Pimp My IDE / Garage Dispatch
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September 26, 2026 | diagrams / agent editing / spatial intent

Put the layout in the contract.

A diagram can store connections, coordinates, or relationships. Only one of those tells a reviewer why the database sits beside the API.

The take. Relative placement gives agents and humans a shared sentence about the picture. Keep that sentence separate from the coordinates a renderer solves and the defects a visual check finds.
Load the placement jig

Diagram source usually gives up one kind of control.

D2 describes itself as a declarative diagram language. You state what belongs in the diagram and the tool generates the image.[2] Mermaid flowcharts also define nodes and edges, then use a layout engine to arrange them.[3] Both are useful when the relationship graph matters more than a particular composition.

At the other end, Graphviz exposes a pos attribute for node centers and spline control points. Its documentation warns that input and output units can differ across commands.[4] Coordinates provide control, but they preserve the answer rather than the reason.

"Database right of API" survives a resize as intent. "Database at 612,184" survives only as a location.

Reladraw writes the missing sentence.

Reladraw 0.5.0 is an early diagram language built around relative placement. Its source can say that one node is right of another, level with a third, or between two named objects. The resolver turns minimum-distance constraints into coordinates, while the author keeps control over which side of what each object occupies.[1]

The distinction is useful for agent editing. An agent can re-read a relationship statement and confirm the requested arrangement without reverse-engineering pixels. It can change that statement without hoping an automatic layout engine preserves the old composition.

Intent still needs a solved witness.

Reladraw's README draws a firm line. Source can confirm stated relationships. It cannot confirm that resolved clusters overlap, text escapes a node, or edges cross other objects. Version 0.5.0 renders or fails, but its planned machine-readable geometry diagnostics are not built yet.[1]

That produces a clean review stack:

  1. Relationship source. Review the arrangement the author requested.
  2. Solved geometry. Save the exact renderer version and output artifact.
  3. Diagnostics. Check overlap, clipping, crossings, and off-canvas objects.
  4. Visual review. Judge hierarchy, reading order, labels, and whether the picture explains the system.

The artifact runs. The language is still moving.

The garage installed the published reladraw@0.5.0 package, rendered the README's small web app and database example, and confirmed that the standalone SVG contained the expected labels and edge text. The package reported version 0.5.0 and produced a 1,842-byte SVG.

That smoke check proves one published command and one small input worked here. It does not prove the language handles a large architecture drawing, that its current syntax will remain stable, or that the planned diagnostics exist. The project says to expect syntax changes.[1]

Interactive makeover / diagram handoff

Placement contract jig

Traditional purpose replaced: choose a diagram tool and accept its layout model as one indivisible decision. Better version: select who owns placement, stress the labels, and print the evidence still required.

Choose the placement owner

The stage is an explanatory model. It is not the Reladraw renderer.

Placement mode
ShortLong
Current loadMedium labels
Relationship source03 / relations
Readable intentInterface above API / Database right of API
Failure witnessRender plus diagnostics

The relationships are reviewable.

The solver still owns exact distance. Inspect its SVG for clipping, overlap, crossings, and hierarchy.

Print the diagram handoff

Replace every required field with project evidence. Selecting a mode does not prove the rendered diagram passed review.

Sources read, not vibes

Open the source log
  1. Reladraw repository and README, commit ae9bd6c, read September 26, 2026. Relative-placement model, resolver design, agent-editing rationale, current limitations, planned diagnostics, installation commands, version, and syntax-stability warning.
  2. D2 tour, read September 26, 2026. D2's description of declarative diagramming and text-to-diagram generation.
  3. Mermaid flowchart syntax, read September 26, 2026. Node and edge definitions, flow direction, and current default flowchart layout behavior.
  4. Graphviz pos attribute documentation, read September 26, 2026. Node-center and spline-control positions, input behavior, and unit handling.
  5. Hacker News discussion 49858513, read September 26, 2026. Discovery route and practitioner reactions about relative placement, flowchart composition, renderer targets, and early bugs. The discussion does not verify the project's implementation claims.

Source boundary. Reladraw's design and status claims come from its repository. Pimp My IDE exercised the published npm package on one small example. D2, Mermaid, and Graphviz document neighboring design choices; they are not benchmarks against Reladraw. The interactive jig is a teaching model and handoff generator. It does not parse or render diagram source.