excalidraw mermaid

Convert a Mermaid definition into editable Excalidraw elements, as the editor's Mermaid import does, and save it as a scene file or render it. Runs locally with an installed browser; no account or API key is required.

excalidraw mermaid [options] <file>

Argument	Description
`<file>`	Mermaid definition file, or - to read stdin.

Option	Description
`--out <file>`	Write the result to a file (overwrites), or - for stdout. Required.
`--format <format>`	Excalidraw, png, or svg; defaults to the `--out` extension, else excalidraw.
`--elbow`	Draw flowchart edges and state transitions as elbow arrows.
`--font-size <pixels>`	Font size of the diagram's text; default 20.
`--padding <pixels>`	Padding in scene pixels; ignored for frames; default 20.
`--scale <number>`	Resolution multiplier, up to 16; default 1.
`--max-width <pixels>`	Maximum PNG width, up to 16384; default 16384.
`--max-height <pixels>`	Maximum PNG height, up to 16384; default 16384.
`--theme <theme>`	Light or dark; defaults to the scene's export preference.
`--transparent`	Export with a transparent background.
`--browser-path <path>`	Path to Chrome, Chromium, Edge, or Firefox; a binary named firefox is driven as Firefox. Environment variable: `EXCALIDRAW_BROWSER_PATH`.
`--fonts-url <urls>`	Comma-separated mirror URLs or local folders for CJK fonts, or none. Environment variable: `EXCALIDRAW_FONTS_URL`.
`--timeout <ms>`	Browser startup and render deadline; default 30000 ms.

Examples

excalidraw mermaid flow.mmd --out flow.excalidraw
excalidraw mermaid flow.mmd --out flow.png --scale 2
excalidraw mermaid flow.mmd --out flow.svg --elbow
echo "graph LR; A-->B" | excalidraw mermaid - --out - > flow.excalidraw
excalidraw mermaid flow.mmd --out flow.excalidraw && excalidraw scenes create --name "Flow" --collection-id <collectionId> --file flow.excalidraw

Notes

Flowcharts (including swimlane-beta), sequence, class, ER and state diagrams, Gantt charts, quadrant charts and timelines become editable shapes. Other types, such as pie charts, become one image.
The format follows the --out extension (.excalidraw, .json, .png, .svg) unless --format is set. Other extensions get an Excalidraw scene.
Uses an installed Chrome, Chromium, Edge or Firefox, also for scenes: it measures the text so shapes fit their labels.
With --out -, stdout gets only the scene, PNG or SVG, without the JSON summary. A syntax error names the line to fix.
More: /docs/cli/mermaid