sysketch

<h1 align="center">
  <picture>
    <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="docs/brand/sysketch-logo-dark.svg">
    <img alt="sysketch: your system, sketched" src="docs/brand/sysketch-logo.svg" width="460">
  </picture>
</h1>

<p align="center">
  <b>Describe your system in a few lines. Get a clean, hand-sketched architecture diagram.</b><br>
  Works in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and other AI chats, in coding assistants like Claude Code and Cursor, or on its own from the command line.
</p>

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://tonys-coding.github.io/sysketch/"><b>Try it live in your browser →</b></a>
</p>

<p align="center">
  <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/sysketch"><img alt="npm: sysketch" src="https://img.shields.io/npm/v/sysketch?label=sysketch"></a>
  <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/sysketch-mcp"><img alt="npm: sysketch-mcp" src="https://img.shields.io/npm/v/sysketch-mcp?label=sysketch-mcp"></a>
  <a href="https://github.com/Tonys-Coding/sysketch/actions/workflows/ci.yml"><img alt="CI" src="https://github.com/Tonys-Coding/sysketch/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg"></a>
  <a href="LICENSE"><img alt="License: MIT" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue"></a>
</p>

![A rate-limited API platform drawn by sysketch](examples/rate-limited-api.svg)

## Why sysketch

When you ask an AI assistant for a diagram, it usually writes every line, box and coordinate by hand. That is slow, uses up a lot of your AI usage, and every diagram looks different.

With sysketch, the AI writes a short description of your system and sysketch draws it.

- **Faster and cheaper:** 18x fewer AI output tokens and about 9x faster than having the AI draw the image itself ([benchmark](docs/benchmark.md)).
- **Consistent:** every diagram shares the same polished style, icons and layout rules.
- **Easy to change:** "add a cache in front of the database" is a one-line edit, not a redraw.
- **Works anywhere:** SVG or PNG files that look the same in GitHub, Notion, Figma, docs and slides.

## Get started

sysketch connects to AI assistants through [MCP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io), the standard way to give them new tools. Pick the option that matches how you use AI.

### In your AI chat (nothing to install)

Any web-based AI chat that supports **custom connectors** (also called MCP servers) can use sysketch, including Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity. Add a custom connector with this URL. No account or sign-in is needed.

```text
https://sysketch.vercel.app/mcp
```

- **Claude** (web, desktop and mobile): Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
- **ChatGPT:** turn on Developer mode (Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced), then create a connector with the URL and no authentication. Developer mode is available on paid plans.
- **Perplexity and other chats:** look for custom connectors or MCP in the settings.

Then ask for a diagram:

> Use sysketch to draw a ride-sharing app: rider and driver apps, an API gateway, a matching service, a location service and a trip database.

In Claude and ChatGPT the diagram opens right in the chat, with zoom, fullscreen and PNG/SVG download buttons. Other chats show a preview with links to the full PNG and SVG. To change it, just ask ("add a payment service"). Product names like `stripe`, `kafka` or `postgres` show the product's official logo (from [Simple Icons](https://simpleicons.org)). Nothing is stored on the server: each link contains the diagram's description, so anyone with the link can see that diagram. The AWS, Azure and Google Cloud icon packs and your own company's logos need the local version below. Setup and the connector's limits are in the **[hosted server guide](packages/hosted/README.md)**.

### In Claude Code, Cursor and other coding assistants

This runs sysketch on your computer and saves diagrams straight into your project. You need [Node.js](https://nodejs.org) 20 or newer.

**Claude Code:** run this once in your terminal:

```bash
claude mcp add sysketch -- npx -y sysketch-mcp
```

**Claude Desktop, Cursor and other assistants:** add this to the assistant's MCP settings, then restart it:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sysketch": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "sysketch-mcp"] }
  }
}
```

Claude Desktop saves diagrams in a `sysketch` folder in your home folder. To use another folder, add `"--dir", "/path/to/folder"` after `"sysketch-mcp"`.

Then ask the same way, for example "use sysketch to draw this repo's architecture as a PNG". The diagram is saved in your project as an image, along with its short description, so you can ask for changes later. This version also supports [official logos](#official-logos-optional).

### From the command line

You need [Node.js](https://nodejs.org) 20 or newer. Write a description of your system in a file called `diagram.yaml`:

```yaml
title: URL Shortener
groups:
  Backend: [api, cache, db]
edges:
  - client > lb | POST /shorten
  - lb > api
  - api > cache
  - api > db
```

Then draw it:

