Graph Explorer shows DOT and Mermaid text as a diagram that you can work on. Select a node to change its style. Hide the parts that you do not need. Drag from a node to add an arrow. Each edit also changes the source text.
For macOS, Windows, and Linux. Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license.
Select a node, then show or hide the nodes before it or after it, one layer at a time or all of them. Keep only the selection, or hide it. Collapse a group into one node, or zoom into it.
Change the style of the selection from the toolbar. Drag from a node to add an arrow. Drag the end of an arrow to connect it to a different node. Put nodes into a group, and edit DOT records and HTML tables one cell at a time. You can undo each edit.
The dot layout engine in Graph Explorer is a port of Graphviz 13.0.1 to Scala.
For the same input, it makes the same SVG as Graphviz, byte for byte.
The neato, fdp, sfdp, twopi, circo, osage, and patchwork engines come from Viz.js.
Graph Explorer shows all the diagram types of Mermaid 11: flowcharts, sequence, class, state, ER, Gantt, mind maps, C4, and more. The diagram changes while you type. In a flowchart, you can also select, hide, and edit the nodes.
Copy the diagram or the selection as SVG. Copy the graph as DOT or JSON. Copy a link that holds the full diagram. The link opens in the web app. Select one of ten themes, or turn on the 3D view (experimental).
Open a DOT or Mermaid file from the terminal with gx open.
When your editor or a coding agent saves the file, the diagram on the screen changes.
Select a box in the diagram to see what it does.
The app watches the files that you open. A moment after a save, the diagram shows the change.
Press ⌘S (CtrlS on Windows and Linux) to write your edits to the file. If the file changed on disk, the app asks which version to keep.
The library is a list of your diagram files. It keeps their tags, notes, and hidden elements
in ~/.graph-explorer, and the app and gx share it. Each file stays where it is.
A new diagram is a file in ~/Documents/Graph Explorer.
| Capability | Desktop app | Web app |
|---|---|---|
| Explore and edit DOT and Mermaid diagrams | Yes | Yes |
| Where your diagrams are kept | Files on your disk, where you keep them | The storage of one browser |
| Open a file from your disk | Yes, with gx open |
No. Paste the text. |
| Show changes to the file at once | Yes | No |
| Write your edits back to the file | Yes | No |
| Control from gx and coding agents | Yes | No |
| Share a diagram as a link | Yes. The link opens in the web app. | Yes |
| Install | Download for macOS, Windows, or Linux | Not necessary |
gx reads and edits DOT and Mermaid files by their structure, not by text search.
Only gx open, gx select, gx selection, and gx fit
need the desktop app. All other commands work in a terminal with no window.
gx nodes, gx arrowsgx set, gx groupgx hide, gx taggx open, gx watchgx select, gx fit
gx comes with a skill file that tells a coding agent how to use it.
Run gx skill to get its address for your version, then give it to your agent.
$ gx arrows arch.dot
web..api web -> api
api..db api -> db
$ gx set arch.dot db shape=cylinder
$ gx hide arch.dot api..db
$ gx open arch.dotOpen the .dmg file and drag the app to Applications. Apple has notarized the app and gx.
There is no build for Intel Macs.
The .exe file is the app. There is no installer.
The files are not signed, so SmartScreen can show a warning. Select More info, then Run anyway.
The file is the app. Make it executable with chmod +x.
The app needs WebKitGTK 4.1. On Debian and Ubuntu, the package is libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0.
To install gx, put the file in a folder on your PATH and make it executable.
On macOS, the first run of gx needs an internet connection, because macOS checks the notarization.
The desktop app does not update itself. Download each new release from this page.