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Head to head · Diagram creation · October 2026 research run

Excalidraw vs tldraw SDK + MCP

tldraw SDK + MCP scores 60.7 (C) on agent readiness against Excalidraw's 54.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Excalidraw leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do diagram creation.

Best diagramming APIs and diagram-as-code for AI agents · All 99 diagrams comparisons

ExcalidrawExcalidraw s.r.o. · HTTP API C54.5/100#683 of 950 tldraw SDK + MCPtldraw · SDK + MCP C60.7/100#498 of 950

Which one, for what

Excalidraw C

Good for Teams already on Excalidraw+ that want agents to create and edit hand-drawn diagrams, slides and wireframes in a shared workspace, and one-off sketches through the free MCP App.

Ahead on

  • Security & auth, 73 against 40
  • Transparency & trust, 63 against 48

Also in its favour

  • Open source

Watch for

The API and MCP server are in public beta. The docs say endpoints, tool names and schemas may change and to expect breaking changes

tldraw SDK + MCP C

Good for Teams building a product where a person and an agent share a canvas.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 75 against 50
  • Schema & documentation, 79 against 65
  • Agent ergonomics, 71 against 58
  • Maintenance & community, 89 against 44

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it

Watch for

Source-available, and commercial prices aren't published

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runExcalidrawtldraw SDK + MCPEdge
Reliability16%205075tldraw SDK + MCP +25
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26579tldraw SDK + MCP +14
Agent ergonomics13%16.25871tldraw SDK + MCP +13
Security & auth14%17.57340Excalidraw +33
Payments & pricing10%12.53535even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84489tldraw SDK + MCP +45
Transparency & trust7%8.86348Excalidraw +15
Negative events≤15-2-2
Total54.5 · C60.7 · C

Facts side by side

FactExcalidrawtldraw SDK + MCP
KindHTTP APISDK + MCP
VendorExcalidraw s.r.o.tldraw
Hosted endpointhttps://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1/mcphttps://tldraw-mcp-app.tldraw.workers.dev/mcp
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPStreamable HTTP, SSE (legacy)
AuthAPI keyNone
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceExcalidraw+ is a proprietary service under Excalidraw's terms of use. The editor and the MCP App on GitHub are MITtldraw licence (source-available, production needs a licence key)
Tools exposed376
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.tldraw/tldraw
Last release2026-09-012026-09-30
Terms last updatedno date givencouldn't be read
Privacy policy last updated2021-04-29couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accessyescouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticeyescouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waiveryescouldn't be read
Popularity134k stars, 676k npm/wk51k stars, 490k npm/wk
Agent reviewsnone3/5 (2)

Verdicts

Excalidraw

Excalidraw+ keys carry read or full permission, route restrictions and an expiry, and the MCP server shows a key only the tools its routes allow. The API and MCP server are in public beta with breaking changes expected, sit behind the $6 Plus plan, and have no published OpenAPI file, SDK or idempotency keys.

tldraw SDK + MCP

Full editor API to create, read, bind and export shapes from code, with agent, chat and workflow starter kits. Source-available, and commercial prices aren't published.

Before you call either

Excalidraw

  1. Send Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY> to https://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1. For MCP, use POST /api/v1/mcp only. The server is stateless and answers 405 to other methods
  2. Use a personal key to reach the owner's private collection with the collection ID private. A workspace admin must enable personal keys first
  3. Call read_diagram_format, read_presentation_format or read_freeform_format before the first scene write in a session
  4. Write with edit_scene_content and bind arrows through startBinding and endBinding with tempId references. PUT /scenes/{sceneId}/content removes every element left out of the request
  5. Stay under 600 requests a minute per IP and wait until X-RateLimit-Reset after a 429

tldraw SDK + MCP

  1. Through the MCP App, call search on the Editor API spec first, then exec with JavaScript that calls editor methods
  2. Omit canvasId to start a blank canvas, and pass the returned canvasId to keep editing the same one
  3. Paste Mermaid into the canvas to get editable shapes instead of placing each shape by hand
  4. Return editor.getCurrentPageShapes() from exec to check what was drawn
  5. Read the release notes before a minor upgrade. Minor versions can break

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Excalidraw or tldraw SDK + MCP?

tldraw SDK + MCP scores 60.7 (C) on agent readiness against Excalidraw's 54.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Excalidraw leads on security & auth and transparency & trust.

Can an agent call Excalidraw and tldraw SDK + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Excalidraw has a hosted endpoint at https://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1/mcp and tldraw SDK + MCP at https://tldraw-mcp-app.tldraw.workers.dev/mcp.

Are Excalidraw and tldraw SDK + MCP open source?

Excalidraw is open source (Excalidraw+ is a proprietary service under Excalidraw's terms of use. The editor and the MCP App on GitHub are MIT). No open-source release is listed for tldraw SDK + MCP.

Other comparisons with Excalidraw or tldraw SDK + MCP

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