Custom Templates

Custom templates let you build your own notation packs — collections of custom shapes and connector arrowheads tailored to your domain. Once created, a pack appears under Custom in the template picker, right alongside the built-in notation packs, so your team can work with a consistent, shared visual language.

What a Template Contains

A custom template is a pack that can hold:

  • Custom shapes — authored from SVG, so they render crisply at any size and can carry your own geometry, icons, and visual treatment
  • Custom arrowheads — authored from SVG, for connector endpoints that match your notation (custom heads, tails, and markers)

Managing Custom Templates

Open the manager from View → Manage Custom Templates…

From the Custom Templates window you can:

  • Create a new template pack
  • Add, edit, and remove shapes and arrowheads
  • Rename packs
  • Export a pack to a file to back it up or share it
  • Import a pack a colleague has shared

Custom Templates window

Using a Custom Template

Once a pack exists, its shapes and arrowheads are available wherever you choose notation:

  • In the template / notation picker, switch to the Custom section to find your packs
  • Place custom shapes on the canvas like any other notation symbol
  • Assign custom arrowheads to connector ends from the connector's style controls

Authoring Shapes and Arrowheads

Custom shapes and arrowheads are built from SVG. A few conventions make them behave well:

  • Shapes can include a contour path so connectors attach cleanly to the shape's outline
  • Arrowheads define an anchor point (where the line meets the head) and a tip orientation so they point the right way on any connector

Tip: The fastest way to author a pack is with an AI assistant over MCP — see below.

Creating Templates from a Reference Image (MCP)

If you connect an AI assistant via the MCP server, you can hand it a reference image and ask it to reproduce the graphics. The assistant generates SVG shapes and arrowheads and assembles them into a matching custom template, plus a matching custom style. The relevant MCP tools include create_custom_template, add_custom_shape, add_custom_arrowhead, and export_custom_template.

This is ideal for recreating a brand's iconography or matching the look of an existing diagram set.

Sharing Packs

Custom templates are portable:

  1. In the Custom Templates window, Export the pack to a file
  2. Send the file to a colleague
  3. They Import it, and the pack appears under Custom for them too

Tips

  1. Keep SVGs clean — simple, well-formed SVG renders fastest and recolors most reliably
  2. Group by domain — one pack per notation (e.g. "Cloud Infra", "Floor Plan") is easier to navigate than one giant pack
  3. Pair with a custom style — a matching custom style finishes the look
  4. Version your exports — keep exported pack files in version control so the whole team stays in sync