cli-anything-mermaid

Create, edit, and render Mermaid diagrams via stateful project files and the mermaid.ink renderer. Designed for AI agents and power users who need to generate flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and other visualizations without a GUI.

Installation

This CLI is installed as part of the cli-anything-mermaid package:

pip install cli-anything-mermaid

Prerequisites:

Python 3.10+
No external software required (rendering uses mermaid.ink cloud service)

Usage

Basic Commands

# Show help
cli-anything-mermaid --help

# Start interactive REPL mode
cli-anything-mermaid

# Create a new project
cli-anything-mermaid project new -o diagram.json

# Run with JSON output (for agent consumption)
cli-anything-mermaid --json project info

REPL Mode

When invoked without a subcommand, the CLI enters an interactive REPL session:

cli-anything-mermaid
# Enter commands interactively with tab-completion and history

Command Groups

Project

Project lifecycle commands.

Command	Description
`new`	Create a new Mermaid project with optional sample preset and theme
`open`	Open an existing Mermaid project file
`save`	Save the current project to a file
`info`	Show current project information
`samples`	List available sample diagram presets

Diagram

Diagram source manipulation commands.

Command	Description
`set`	Replace the Mermaid source text (inline or from file)
`show`	Print the current Mermaid source code

Export

Render and share commands.

Command	Description
`render`	Render the diagram to SVG or PNG via mermaid.ink
`share`	Generate a Mermaid Live Editor URL for sharing

Session

Session state commands.

Command	Description
`status`	Show current session state
`undo`	Undo the last diagram source change
`redo`	Redo the last undone change

Examples

Create and Render a Flowchart

# Create a project with flowchart sample
cli-anything-mermaid project new --sample flowchart -o flow.json

# Replace diagram source
cli-anything-mermaid --project flow.json diagram set --text "graph TD; A-->B; B-->C;"

# Render to SVG
cli-anything-mermaid --project flow.json export render output.svg --format svg

Create a Sequence Diagram

# Create project with sequence sample
cli-anything-mermaid project new --sample sequence -o seq.json

# Set diagram from file
cli-anything-mermaid --project seq.json diagram set --file my_diagram.mmd

# Render to PNG
cli-anything-mermaid --project seq.json export render output.png --format png

Share a Diagram

# Generate an editable Mermaid Live URL
cli-anything-mermaid --project flow.json export share --mode edit

# Generate a view-only URL
cli-anything-mermaid --project flow.json export share --mode view

Interactive REPL Session

cli-anything-mermaid
# new flowchart
# set graph TD; A-->B; B-->C;
# render output.svg
# share
# quit

State Management

The CLI maintains session state with:

Undo/Redo: Revert or replay diagram source changes
Project persistence: Save/load project state as JSON
Session tracking: Track modifications and changes

Output Formats

All commands support dual output modes:

Human-readable (default): Tables, colors, formatted text
Machine-readable (--json flag): Structured JSON for agent consumption

# Human output
cli-anything-mermaid project info

# JSON output for agents
cli-anything-mermaid --json project info

For AI Agents

When using this CLI programmatically:

Always use --json flag for parseable output
Check return codes - 0 for success, non-zero for errors
Parse stderr for error messages on failure
Use absolute paths for all file operations
Verify outputs exist after render operations

More Information

Full documentation: See README.md in the package
Test coverage: See TEST.md in the package
Methodology: See HARNESS.md in the cli-anything-plugin

Version

1.0.0