{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "cloudviz", "name": "Cloudviz API", "vendor": "Cloudviz", "vendorUrl": "https://cloudviz.io", "kind": "http-api", "category": "diagramming", "summary": "Generates AWS architecture diagrams from a live account.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudviz", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudviz.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudviz.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudviz.json", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.cloudviz.io", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "API key in the x-api-key header, created in the app under Manage API Keys. Each key is read or read and write, and can be changed at any time. Cloudviz reads your AWS account through a cross-account read-only IAM role.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "10-day free trial. Base $9.95 per user a month with 3 AWS accounts and no API. Team $49 a month for 10 users with unlimited AWS accounts, API access, SSO and 20 automated diagrams. Enterprise (self-hosted, unlimited users) by quote. Annual billing is up to 30 per cent off, and AWS Marketplace billing is available (https://cloudviz.io/pricing).", "priceSummary": "$9.95 / seat-mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://cloudviz.io/developers", "openapi": "https://cloudviz.io/assets/developers/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "diagram.create", "diagram.export", "diagram.architecture" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "openapi", "async-jobs", "enterprise" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 37.7, "grade": "F", "agentReady": false, "rank": 818, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 11, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 50, "maintenance": 5, "payments": 20, "reliability": 20, "schema": 58, "security": 53, "transparency": 45 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Diagrams come from the live AWS account through a read-only cross-account role with a per-customer external ID. AWS only, and API access starts at the $49 a month Team plan.", "bestFor": "Documenting what already runs in AWS, for example regenerating a diagram after each deploy and posting it to Confluence or Slack.", "strengths": [ "Diagrams come from the live AWS account through a read-only cross-account role with a per-customer external ID", "One GET returns svg, png, pdf, drawio, jsonDiagram or jsonSnapshot", "Public OpenAPI 3.0.3 file with 7 operations and documented status codes", "API keys can be read-only" ], "weaknesses": [ "AWS only, and API access starts at the $49 a month Team plan", "Throttling on rate, burst and daily count with no published numbers", "No status page, changelog, SLA or security.txt", "No dated product update found since March 2025" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call `GET /aws/accounts/` first to get the Cloudviz account ID, then request `/aws/accounts/{account-id}/{region}/{format}`", "On a 202, wait and repeat the same GET until the diagram is ready", "Ask for `jsonSnapshot` or `jsonDiagram` (there is no plain `json` format) when the agent has to reason over resources", "Use a read-only key unless the agent has to add, change or delete AWS accounts" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 2.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "F", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 37.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 50, "maintenance": 5, "payments": 20, "reliability": 20, "schema": 58, "security": 53, "transparency": 38 }, "provenanceScore": 51 }, "connect": { "http": "curl https://api.cloudviz.io/aws/accounts/ -H \"x-api-key: $CLOUDVIZ_API_KEY\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/diagram.create", "tool": "https://letme.dev/cloudviz" }, "area": "design-diagrams", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Base plan", "unit": "seat-month", "usd": 9.95, "note": "billed monthly, no API access" }, { "item": "Team plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 49, "note": "10 users, first plan with API access, billed monthly" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "SIA Cloudviz Solutions", "domain": "cloudviz.io", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://cloudviz.io/terms", "privacy": "https://cloudviz.io/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "SIA is a Latvian limited company, registration number 44103120286, legal address Rīgas iela 22A-53, Limbaži, LV-4001 (firmas.lv)", "Terms are governed by Latvian law and were last updated on 26 March 2019", "No RDAP service answers for .io, so the registration date is unknown", "/.well-known/security.txt returns 404. The security page names security@cloudviz.io" ], "score": 51 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudviz.json", "live": { "slug": "cloudviz", "probe": { "target": "https://api.cloudviz.io", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-09T10:14:11.589420001Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 403, "lastMs": 44, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 58, "p95ms24h": 84, "samples24h": 260, "samples30d": 2295, "days": [ { "date": "2026-09-30", "probes": 35, "ok": 35 }, { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 276, "ok": 276 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 109, "ok": 109 } ] }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://cloudviz.io/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:59.45474728Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "cloudviz.io", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:03:55.142223054Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://cloudviz.io/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:16:25.132981783Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "65ac1cddb5ad" }, { "url": "https://cloudviz.io/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:16:27.303383044Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "b4c608710d46" }, { "url": "https://cloudviz.io/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:16:29.199504236Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "f319fbc0e66d" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T10:14:11.589420001Z" } }, "answer": "D2 scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudviz API's 37.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Cloudviz API leads on security \u0026 auth.", "b": { "slug": "d2", "name": "D2", "vendor": "D2 project (The Hack Foundation)", "vendorUrl": "https://d2lang.com", "kind": "sdk", "category": "diagramming", "summary": "D2 is an open-source diagram scripting language that turns text into SVG, PNG, PDF, PPTX, GIF or ASCII diagrams. Agents run it as a local CLI, a Go library or the `@d2lang/d2` WebAssembly package.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/d2", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/d2.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/d2.