```bash
npx sysketch render diagram.yaml
```

That creates `diagram.svg`:

![The URL shortener diagram](examples/url-shortener.svg)

Add `--png` for an image file, or `--theme graphite` for a different look.

## Writing a diagram

A diagram has three parts. Only `edges` is required.

| Part     | What it does                        | Example                                   |
| -------- | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| `edges`  | Arrows between parts of your system | `client > lb > api \| GET /home`          |
| `nodes`  | Optional names, icons and notes     | `api: server \| API Server \| 3 replicas` |
| `groups` | Optional boxes around related parts | `Backend: [api, cache, db]`               |

Common names like `client`, `api`, `db`, `cache`, `queue`, `redis`, `kafka`, `s3` or `stripe` pick the right icon automatically. You can also use dashed (`..>`), two-way (`<>`), thick (`=>`) and plain (`--`) arrows, colors, groups inside groups for cloud networks, a numbered step legend, and `type: sequence` for [sequence diagrams](docs/spec.md#sequence-diagrams). Everything is in the **[spec guide](docs/spec.md)**.

If something is wrong, sysketch says how to fix it: `unknown node "databse". Did you mean: database?`

## Themes

| Sketch (default)                  | Graphite                              | Blueprint                               | Midnight                              | Classic                             |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| ![sketch](docs/themes/sketch.svg) | ![graphite](docs/themes/graphite.svg) | ![blueprint](docs/themes/blueprint.svg) | ![midnight](docs/themes/midnight.svg) | ![classic](docs/themes/classic.svg) |

Pick one with `theme: graphite` in your diagram file, or ask your assistant for "the blueprint theme". Every diagram includes [61 original icons](docs/icons.md) that adapt to the theme.

## Examples

<table>
  <tr>
    <td width="50%"><a href="examples/url-shortener-v2.yaml"><img alt="URL shortener read path with a step legend" src="examples/url-shortener-v2.svg"></a><br><sub><b>URL shortener:</b> subtitles, colored and dashed arrows, step legend</sub></td>
    <td width="50%"><a href="examples/event-analytics.yaml"><img alt="Event-driven analytics" src="examples/event-analytics.svg"></a><br><sub><b>Event-driven analytics:</b> a long flow folded into rows</sub></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="50%"><a href="examples/smart-commerce.yaml"><img alt="Smart commerce platform, midnight theme" src="docs/showcase/smart-commerce-midnight.svg"></a><br><sub><b>Smart commerce platform</b> in the midnight theme</sub></td>
    <td width="50%"><a href="examples/secure-data-platform.yaml"><img alt="Secure data platform, blueprint theme" src="docs/showcase/secure-data-platform-blueprint.svg"></a><br><sub><b>Secure data platform</b> in the blueprint theme</sub></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="50%"><a href="examples/login-sequence.yaml"><img alt="Sign-in sequence diagram" src="examples/login-sequence.svg"></a><br><sub><b>Sign-in flow:</b> a sequence diagram (<code>type: sequence</code>)</sub></td>
    <td width="50%"><a href="examples/aws-network.yaml"><img alt="Web app in nested AWS region, VPC and subnet groups" src="examples/aws-network.svg"></a><br><sub><b>Web app on AWS:</b> groups inside groups, two-way and thick arrows</sub></td>
  </tr>
</table>

Click any diagram to see the description that produced it. More in [examples/](examples/).

## Official logos (optional)

sysketch can show the real logos of the products in your system, mixed with its own icons and your company's logo. You still write plain names like `kafka` or `spark`; logos you've installed are picked up automatically.

![An analytics pipeline mixing a company logo, open-source product logos and sysketch icons](docs/logos/mixed.svg)

<sub>Acme is a made-up company logo (from a folder next to the diagram). Apache Kafka, Spark, Flink, Airflow and Cassandra logos (Apache License 2.0) and the OpenTelemetry logo (CC BY 4.0) via Simple Icons. Names and logos are trademarks of their owners; sysketch is not affiliated with them. The rest are sysketch icons.</sub>

sysketch doesn't include any company logos; you install them yourself from the official sources. Product logos take one command (`npx sysketch logos install simple-icons`), and your own logos go in a folder next to your diagrams. See the **[logos guide](docs/logos.md)**.

### AWS, Azure and Google Cloud

The cloud providers publish their own architecture icons as downloadable packs, with their own terms, so they're imported separately. Download a pack from [AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/architecture/icons/), [Azure](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/icons/) or [Google Cloud](https://cloud.google.com/icons), then:

```bash
npx sy