D2 is a modern diagram scripting language that turns text to diagrams.
See the code
Docs | Cheat sheet | Comparisons | Playground
https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/3120367/206125010-bd1fea8e-248a-43e7-8f85-0bbfca0c6e2a.mp4
vars: {
d2-config: {
layout-engine: elk
# Terminal theme code
theme-id: 300
}
}
network: {
cell tower: {
satellites: {
shape: stored_data
style.multiple: true
}
transmitter
satellites -> transmitter: send
satellites -> transmitter: send
satellites -> transmitter: send
}
online portal: {
ui: {shape: hexagon}
}
data processor: {
storage: {
shape: cylinder
style.multiple: true
}
}
cell tower.transmitter -> data processor.storage: phone logs
}
user: {
shape: person
width: 130
}
user -> network.cell tower: make call
user -> network.online portal.ui: access {
style.stroke-dash: 3
}
api server -> network.online portal.ui: display
api server -> logs: persist
logs: {shape: page; style.multiple: true}
network.data processor -> api server
Open in playground
For more examples, see ./docs/examples.
The most convenient way to use D2 is to just run it as a CLI executable to
produce SVGs from .d2 files.
# First, install D2
curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s --
echo 'x -> y -> z' > in.d2
d2 --watch in.d2 out.svg
A browser window will open with out.svg and live-reload on changes to in.d2.
The easiest way to install is with our install script:
curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s --
You can run the install script with --dry-run to see the commands that will be used
to install without executing them.
Or if you have Go installed you can install from source though you won't get the manpage:
go install github.com/d2lang/d2@latest
You can also install a release from source which will include manpages. See ./docs/INSTALL.md#source-release.
To uninstall with the install script:
curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s -- --uninstall
For detailed installation docs, see ./docs/INSTALL.md. We demonstrate alternative methods and examples for each OS.
As well, the functioning of the install script is described in detail to alleviate any concern of its use. We recommend using your OS's package manager directly instead for improved security but the install script is by no means insecure.
In addition to being a runnable CLI tool, D2 can also be used to produce diagrams from Go programs.
For examples, see ./docs/examples/lib.
D2 includes a variety of official themes to style your diagrams beautifully right out of the box. See ./d2themes to browse the available themes and make or contribute your own creation.
D2 ships with "Source Sans Pro" as the font in renders. If you wish to use a different one, please see ./d2renderers/d2fonts.
D2 supports SVG, PNG, GIF, PDF, and PPTX exports.
D2 is designed with language tooling in mind. D2's parser can parse multiple errors from a broken program, has an autoformatter, syntax highlighting, and we have plans for LSP's and more. Good language tooling is necessary for creating and maintaining large diagrams.
The extensions for VSCode and Vim can be found in the Related section.
D2 bundles three layout engines. Select one with --layout=dagre, --layout=elk, or
--layout=tala. You can also set D2_LAYOUT or vars.d2-config.layout-engine in D2 source.
Run d2 layout to list the engines or d2 layout <name> for their configuration options.
--layout=tala,
D2_LAYOUT=tala, or a layout-engine: tala setting under vars.d2-config in D2 source.D2 also handles specialized layouts such as sequence diagrams and grids. Go applications can use the layout packages directly or provide layout and routing functions through d2lib.
Sketch-mode rendering uses rough-go, a native Go compatibility port of the Rough.js 4.6.6 rendering surface used by D2.
LaTeX labels use mathjax-go, a native Go port of the MathJax 3.2.2 TeX-to-SVG pipeline.
For a comparison against other popular text-to-diagram tools, see https://text-to-diagram.com.
Contributions are welcome! See ./docs/CONTRIBUTING.md.
Open sourced under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. See ./LICENSE.txt.
We are constantly working on new plugins, integrations, extensions. Contributions are welcome in any official or community plugins. If you have somewhere in your workflow that you want to use D2, feel free to open a discussion. We have limited bandwidth and usually choose the most high-demand ones to work on. If you make something cool with D2 yourself, let us know and we'll be happy to include it here!
Do you have or see an open-source project with .d2 files? Please submit a PR adding to
this selected list of featured projects using D2.
(top 24 of 436)
535 followers · starred Aug 2025
467 followers · starred Nov 2022
3,417 followers · starred Jan 2023
1,061 followers · starred Nov 2022
D2 is a modern diagram scripting language that turns text to diagrams.