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/d2.json", "repo": "https://github.com/d2lang/d2", "license": "MPL-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@d2lang/d2" }, { "registry": "go", "name": "github.com/d2lang/d2" }, { "registry": "oci", "name": "d2lang/d2" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No account, key or login. The CLI, the Go library and the WebAssembly package run on the owner's machine with the owner's file and network rights. `d2 --watch` serves a preview on localhost.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under MPL-2.0 with nothing to buy. The TALA layout engine, once a paid plugin with a licence key, has been bundled and open source since 0.9.0. The project takes donations through a public Hack Club fund (https://d2lang.com/sponsor/).", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the source. The maintainer's 5 September 2026 post rules out any server-side service (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 25581, "npmWeekly": 21627, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://d2lang.com/tour/intro/", "capabilities": [ "diagram.as-code", "diagram.create", "diagram.export", "diagram.edit", "diagram.architecture" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "cli", "go", "wasm", "diagram-as-code", "no-auth", "free", "non-profit", "docker" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-07", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 65.3, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 295, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 78, "maintenance": 74, "payments": 60, "reliability": 68, "schema": 65, "security": 48, "transparency": 69 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "A single local command turns text into a diagram in six formats with no account, key or network call, and CI passes on the default branch. The language is at 0.9.0 with no stable release, its company sponsor has shut down, and one maintainer with limited time wrote every commit since July.", "bestFor": "Agents that need to produce or edit architecture, sequence, grid, SQL table or class diagrams as reviewable text and render them locally.", "strengths": [ "One command reads D2 from stdin and writes SVG, PNG, PDF, PPTX, GIF or ASCII to stdout, with no account or key", "MPL-2.0 throughout, and the TALA layout engine has been open source and bundled since 0.9.0 on 7 September 2026", "`d2 validate` and `d2 fmt --check` let an agent test a diagram before rendering it", "The `d2oracle` Go package creates, sets, moves, renames and deletes shapes without mutating the input graph", "Release archives carry SHA-256 sums, signed provenance and SBOM attestations since 0.8.2" ], "weaknesses": [ "No 1.0 release. The maintainer lists a stable 1.0 with a formal grammar as a goal, and 0.8.2 changed Dagre and ELK layout output", "Terrastruct, the company that built D2, is shutting down. The project is now donation-funded under The Hack Foundation", "All 317 commits since 8 July 2026 are by one maintainer, who says his time on D2 is limited", "A security hardening pass merged on 11 and 12 September 2026 is not in a release yet, and the repository has no security policy", "No llms.txt, no machine-readable grammar and no MCP server. The maintainer rules out an MCP server and a hosted API" ], "agentNotes": [ "Check the exit status of `d2`, never the output file. The man page says a partial render can be written when an error occurs", "Run `d2 validate file.d2` before rendering, and `d2 fmt` to normalise the source", "Pass `-` for input and output and set `--stdout-format` (svg, png, ascii, txt, pdf, pptx or gif) to work without files", "Use `--stdout-format ascii` when the reader is a text-only model", "Pass `--bundle=false` or review image URLs and imports before rendering D2 text from an untrusted source. Release 0.9.0 fetches remote images when bundling" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 65.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 78, "maintenance": 74, "payments": 60, "reliability": 68, "schema": 65, "security": 48, "transparency": 74 }, "provenanceScore": 63 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s -- # or: brew install d2, go install github.com/d2lang/d2@latest, npm install @d2lang/d2" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/diagram.as-code", "tool": "https://letme.dev/d2" }, "area": "design-diagrams", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "The Hack Foundation (Hack Club), fiscal sponsor of the D2 project", "domain": "d2lang.com", "domainRegistered": "2022-10-24", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://d2lang.com/releases/intro/", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The sponsor page says D2 is fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit behind Hack Club, after the lead maintainer donated the project in August 2026 (https://d2lang.com/sponsor/)", "LICENSE.txt still reads Copyright 2022 Terrastruct Inc. The 5 September 2026 post says that company is shutting down, and terrastruct.com now redirects to d2lang.com", "No terms or privacy document governs the software. The MPL-2.0 licence stands in", "https://d2lang.com/.well-known/security.txt answered 404 on 8 October 2026, and the repository has no SECURITY.md", "The repository moved from github.com/terrastruct/d2, which redirects, to github.com/d2lang/d2" ], "score": 63 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/d2.json" }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "SDK + MCP", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Cloudviz", "b": "D2 project (The Hack Foundation)", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.cloudviz.io", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Paid", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "none", "b": "MPL-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "none", "b": "2026-09-07", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2019-03-26", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "26k stars, 22k npm/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "2.5/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "D2 scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudviz API's 37.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Cloudviz API leads on security \u0026 auth.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Cloudviz API or D2?" }, { "answer": "Cloudviz API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cloudviz.io. No hosted endpoint is listed for D2.", "question": "Can an agent call Cloudviz API and D2 without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "No open-source release is listed for Cloudviz API. D2 is open source (MPL-2.0).", "question": "Are Cloudviz API and D2 open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Security \u0026 auth, 53 against 48" ], "also": [ "A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install" ], "goodFor": "Documenting what already runs in AWS, for example regenerating a diagram after each deploy and posting it to Confluence or Slack.", "slug": "cloudviz", "watchFor": "AWS only, and API access starts at the $49 a month Team plan" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 68 against 20", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 65 against 58", "Agent ergonomics, 78 against 50", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 20", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 74 against 5", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 69 against 45" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it", "Open source" ], "goodFor": "Agents that need to produce or edit architecture, sequence, grid, SQL table or class diagrams as reviewable text and render them locally.", "slug": "d2", "watchFor": "No 1.0 release. The maintainer lists a stable 1.0 with a formal grammar as a goal, and 0.8.2 changed Dagre and ELK layout output" } ], "job": { "capability": "diagram.create", "name": "Diagram create" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-diagrams-so.