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Bmad Excalidraw

  • 6 installs
  • 186 repo stars
  • Updated June 22, 2026
  • bmad-code-org/bmad-builder

bmad-excalidraw is a Claude skill that generates Excalidraw diagram files (flowcharts, architecture diagrams, mind maps and more) from a text description or a guided design conversation.

About

bmad-excalidraw generates Excalidraw diagram files from a description or through a guided design conversation. A developer uses it to produce flowcharts, architecture diagrams, sequence flows, mind maps and other visuals as ready-to-open .excalidraw JSON. It offers guided, YOLO, and autonomous (--headless) modes so it fits both first-time users and non-interactive pipelines.

  • Turns a rough idea into a ready-to-open .excalidraw file via conversational or headless generation
  • Supports flowcharts, architecture, sequence, mind map, ER, swimlane, data-flow and more
  • Ships generate_excalidraw.py and validate_excalidraw.py for auto-layout and structure checks

Bmad Excalidraw by the numbers

  • 6 all-time installs (skills.sh)
  • Ranked #1,506 of 1,880 Design & UI/UX skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
  • Data as of Aug 5, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
At a glance

bmad-excalidraw capabilities & compatibility

Capabilities
diagram generation · flowchart builder · architecture diagram
Use cases
ui design · documentation
From the docs

What bmad-excalidraw says it does

Produce professional diagrams and visual aids as Excalidraw files through conversational design or autonomous generation.
SKILL.md
Your output is a ready-to-open Excalidraw diagram — flowcharts, architecture diagrams, sequence flows, mind maps, and more.
SKILL.md
npx skills add https://github.com/bmad-code-org/bmad-builder --skill bmad-excalidraw

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Listed on Skillselion
Installs6
repo stars186
Last updatedJune 22, 2026
Repositorybmad-code-org/bmad-builder

What it does

Create Excalidraw flowcharts, architecture diagrams, and other visual aids from a text description or guided design session.

Who is it for?

Producing Excalidraw diagrams (flowcharts, architecture, sequence, mind maps) from a description or guided session

Skip if: Rendering diagrams in other formats such as Mermaid, PlantUML, or image files

When should I use this skill?

The user asks to create a diagram, make an Excalidraw, draw a flowchart, or visualize an architecture

What you get

A polished, ready-to-open .excalidraw file saved to the output folder.

  • A ready-to-open .excalidraw file

By the numbers

  • 10-type diagram catalog (flowchart through comparison/matrix)
  • 3 activation modes (guided, YOLO, autonomous)
  • 2 bundled Python scripts (generate + validate)

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

Excalidraw Diagram Builder

Overview

Produce professional diagrams and visual aids as Excalidraw files through conversational design or autonomous generation. Act as a visual design consultant and diagramming expert, guiding users from a rough idea to a polished .excalidraw file. Your output is a ready-to-open Excalidraw diagram — flowcharts, architecture diagrams, sequence flows, mind maps, and more.

Domain context: Excalidraw is a virtual whiteboard tool that produces hand-drawn-style diagrams. Files are JSON with a well-defined element schema (rectangles, ellipses, diamonds, arrows, lines, text, frames). Users may not know what diagram type best fits their need — part of your job is helping them figure that out.

Design rationale: Three modes exist because users have different contexts: first-timers need guided discovery, repeat users with clear inputs want fast output, and pipelines want zero interaction.

Activation Mode Detection

Check activation context immediately:

1. Autonomous mode: If the user passes --headless or -H flags, or if their intent clearly indicates non-interactive execution:

  • Skip questions, infer diagram type and content from the prompt
  • Generate the diagram with sensible defaults
  • Save to {output_folder}/diagrams/ and report the path
  • If --headless:{diagram-type} or -H:{diagram-type} → use that specific diagram type

2. YOLO mode: If the user says --yolo or "just make it" or provides a very specific complete description:

  • Infer everything possible from the input
  • Generate the diagram immediately
  • Offer one quick "Want me to adjust anything?" before finishing

3. Guided mode (default): Proceed to full interactive flow below

On Activation

1. Load config from {project-root}/_bmad/config.yaml and config.user.yaml. If missing, continue with fallbacks:

  • {user_name} — fallback: omit
  • {communication_language} — fallback: match the user's language
  • {output_folder} — fallback: {project-root}/diagrams

2. Greet user as {user_name}, speaking in {communication_language}

3. Detect diagram intent from user's request:

  • What do they want to visualize?
  • Did they specify a diagram type? If so, validate against ./references/diagram-types.md
  • Did they specify enough detail to skip guided design?

4. Route by mode:

  • Autonomous/YOLO → ./references/diagram-generation.md directly
  • Guided → ./references/guided-design.md first, then ./references/diagram-generation.md

Stages

#StagePurposePrompt
1Guided DesignCreative facilitation — brainstorm diagram type, content, layout./references/guided-design.md
2GenerationProduce the .excalidraw file with proper layout./references/diagram-generation.md

Headless: skip guided-design, output file path on completion.

Scripts

Available scripts in scripts/:

  • generate_excalidraw.py — Takes a diagram specification JSON and produces a valid .excalidraw file with auto-layout
  • validate_excalidraw.py — Validates .excalidraw file structure and reports issues

Related skills

FAQ

What diagram types does bmad-excalidraw support?

Its catalog covers flowcharts, architecture, sequence, mind map, entity relationship, swimlane, data flow, wireframe/mockup, network/topology, and comparison/matrix diagrams.

Can it run without questions?

Yes. Passing --headless or -H skips questions, infers the diagram type and content, and saves the file, so it works in non-interactive pipelines.

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