# Excalidraw MCP

Official fast and streamable Excalidraw MCP App server that lets AI agents generate, stream, and interactively edit hand-drawn diagrams with smooth viewport control and fullscreen editing directly in clients like Claude.

Canonical URL: https://a2a-mcp.org/entry/excalidraw-mcp

Language: en

Category: MCP Servers

Updated: 2026-03-21

## Overview

Excalidraw MCP is the **official** MCP (Model Context Protocol) server from the Excalidraw team. It turns natural language prompts into streaming, hand-drawn style diagrams that appear live inside AI chat interfaces.

Built on the core Excalidraw engine, it supports smooth viewport camera control, interactive fullscreen editing, and server-side checkpoint storage — making it the fastest and most polished way for LLMs to create visual explanations.

Hosted remote instance available at https://mcp.excalidraw.com (no setup required for most clients).

## Features

- Real-time streaming with smooth animations and camera control
- Interactive fullscreen editing inside the chat window
- Server-side checkpoint storage for persistent diagrams
- Cross-platform builds and dev Vite server
- Works with any MCP App–compatible client
- One-click install via .mcpb extension for Claude Desktop
- Deploy your own instance on Vercel in seconds
- MIT licensed and fully open source

## Installation

### Remote (Recommended)
Add `https://mcp.excalidraw.com` as a custom MCP connector in your client (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code, Goose, etc.). Many apps now have built-in search for “Excalidraw”.

### Local / Self-Hosted
1. Download the latest `excalidraw-mcp-app.mcpb` from Releases and double-click (Claude Desktop)
2. Or clone & build:
   ```bash
   git clone https://github.com/excalidraw/excalidraw-mcp.git
   cd excalidraw-mcp
   pnpm install && pnpm run build
   ```
   Then add the stdio config to your client’s MCP settings.

## Compatibility

- Claude Desktop / Claude.ai
- ChatGPT (MCP support)
- VS Code extensions
- Cursor, Goose, and other MCP hosts

## Example Prompts

- “Draw a cute cat using Excalidraw”
- “Create an architecture diagram: user → API server → database”
- “Sketch a flowchart for our CI/CD pipeline”

## Use Cases

- Instant system architecture & network diagrams
- Live flowcharts and mind maps from code or specs
- UI wireframing and product mockups
- Educational illustrations and documentation visuals
- Real-time collaborative diagramming with AI assistance

Excalidraw MCP bridges the gap between text-based AI and visual communication, making complex ideas instantly understandable.

## Tags

- mcp
- mcp-server
- excalidraw
- diagram
- ai-integration
- streaming
- claude
- typescript
- hand-drawn

## Sources

- [Project website](https://github.com/excalidraw/excalidraw-mcp)