See the code
Docs | Cheat sheet | Comparisons | Playground
https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/3120367/206125010-bd1fea8e-248a-43e7-8f85-0bbfca0c6e2a.mp4
vars: {
d2-config: {
layout-engine: elk
# Terminal theme code
theme-id: 300
}
}
network: {
cell tower: {
satellites: {
shape: stored_data
style.multiple: true
}
transmitter
satellites -> transmitter: send
satellites -> transmitter: send
satellites -> transmitter: send
}
online portal: {
ui: {shape: hexagon}
}
data processor: {
storage: {
shape: cylinder
style.multiple: true
}
}
cell tower.transmitter -> data processor.storage: phone logs
}
user: {
shape: person
width: 130
}
user -> network.cell tower: make call
user -> network.online portal.ui: access {
style.stroke-dash: 3
}
api server -> network.online portal.ui: display
api server -> logs: persist
logs: {shape: page; style.multiple: true}
network.data processor -> api server
Open in playground
For more examples, see ./docs/examples.
The most convenient way to use D2 is to just run it as a CLI executable to
produce SVGs from .d2 files.
# First, install D2
curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s --
echo 'x -> y -> z' > in.d2
d2 --watch in.d2 out.svg
A browser window will open with out.svg and live-reload on changes to in.d2.
The easiest way to install is with our install script:
curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s --
You can run the install script with --dry-run to see the commands that will be used
to install without executing them.
Or if you have Go installed you can install from source though you won't get the manpage:
go install github.com/d2lang/d2@latest
You can also install a release from source which will include manpages. See ./docs/INSTALL.md#source-release.
To uninstall with the install script:
curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s -- --uninstall
For detailed installation docs, see ./docs/INSTALL.md. We demonstrate alternative methods and examples for each OS.
As well, the functioning of the install script is described in detail to alleviate any concern of its use. We recommend using your OS's package manager directly instead for improved security but the install script is by no means insecure.
In addition to being a runnable CLI tool, D2 can also be used to produce diagrams from Go programs.
For examples, see ./docs/examples/lib.
D2 includes a variety of official themes to style your diagrams beautifully right out of the box. See ./d2themes to browse the available themes and make or contribute your own creation.
D2 ships with "Source Sans Pro" as the font in renders. If you wish to use a different one, please see ./d2renderers/d2fonts.
D2 supports SVG, PNG, GIF, PDF, and PPTX exports.
D2 is designed with language tooling in mind. D2's parser can parse multiple errors from a broken program, has an autoformatter, syntax highlighting, and we have plans for LSP's and more. Good language tooling is necessary for creating and maintaining large diagrams.
The extensions for VSCode and Vim can be found in the Related section.
D2 bundles three layout engines. Select one with --layout=dagre, --layout=elk, or
--layout=tala. You can also set D2_LAYOUT or vars.d2-config.layout-engine in D2 source.
Run d2 layout to list the engines or d2 layout <name> for their configuration options.
--layout=tala,
D2_LAYOUT=tala, or a layout-engine: tala setting under vars.d2-config in D2 source.D2 also handles specialized layouts such as sequence diagrams and grids. Go applications can use the layout packages directly or provide layout and routing functions through d2lib.
Sketch-mode rendering uses rough-go, a native Go compatibility port of the Rough.js 4.6.6 rendering surface used by D2.
LaTeX labels use mathjax-go, a native Go port of the MathJax 3.2.2 TeX-to-SVG pipeline.
For a comparison against other popular text-to-diagram tools, see https://text-to-diagram.com.
Contributions are welcome! See ./docs/CONTRIBUTING.md.
Open sourced under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. See ./LICENSE.txt.
We are constantly working on new plugins, integrations, extensions. Contributions are welcome in any official or community plugins. If you have somewhere in your workflow that you want to use D2, feel free to open a discussion. We have limited bandwidth and usually choose the most high-demand ones to work on. If you make something cool with D2 yourself, let us know and we'll be happy to include it here!
Do you have or see an open-source project with .d2 files? Please submit a PR adding to
this selected list of featured projects using D2.
(top 24 of 436)
535 followers · starred Aug 2025
467 followers · starred Nov 2022
3,417 followers · starred Jan 2023
1,061 followers · starred Nov 2022