Styles and palettes
A style describes diagram rendering; a colors-only style is a palette.
One primitive covers visual rendering: a style is a partial, composable description of palette, typography, stroke character, and fills. A style that only sets colours is a palette. Styles such as hand-drawn, watercolor, and blueprint also change renderer treatment. Styles stack left → right ({ style: ['hand-drawn', 'dracula'] } gives hand-drawn geometry with the dracula palette), the optional seed re-rolls styled ink without moving layout, and custom styles are plain JSON records. Use Custom styles for schema, complete JSON examples, and screenshots. The browser editor exposes both pickers: Style chooses renderer treatment; Palette chooses colors. SVG output can also inherit CSS variables for live palette swaps.
Built-in styles
The editor menus show the display name; render options, the CLI, and MCP tools take the stable input name. Stack a style with a palette: --style crisp,paper.
| Name | id | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Crisp | crisp | The default renderer with precise SVG geometry. |
| Hand-drawn | hand-drawn | Black ink on ruled paper — wobbly double strokes, unfilled boxes. |
| Excalidraw | excalidraw | Virtual whiteboard style — rough strokes, pastel hachure fills. |
| Pen & ink | pen-and-ink | Fine single-pass linework on warm cream — no interior hatching. |
| Freehand | freehand | Pressure-sensitive marker ribbons — variable-width filled strokes. |
| Watercolor | watercolor | Rough outlines over translucent glazes with pigment-pooled edges. |
| Blueprint | blueprint | Cyanotype: white linework on Prussian blue with a drafting grid. |
| Tufte | look:tufte | Maximal data-ink: crisp hairlines, warm paper, one red accent. |
| Accessible Contrast | accessible-high-contrast | Accessibility-first: large labels, heavy strokes, white ground, colorblind-safe blue accent. |
| Patent Hatching | patent-drawing | Print-safe patent figure: uniform ink, strong outlines, tone via oblique hatching. |
| Dark Ops Dashboard | status-dashboard | Operational dashboard: dark surface, rounded modules, bright status-friendly accent. |
| Compact Trace Map | ops-schematic | Dense operational schematic: compact mono labels, sturdy traces, theme-friendly geometry. |
| Chalkboard | chalkboard | Classroom chalkboard: dusty off-white strokes on green slate. |
| Riso Print | risograph | Two-ink poster print: warm stock, offset blue linework, coral accent, coarse hachure. |
| Plan Drafting | architectural-plan | Architectural plan: square technical linework, uppercase mono labels, room-like frames. |
| Report Figure | publication-figure | Polished publication figure: serif labels, confident rules, rounded boxes, one quiet accent. |
Palettes
A palette is a colors-only style: pass its id alone for recoloring, or after a style id to recolor that style.
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