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs Diagrams.so API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-diagrams-so" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-drawio.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs draw.io + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-drawio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-eraser.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs Eraser API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-eraser" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-lucid.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs Lucid API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-lucid" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-mermaid-chart.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs Mermaid Chart MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-mermaid-chart" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-mural-mcp.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs Mural MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-mural-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-plantuml.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs PlantUML", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-plantuml" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-structurizr.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs Structurizr + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-structurizr" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-tldraw.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs tldraw SDK + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-tldraw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-whimsical.json", "title": "Cloudviz API vs Whimsical MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-whimsical" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-diagrams-so.json", "title": "D2 vs Diagrams.so API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-diagrams-so" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-mural-mcp.json", "title": "D2 vs Mural MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-mural-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-whimsical.json", "title": "D2 vs Whimsical MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-whimsical" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-drawio.json", "title": "D2 vs draw.io + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-drawio" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-eraser.json", "title": "D2 vs Eraser API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-eraser" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-lucid.json", "title": "D2 vs Lucid API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-lucid" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-mermaid-chart.json", "title": "D2 vs Mermaid Chart MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-mermaid-chart" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-plantuml.json", "title": "D2 vs PlantUML", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-plantuml" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-structurizr.json", "title": "D2 vs Structurizr + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-structurizr" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-tldraw.json", "title": "D2 vs tldraw SDK + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-tldraw" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 48, "cloudviz": 20, "d2": 68, "edge": "d2", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 7, "cloudviz": 58, "d2": 65, "edge": "d2", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 28, "cloudviz": 50, "d2": 78, "edge": "d2", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 5, "cloudviz": 53, "d2": 48, "edge": "cloudviz", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 40, "cloudviz": 20, "d2": 60, "edge": "d2", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 69, "cloudviz": 5, "d2": 74, "edge": "d2", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 24, "cloudviz": 45, "d2": 69, "edge": "d2", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "D2 scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudviz API's 37.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Cloudviz API leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do diagram create.", "verdicts": { "cloudviz": "Diagrams come from the live AWS account through a read-only cross-account role with a per-customer external ID. AWS only, and API access starts at the $49 a month Team plan.", "d2": "A single local command turns text into a diagram in six formats with no account, key or network call, and CI passes on the default branch. The language is at 0.9.0 with no stable release, its company sponsor has shut down, and one maintainer with limited time wrote every commit since July." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-d2", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-d2.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-d2.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-d2.min.md" }, "markdown": "D2 scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudviz API's 37.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Cloudviz API leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do diagram create.\n\n- Cloudviz API: grade F, 37.7/100, rank #818 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudviz.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudviz.json\n- D2: grade B, 65.3/100, rank #295 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/d2.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/d2.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Cloudviz API (F)\n\nGood for: Documenting what already runs in AWS, for example regenerating a diagram after each deploy and posting it to Confluence or Slack.\n\nAhead on:\n- Security \u0026 auth, 53 against 48\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install\n\nWatch for: AWS only, and API access starts at the $49 a month Team plan\n\n### D2 (B)\n\nGood for: Agents that need to produce or edit architecture, sequence, grid, SQL table or class diagrams as reviewable text and render them locally.