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Arkdraw is an open-source diagramming app for creating flowcharts, UML, ER diagrams, network maps, wireframes, and mind maps with a built-in AI assistant that generates and edits diagrams from natural-language prompts.

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ArkDraw

Describe a system. Watch it being drawn.

An open-source diagram editor with an AI assistant that draws, edits and animates real architecture diagrams,
using your own model and keeping your files on your disk.

Open it in your browser · arkdraw.com · Download for Windows, macOS and Linux

Download License: MIT CI Windows, macOS, Linux, Web

Typing a prompt into ArkDraw's AI tab: the assistant picks the official AWS icons, draws CloudFront, API Gateway, Lambda, S3 and DynamoDB, and the request flow starts moving along the arrows

Real recording: one prompt, official AWS icons, routed arrows, animated flow. Nothing edited afterwards.

The AI assistant

Open the AI tab (Ctrl/⌘ + I) and say what you need. There is no mode to pick: on an empty canvas it draws, on an existing diagram it edits.

  • Real diagrams. Native shapes and connectors you can keep editing, never a picture. It uses the official AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle and Kubernetes icons, and groups them in VPCs, VNets, subnets and resource groups with their logos.
  • Clean layout. Connectors are routed together, so they don't overlap, don't cross shapes, and each one gets its own port.
  • It edits. Try "add a cache in front of the database", "label every connection" or "make the failing service pulse". Every change pops in place and is a single Ctrl+Z away.
  • It animates. Ask it to "animate the request flow" or "build it step by step", then export the result as a GIF.
  • Your model, your key. Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Google Gemini, xAI Grok, DeepSeek, Mistral, Azure AI Foundry, Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, OpenRouter, Groq and more, or Ollama fully offline. Keys stay in your system keychain (desktop) or encrypted in your browser (web), and requests go straight to your provider. ArkDraw has no servers.
The assistant adds an ElastiCache Redis node between the EC2 instances and RDS in an existing AWS diagram and animates the data flow

Edit an existing diagram: "Add an ElastiCache Redis cache between the instances and the database, and animate the data flow."

The assistant draws an Azure web app: Front Door, App Service inside a VNet, Azure SQL and Key Vault, with animated traffic

Azure: "Front Door → App Service inside a VNet, talking to Azure SQL and Key Vault. Animate the traffic."

The assistant draws a password-reset flowchart that builds itself step by step

Flowcharts too: "Password reset flowchart. Build it step by step."

The assistant draws a Google Cloud streaming pipeline: Pub/Sub, Dataflow, BigQuery and Looker inside a GCP project, with events moving along the arrows as dots

Google Cloud: "Pub/Sub → Dataflow → BigQuery, with a Looker dashboard. Show the events moving as dots."

Download

OS Get it
Windows 10/11 Microsoft Store, winget install 9PG6WQTHD78Q, or the windows-installer.exe from Releases. Signed by Microsoft, updates automatically
macOS 11+ Universal .dmg (Apple Silicon and Intel)
Linux .AppImage (any distro), .deb, .rpm, x64 and arm64
Web app.arkdraw.com, installable as an app, or self-host it

Checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt on every release.

macOS says the app is from an unidentified developer?

The macOS build isn't notarized yet: right-click the app in Applications and choose Open, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine on it.

Also in the box

  • Local-first. .arkdraw is plain JSON that diffs in git. No account, works offline.
  • Open formats. Opens and saves .drawio and .vsdx; imports Mermaid, Graphviz, CSV and SQL.
  • 14,000+ icons with search that forgives typos (lamda) and knows acronyms (vnet).
  • Straight connectors on demand. Hover a segment, drag it, and it snaps into line with the shapes.
  • 10 languages, light and dark themes, plugins and custom shapes.

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/gabe-santana/arkdraw.git && cd arkdraw
npm install
npm run icons:fetch   # official cloud icon packs (optional)
npm run dev           # web app at http://localhost:1420
npm run tauri dev     # desktop app (needs Rust)

Features and formats · Web and self-hosting · CLI export · Plugins · Animation · Releases

Note

Vendor icon packs are third-party trademarks under their own terms, not MIT. They are downloaded by npm run icons:fetch, not committed; see public/icons/LICENSES.md.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md and the good first issue label, follow the Code of Conduct, and report vulnerabilities privately (SECURITY.md).

The GIFs above are recorded from the real app with npm run media:ai (AI demos) and npm run media:gifs (template animations).

License

MIT © 2026 Gabriel Santana

About

Arkdraw is an open-source diagramming app for creating flowcharts, UML, ER diagrams, network maps, wireframes, and mind maps with a built-in AI assistant that generates and edits diagrams from natural-language prompts.

Topics

Resources

Code of conduct

Contributing

Security policy

Stars

57 stars

Watchers

1 watching

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages