Diagram-to-Docker: From Sketch to Docker Compose in Minutes

For beginner and intermediate developers who want to skip the YAML headache and start coding faster.

Tired of spending time writing and debugging Docker Compose files? With Diagram-to-Docker, you can draw your app’s architecture in diagrams.net (formerly Draw.io), and instantly turn it into a working docker-compose.yaml.

🎯 Who This Is For

This project is built for developers who:

• Are just starting with containers and don’t want to wrestle with YAML.
• Have a side project or hackathon app with multiple services (frontend, backend, database).
• Want to spin up Docker quickly and focus on writing code, not configs.
• Learn best by seeing things run instead of reading long docs.

If you’ve ever thought: “I know what my app looks like, I just don’t know how to write Docker Compose for it,” this tool is for you.

🚀 What It Does

• Draw Your Architecture: Use diagrams.net (or another tool that can export XML if you're brave).
• Automatic Service Setup: The tool recognizes common components like frontends, APIs, proxies, and databases.
• Instant Compose File: Generates a ready-to-run Docker Compose file with networking, volumes, and dependencies.

No YAML required — just draw and run.

⚡ Why It’s Useful

• ⏱️ Save Time – Go from diagram to running containers in seconds.
• 🛠️ Skip Config Errors – Stop copy-pasting broken YAML.
• 👩‍💻 Onboard Faster – Share diagrams and instantly get teammates running the same environment.
• 🌱 Learn by Doing – See how your diagram translates into Docker Compose.

🔧 How It Works

graph LR
    A[Draw Architecture] --> B[Export Diagram XML]
    B --> C[Run Diagram-to-Docker]
    C --> D[Get Docker Compose File]
    D --> E[Run Containers!]

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Supported components:

• Frontend → react-frontend
• Backend → flask-backend
• Proxy → nginx
• Database → mysql
• Cache → redis
• Async Worker → rabbitmq

🤝 Contributing

This started as a HackMIT 2025 project, but we’d love your input! If you’re learning Docker, this is a great project to get hands-on with.

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Stop writing YAML by hand. Draw it, run it, and get back to building.