# Lucid API + MCP vs tldraw SDK + MCP

> tldraw SDK + MCP has a score of 61 (C) against Lucid API + MCP's 60.9 (C). Both do diagram create. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 56 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lucid-vs-tldraw
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lucid-vs-tldraw.md (~1,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lucid-vs-tldraw.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lucid-vs-tldraw.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-04

tldraw SDK + MCP has a score of 61 (C) against Lucid API + MCP's 60.9 (C). Both do diagram create. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 56 points.

- Lucid API + MCP: grade C, 60.9/100, rank #238 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lucid.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lucid.json
- tldraw SDK + MCP: grade C, 61/100, rank #236 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tldraw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tldraw.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Lucid API + MCP for security & auth (+40), transparency & trust (+12).

Pick tldraw SDK + MCP for reliability (+8), schema & documentation (+6), agent ergonomics (+9), payments & pricing (+10), maintenance & community (+56).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Lucid API + MCP | tldraw SDK + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 75 | tldraw SDK + MCP +8 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 79 | tldraw SDK + MCP +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 71 | tldraw SDK + MCP +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 80 | 40 | Lucid API + MCP +40 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 35 | tldraw SDK + MCP +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 33 | 89 | tldraw SDK + MCP +56 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 51 | Lucid API + MCP +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **60.9 · C** | **61 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Lucid API + MCP | tldraw SDK + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | SDK + MCP |
| Vendor | Lucid Software | tldraw |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.lucid.co` | `https://tldraw-mcp-app.tldraw.workers.dev/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | proprietary | tldraw licence (source-available, production needs a licence key) |
| Tools exposed | 9 | 6 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `app.lucid.mcp/lucid` | `io.github.tldraw/tldraw` |
| Last release | 2026-06-15 | 2026-09-30 |
| Popularity | none | 51k stars, 490k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Lucid API + MCP.** OAuth 2.0 scopes with `:readonly` variants, and audit log endpoints in the REST API. No public changelog for the API or the MCP server.

**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

### Lucid API + MCP

1. Always send `Lucid-Api-Version: 1`, or prefix the path with /v1
2. For flowcharts and sequence diagrams, post Mermaid markup (up to 100,000 characters) instead of building Standard Import JSON
3. Request `:readonly` scopes when the agent only reads documents
4. On 429, wait 60 seconds or back off. Create Mermaid Diagram allows 60 calls a minute
5. Sharing and embed endpoints need an OAuth token. An API key won't work there

### 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

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