (flowcharts, sequence, class, state, ER, Gantt, mindmap, timeline, C4, architecture and more) or native draw.io XML.
• Mermaid is parsed and laid out natively, then converted to draw.io.
• Optional ELK layered layout pass for XML diagrams.
• Shape search across about 10,000 built-in stencils (cloud architecture, network, Cisco, Kubernetes, BPMN, P&ID, electrical) plus the draw.io icon service.
• "Open in draw.io" hands off to the full editor.
• Open source (Apache 2.0) and self-hostable via Node.js, Docker or Cloudflare Workers.

draw.io MCP Server tools

Diagram creation. create_diagram takes exactly one of mermaid or xml and renders it. Its description tells the model to prefer Mermaid for every diagram type Mermaid has a header for, and to use XML otherwise. Options include postLayout: "elk" and a direction for XML layouts.

Reference. get_drawio_reference returns the generation reference for xml or mermaid as Markdown. The model calls it once per format per conversation, before its first diagram; this keeps create_diagram's description short.

Shapes. search_shapes finds shapes by keyword and returns exact style strings, sizes and titles. It is meant for industry-specific, branded or pictorial icons, not for standard flowcharts or UML.

Use cases of draw.io MCP Server

• Architecture diagrams: "Draw an AWS architecture with an ALB, two ECS services and an RDS database, using AWS icons."
• Explaining code: "Make a sequence diagram of how a login request flows through these services."
• Data modeling: "Create an ER diagram for these three tables."
• Planning: "Turn this project plan into a Gantt chart."
• Network maps: "Diagram this office network with Cisco shapes."
• Brainstorming: "Make a mind map of ideas for our product launch."

draw.io MCP Server vs alternatives

draw.io also publishes a stdio tool server, @drawio/mcp (npx -y @drawio/mcp), that opens diagrams in the full draw.io editor in your browser instead of rendering them inline. Use it in hosts without MCP Apps support or if you prefer the browser editor. There is also a community Draw.io MCP server that works differently and is not made by the draw.io team.

Troubleshooting draw.io MCP Server

• The diagram shows as a link instead of inline. Your host doesn't support MCP Apps (for example Claude Code or older Cursor builds). Open the link, or use a supported host.
• Cursor shows nothing to render. Inline rendering needs Cursor 2.6 or later; on older builds, use the stdio @drawio/mcp server.
• The model sends the wrong input shape. Provide exactly one of xml or mermaid as a plain string, not an object or array.
• Diagrams can't leave your network. With the hosted endpoint, the diagram is sent to draw.io's server; self-host the MCP App server if data must stay internal.