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 68 against 20\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 65 against 58\n- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 50\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 20\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 74 against 5\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 69 against 45\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n- Open source\n\nWatch for: No 1.0 release. The maintainer lists a stable 1.0 with a formal grammar as a goal, and 0.8.2 changed Dagre and ELK layout output\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Cloudviz API | D2 | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 20 | 68 | D2 +48 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 58 | 65 | D2 +7 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 50 | 78 | D2 +28 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 53 | 48 | Cloudviz API +5 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 60 | D2 +40 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 5 | 74 | D2 +69 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 69 | D2 +24 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **37.7 · F** | **65.3 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Cloudviz API | D2 |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | SDK + MCP |\n| Vendor | Cloudviz | D2 project (The Hack Foundation) |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.cloudviz.io` | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | |\n| Auth | API key | None |\n| Pricing | Paid | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | MPL-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |\n| llms.txt | no | no |\n| Last release | none | 2026-09-07 |\n| Terms last updated | 2019-03-26 | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | |\n| Popularity | none | 26k stars, 22k npm/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Cloudviz API.** Diagrams come from the live AWS account through a read-only cross-account role with a per-customer external ID. AWS only, and API access starts at the $49 a month Team plan.\n\n**D2.** A single local command turns text into a diagram in six formats with no account, key or network call, and CI passes on the default branch. The language is at 0.9.0 with no stable release, its company sponsor has shut down, and one maintainer with limited time wrote every commit since July.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Cloudviz API\n\n1. Call `GET /aws/accounts/` first to get the Cloudviz account ID, then request `/aws/accounts/{account-id}/{region}/{format}`\n2. On a 202, wait and repeat the same GET until the diagram is ready\n3. Ask for `jsonSnapshot` or `jsonDiagram` (there is no plain `json` format) when the agent has to reason over resources\n4. Use a read-only key unless the agent has to add, change or delete AWS accounts\n\n### D2\n\n1. Check the exit status of `d2`, never the output file. The man page says a partial render can be written when an error occurs\n2. Run `d2 validate file.d2` before rendering, and `d2 fmt` to normalise the source\n3. Pass `-` for input and output and set `--stdout-format` (svg, png, ascii, txt, pdf, pptx or gif) to work without files\n4. Use `--stdout-format ascii` when the reader is a text-only model\n5. Pass `--bundle=false` or review image URLs and imports before rendering D2 text from an untrusted source. Release 0.9.0 fetches remote images when bundling\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Cloudviz API or D2?\n\nD2 scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudviz API's 37.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Cloudviz API leads on security \u0026 auth.\n\n### Can an agent call Cloudviz API and D2 without installing anything?\n\nCloudviz API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cloudviz.io. No hosted endpoint is listed for D2.\n\n### Are Cloudviz API and D2 open source?\n\nNo open-source release is listed for Cloudviz API. D2 is open source (MPL-2.0).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-d2.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-d2.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"cloudviz\", \"b\": \"d2\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cloudviz d2`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudviz.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/d2.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Cloudviz API or D2\n\n- [Cloudviz API vs Diagrams.so API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-diagrams-so.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs draw.io + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-drawio.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs Eraser API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-eraser.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs Lucid API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-lucid.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs Mermaid Chart MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-mermaid-chart.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs Mural MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-mural-mcp.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs PlantUML](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-plantuml.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs Structurizr + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-structurizr.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs tldraw SDK + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-tldraw.md)\n- [Cloudviz API vs Whimsical MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-whimsical.md)\n- [D2 vs Diagrams.so API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-diagrams-so.md)\n- [D2 vs Mural MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-mural-mcp.md)\n- [D2 vs Whimsical MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-whimsical.md)\n- [D2 vs draw.io + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-drawio.md)\n- [D2 vs Eraser API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-eraser.md)\n- [D2 vs Lucid API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-lucid.md)\n- [D2 vs Mermaid Chart MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-mermaid-chart.md)\n- [D2 vs PlantUML](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-plantuml.md)\n- [D2 vs Structurizr + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-structurizr.md)\n- [D2 vs tldraw SDK + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-tldraw.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Cloudviz API vs D2", "url": "" } ], "description": "D2 scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against Cloudviz API's 37.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Cloudviz API leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do diagram create. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Cloudviz API F 37.7", "D2 B 65.3", "scores" ], "h1": "Cloudviz API vs D2", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-cloudviz-vs-d2.png", "path": "/compare/cloudviz-vs-d2", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Cloudviz API vs D2 for AI agents, F 37.7 vs B 65.3 | Anchor Terminal", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-d2" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2100, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }