DiagramIDE

Diagrams as source files.

DiagramIDE is a desktop editor for writing Pikchr or Svgbob diagrams as text. A live preview appears beside the source.

Write a diagram directly, assemble a diagram from named fragments, or generate a diagram from a program in Prolog, Tcl, Ruby, CLIPS, or Gluon (Hagoromo editor). Svgbob diagrams are plain-text ASCII art. Each diagram editor has an Output Type of Pikchr (the default) or Svgbob. You can save SVG, PNG, transparent PNG, or the generated source to a file, or copy the result to the clipboard.

Screenshots

Pikchr source and its render window.

Ruby script that generates Pikchr.

Export menu.

Features

Source

• Source editor with live preview. Choose Pikchr or Svgbob per editor.
• Svgbob canvas editor for ASCII art.
• Hagoromo editor: a Gluon script builds a diagram from combinators in the style of Haskell Diagrams (circle 1.0 ||| square 2.0 |> fc color.red). hagoromo renders the diagram in-process. The Gluon script produces the rendered diagram directly, so the Hagoromo editor has no Output Type.
• Plain-text editors hold fragments for reuse.

Generation

• Prolog: define the diagram as a DCG with root diagram//0. The Prolog editor runs Trealla Prolog embedded through WASM.
• Tcl: write a Tcl script that transforms text into diagram source. The Tcl editor requires Tcl 8.6 libraries.
• Ruby: write diagram source with print or puts. The Ruby editor requires a Ruby installation.
• CLIPS: assert facts such as (box (id b) (label "Hello")) and let rules add more facts. Each shape fact becomes 1 Pikchr statement. After rendering, DiagramIDE writes the rendered center of each shape into the x and y slots of the shape fact. The CLIPS editor runs the embedded CLIPS 6.4.2 engine through clips-bindings.

Composition

• $$name$$ includes the generated source of another editor. The including editor and the included editor need the same Output Type.
• !!name!! includes another editor's raw source.

Workspaces

• Keep related editors, render windows, and fragments together. Workspaces save automatically.

Export

• SVG, opaque PNG, and transparent PNG.
• Copy generated Pikchr, Svgbob, or Hagoromo source.
• Renders use the Space Mono font.

Installation

Build from source with cargo install --path ., download the 1.2.0 release, or try the nightly release.

Satellite projects

The repository is a Cargo workspace. The root crate is DiagramIDE. The other crates are:

Project	Crate · path	Role	License
pikchr.pro	pikchr_pro · crates/pikchr_pro	Prolog to Pikchr to SVG library and CLI	GPL-3.0-only
pikchr.pl	pikchr_pl · crates/pikchr_pl	First GUI, built with iced. DiagramIDE replaces pikchr.pl.	GPL-3.0-only
trealla-wasm	crates/trealla_wasm	Trealla Prolog on a WASM runtime	MIT

pikchr.pro (CLI)

pikchr_pro reads a Prolog file with a diagram//0 DCG on STDIN and writes SVG to STDOUT:

cat my_diagram.pl | pikchr_pro > output.svg

pikchr.pl

The original GUI, built with iced. DiagramIDE (built with egui) replaces pikchr.pl, but pikchr.pl remains in the repository and ships in nightly releases.

Status: alpha

DiagramIDE creates and exports diagrams, but the user interface and behavior are unfinished:

• An update can wipe your autosaved workspace. Keep backups.
• Some features are missing, such as indenting selected lines and shortcuts for many actions.
• Expect leftover code, verbose debug output, and undocumented behavior.

Hidden features

• Cmd/Ctrl+R renames the focused editor.
• Cmd/Ctrl+select the × button to delete a window. Without the modifier, the × button hides the window.

Wrapper languages

A language can be added to DiagramIDE if the language meets 2 requirements:

• The language returns text valid for the editor's Output Type.
• The language embeds in Rust.

Prolog (Trealla on WASM) was the first wrapper language. DCGs make diagrams declarative, and atoms make diagrams composable. After writing a Prolog helper library (embedded in pikchr.pl, not DiagramIDE), I often preferred raw Pikchr.

Tcl was the second wrapper language. Tcl suits the text transformation DiagramIDE performs. Other candidates are M4 as a macro layer and Markdown for diagrams with text. Each candidate, including Starlark, depends on whether the language embeds in Rust.

Why DiagramIDE

• Diagrams communicate well, but drawing and updating diagrams is hard.
• Most diagramming tools reach a point where you must accept poor output or work around the tool.
• Graphics programs lack composition. You can't define a node once and edit every instance.
• Of the existing diagram languages, Pikchr suits DiagramIDE best, but Pikchr scripting has no conditionals and limited loops.
• Pikchr SVG output has no embedded font or background. The missing font and background make Pikchr SVG hard to use in code, and high-quality rasterization requires extra work.
• You want to see the diagram while you write the diagram source.

License

DiagramIDE uses the Business Source License 1.1 (BSL). The satellite projects pikchr.pl and pikchr.pro use GPL-3.0-only.

• DiagramIDE (diagramide, root crate): Business Source License 1.1. Source-available; mandated or corporate use requires a commercial license. Converts to GPL-3.0-or-later on 2029-01-01. See LICENSE and NOTICE.
• pikchr.pl and pikchr.pro (pikchr_pl, pikchr_pro): GPL-3.0-only. See each crate's LICENSE.
• trealla-wasm (trealla_wasm): MIT. See its LICENSE.
• Space Mono font: SIL Open Font License 1.1. See assets/fonts/LICENSE.SpaceMono.
• Tabler Icons: MIT. See assets/icons/LICENSE.Tabler.
• Trealla Prolog: MIT-style license. See crates/trealla_wasm/native/tpl/LICENSE.
• Pikchr: the author disclaims copyright (zero-clause BSD). See the header of crates/pikchr_pro/native/pikchr/pikchr.c.
• hagoromo and Gluon: MIT.
• CLIPS 6.4.2: MIT No Attribution. clips-bindings: MIT.
• Svgbob: Apache-2.0, pinned to the exlee/svgbob optimization revision.