Bring Your Draw.io Diagrams to Life with AI and Next.js

We've all been there—staring at a complex diagram, trying to map out a system architecture or a workflow, and wishing we could just describe what we need and have it appear. What if you could do exactly that? A new project bridges the gap between the familiar draw.io diagramming tool and modern AI, letting you generate and modify diagrams using natural language, all within a Next.js application.

It turns the static process of diagram creation into a dynamic, conversational experience. Instead of manually dragging and dropping every shape, you can instruct an AI to build or adjust your diagram for you.

What It Does

next-ai-draw-io is an open-source project that integrates the draw.io editor into a Next.js application and connects it to an AI backend (powered by the Vercel AI SDK). You can describe a diagram in plain English, and the AI will generate the corresponding draw.io XML. The application then renders that XML into a fully editable diagram right in your browser. You can also ask the AI to modify your existing diagrams, like adding new components or changing layouts.

Why It's Cool

The clever part is how it handles the translation between natural language and a draw.io diagram. Draw.io diagrams are defined in a complex XML format. This project uses an AI model, instructed with specific prompts, to understand your request and output valid, structured XML that the draw.io viewer can immediately parse and display.

It's not just a one-time generator; it's an interactive tool. You can have a back-and-forth conversation with your diagram. Ask it to "add a load balancer between the client and server," and it will. This opens up fantastic use cases for rapid prototyping during design sessions, generating documentation visuals from text descriptions, or even helping to visualize legacy systems by describing them to the AI.

How to Try It

The easiest way to see it in action is to check out the live demo. You can find it linked from the repository.

If you want to run it locally (which is more fun because you can tinker), here's the quick start:

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/DayuanJiang/next-ai-draw-io.git
   cd next-ai-draw-io
   

2. Set up your environment: You'll need an API key from either OpenAI or Anthropic. Copy the example environment file and add your key.

   cp .env.example .env.local
   # Now edit .env.local and add your API key
   

3. Install and run:

   npm install
   npm run dev
   

4. Open http://localhost:3000 and start describing diagrams. The project uses the Vercel AI SDK, so it's set up to work smoothly with their AI providers, but the structure is there to adapt to others.

Final Thoughts

As a developer, I see this as more than a novelty. It's a practical accelerator for a task that's necessary but often tedious. The integration is smart—it leverages a trusted, open-source diagramming tool and adds an intelligent layer on top. The potential to integrate this kind of functionality into internal admin tools, documentation generators, or planning software is huge. It's a great example of using AI to augment a developer's existing workflow, not just replace it.

Give the repo a star if you find the concept useful, and fork it if you have ideas for the next feature. It's a solid foundation to build from.

Follow for more interesting projects: @githubprojects