draw.io Diagram Skill
1. Basic Rules
- Edit only
.drawiofiles - Do not directly edit
.drawio.pngfiles - Use auto-generated
.drawio.pngby pre-commit hook in slides
2. Font Settings
For diagrams used in Quarto slides,
specify defaultFontFamily in mxGraphModel tag:
Also explicitly specify fontFamily in each text element's style attribute:
3. Conversion Commands
See conversion script at scripts/convert-drawio-to-png.sh [blocked].
Internal command used:
4. Layout Adjustment
4.1. Coordinate Adjustment Steps
- Open
.drawiofile in text editor (plain XML format) - Find
mxCellfor element to adjust (search byvalueattribute for text) - Adjust coordinates in
mxGeometrytagx: Position from lefty: Position from topwidth: Widthheight: Height
- Run conversion and verify
4.2. Coordinate Calculation
- Element center coordinate =
y + (height / 2) - To align multiple elements, calculate and match center coordinates
5. Design Principles
5.1. Basic Principles
- Clarity: Create simple, visually clean diagrams
- Consistency: Unify colors, fonts, icon sizes, line thickness
- Accuracy: Do not sacrifice accuracy for simplification
5.2. Element Rules
- Label all elements
- Use arrows to indicate direction (prefer 2 unidirectional arrows over bidirectional)
- Use latest official icons
- Add legend to explain custom symbols
5.3. Accessibility
- Ensure sufficient color contrast
- Use patterns in addition to colors
5.4. Progressive Disclosure
Separate complex systems into staged diagrams:
5.5. Metadata
Include title, description, last updated, author, and version in diagrams.
6. Best Practices
6.1. Background Color
- Remove
background="#ffffff" - Transparent background adapts to various themes
6.2. Font Size
- Use 1.5x standard font size (around 18px) for PDF readability
6.3. Japanese Text Width
- Allow 30-40px per character
- Insufficient width causes unintended line breaks
6.4. Arrow Placement
- Always place arrows at back (position in XML right after Title)
- Position arrows to avoid overlapping with labels
- Keep arrow start/end at least 20px from label bottom edge
6.5. Arrow Connection to Text Labels
For text elements, exitX/exitY don't work, so use explicit coordinates:
6.6. edgeLabel Offset Adjustment
Adjust offset attribute to distance arrow labels from arrows:
6.7. Remove Unnecessary Elements
- Remove decorative icons irrelevant to context
- Example: If ECR exists, separate Docker icon is unnecessary
6.8. Labels and Headings
- Service name only: 1 line
- Service name + supplementary info: 2 lines with line break
- Redundant notation (e.g., ECR Container Registry): shorten to 1 line
- Use
<br>tag for line breaks
6.9. Background Frame and Internal Element Placement
When placing elements inside background frames (grouping boxes), ensure sufficient margin.
- YOU MUST: Internal elements must have at least 30px margin from frame boundary
- YOU MUST: Account for rounded corners (
rounded=1) and stroke width - YOU MUST: Always visually verify PNG output for overflow
Coordinate calculation verification:
Bad example (may overflow):
Good example (sufficient margin):
7. Reference
- Layout Guidelines [blocked]
- AWS Icons [blocked]
- AWS Icon Search Script [blocked]
AWS icon search examples:
8. Checklist
- No background color set (page="0")
- Font size appropriate (larger recommended)
- Arrows placed at back layer
- Arrows not overlapping labels (verify in PNG)
- Arrow start/end sufficiently distant from labels (at least 20px)
- Arrows not penetrating boxes or icons (verify in PNG)
- Internal elements not overflowing background frame (verify in PNG)
- 30px+ margin between background frame and internal elements
- AWS service names are official names/correct abbreviations
- AWS icons are latest version (mxgraph.aws4.*)
- No unnecessary elements remaining
- Visually verified PNG conversion
9. Image Display in reveal.js Slides
Add auto-stretch: false to YAML header:
This ensures correct image display on mobile devices.

