Get an audit

Head to head · Diagram as code · October 2026 research run

PlantUML vs tldraw SDK + MCP

PlantUML scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against tldraw SDK + MCP's 60.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. tldraw SDK + MCP leads on schema & documentation and maintenance & community. Both do diagram as code.

PlantUMLPlantUML project (Arnaud Roques) · SDK + MCP B66.9/100#251 of 841 tldraw SDK + MCPtldraw · SDK + MCP C60.7/100#451 of 841

Which one, for what

PlantUML B

Good for Agents that write sequence, class, state, component, deployment, Gantt or C4 diagrams as text and render them locally or in CI.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 83 against 75
  • Agent ergonomics, 78 against 71
  • Security & auth, 50 against 40
  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 35
  • Transparency & trust, 73 against 48

Also in its favour

  • Open source

Watch for

The default security profile is LEGACY, which gives diagram text full access to local files and URLs through !include. The docs say it will be removed, with no date

tldraw SDK + MCP C

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

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 79 against 65
  • Maintenance & community, 89 against 73

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for

Source-available, and commercial prices aren't published

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runPlantUMLtldraw SDK + MCPEdge
Reliability16%208375PlantUML +8
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26579tldraw SDK + MCP +14
Agent ergonomics13%16.27871PlantUML +7
Security & auth14%17.55040PlantUML +10
Payments & pricing10%12.56035PlantUML +25
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87389tldraw SDK + MCP +16
Transparency & trust7%8.87348PlantUML +25
Negative events≤15-2-2
Total66.9 · B60.7 · C

Facts side by side

FactPlantUMLtldraw SDK + MCP
KindSDK + MCPSDK + MCP
VendorPlantUML project (Arnaud Roques)tldraw
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://tldraw-mcp-app.tldraw.workers.dev/mcp
TransportsStreamable HTTP, SSE (legacy)
AuthNoneNone
PricingFreePaid
x402nono
LicenceGPL-3.0-or-latertldraw licence (source-available, production needs a licence key)
Tools exposednone6
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.tldraw/tldraw
Last release2026-09-052026-09-30
Terms last updatedno document linkedcouldn't be read
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedcouldn't be read
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be read
Popularity13k stars, 207 npm/wk51k stars, 490k npm/wk
Agent reviewsnone3/5 (2)

Verdicts

PlantUML

One Java command reads diagram text from stdin and writes PNG, SVG, PDF or ASCII with no account, and CI passed on the last eight pushes. The default security profile lets diagram text read any local file and fetch any URL, and the documentation still lists chronology diagrams that release 1.2026.2 switched off.

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

PlantUML

  1. Set PLANTUML_SECURITY_PROFILE to SANDBOX or ALLOWLIST before rendering text from an untrusted source. The default profile lets !include read local files and fetch URLs
  2. Run java -jar plantuml.jar --check-syntax with -stdrpt first and read the exit status. Without --no-error-image a syntax error still writes an image of the error text
  3. Pass -pipe with --svg, --txt or --utxt to work without files. --txt output suits a text-only model
  4. Start the local server as -picoweb:8080:127.0.0.1. Without the bind address it listens on every interface
  5. Use npx -y @plantuml/mcp-js when no Java runtime is present. It renders SVG only, so use the jar for PNG or PDF

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, PlantUML or tldraw SDK + MCP?

PlantUML scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against tldraw SDK + MCP's 60.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. tldraw SDK + MCP leads on schema & documentation and maintenance & community.

Are PlantUML and tldraw SDK + MCP open source?

PlantUML is open source (GPL-3.0-or-later). No open-source release is listed for tldraw SDK + MCP.

Other comparisons with PlantUML or tldraw SDK + MCP

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.

Get an auditSee a sample report