draw.io (also known as diagrams.net) is a general-purpose diagram editor, free and open source, with an official MCP server that lets AI assistants create diagrams. CoPage is a workspace where AI agents build diagrams and decks and people review, check and sign off before anything reaches a client. Its free CLI keeps diagrams in your repo. Both open each other's files.
At a glance
| CoPage | draw.io | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A workspace where agents build diagrams and decks and people review and sign off, plus a free local CLI for diagrams | A general-purpose diagram editor, open source (Apache 2.0) |
| Made for | Consulting, pre-sales and architecture teams; developers who keep diagrams in a repo | Anyone who draws diagrams; integrations with Confluence, Jira, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, GitHub, VS Code and Notion |
| AI agents and MCP | Works with the agents you already use: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and GitHub Copilot through the CLI or a local MCP server; Claude, ChatGPT and other MCP clients connect to the app. No AI of its own does the work | Official MCP: a hosted app server (create_diagram, search_shapes), the @drawio/mcp tool server (XML, CSV, Mermaid) and plugins for Claude Code, Codex CLI and GitHub Copilot that write .drawio files. A Generate tool in the editor too |
| Editing agent work in place | The agent changes the same diagram in small, atomic edits, sees what people changed since its last edit and builds on it. One agent edits at a time, and a person can stop it | The agent writes draw.io XML or a .drawio file; people open it in the draw.io editor and change it there |
| Review and sign-off | Comments for people or for your own agent, which makes the change and replies; history of who changed what, a person or an agent; versions from the last 30 days restored, ones marked with a status kept for good | Comments on diagrams stored in Google Drive or attached to Confluence pages |
| Checks before the client | Built-in checks the agent runs and fixes: arrows attached at both ends, every icon labelled, nothing stacked or left over, no placeholder text | — |
| Official cloud icons | 3,000+ icons, offline: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and general | 10,000+ shapes across its libraries, including AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, Cisco, UML and BPMN |
| Decks and PowerPoint | In the app, diagrams sit on slides and stay linked: fix one, and every slide that shows it updates. Native PowerPoint and PDF export | A diagram editor, not a slide tool; diagrams export as PNG, SVG and PDF |
| Local and offline | The free CLI keeps diagrams in .copage/ in your project, with no account; nothing is sent to us |
The desktop app saves locally; the MCP tool server and plugins keep diagrams on your machine; the MCP app server can be self-hosted |
| Pricing as published | CLI free; the app is in early access, by request; private deployments as pilots | Free, no sign-up; the MCP server is free |
When to choose draw.io
- You want a free, mature diagram editor with no account and no lock-in, and an open-source code base.
- You need diagram types far beyond cloud architecture: draw.io's libraries cover P&ID, electrical, network, UML and more, with over 10,000 shapes its MCP server can search.
- Your diagrams live in Confluence, Jira, Google Drive, OneDrive or GitHub, and you want to keep them there.
- You want an agent to produce Mermaid or CSV and have it laid out automatically, or a quick diagram rendered inline in a chat.
When to choose CoPage
- An agent doesn't just draw once: it keeps working on the diagram while you comment, and it builds on what you changed by hand instead of starting over.
- You want the agent to check its own work before you look:
copage diagram checkflags loose arrows, unlabelled icons and stacked shapes, and the agent fixes them. - The diagram goes into a client proposal: in the CoPage app, architecture and BPMN process diagrams sit on slides, stay linked, and the deck exports to native PowerPoint.
- You need to know who changed what, a person or an agent, and to stop an agent mid-edit.
Using them together
CoPage reads and writes draw.io files, so you don't have to choose once and for all.
copage diagram import platform.drawiobrings a diagram in. AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and network shapes become CoPage icons, edges become attached arrows, and each page becomes its own diagram. draw.io's own PNG and SVG exports (with the diagram embedded) import too.copage diagram export <id> platform.drawiowrites a.drawiofile with the icons embedded, so it opens in draw.io without CoPage.- In the CoPage app, agents use the
import_drawioandexport_drawiotools for the same.
See the CLI docs for the commands.
Compared on 2026-10-05 from public documentation; tell us at hello@copage.app if something changed.
Questions
Is CoPage an alternative to draw.io?
For diagrams an AI agent draws and people review, yes: CoPage gives the agent official cloud icons, a render of its work and checks to fix, and gives you an editor for the last details. For general diagramming with no agent in the loop, draw.io is free and covers far more diagram types.
Can I move my draw.io diagrams to CoPage?
Yes. copage diagram import file.drawio imports .drawio and .xml files and draw.io's PNG and SVG exports;
cloud shapes are matched to CoPage's built-in icons by name. A shape with no matching icon is kept as an image,
and the import lists each one so you can check it.
Can I take diagrams back to draw.io?
Yes. copage diagram export <id> file.drawio writes an uncompressed .drawio file with the icons embedded.
Does draw.io have an MCP server?
Yes, an official one from the draw.io team: a hosted server at mcp.draw.io, an npm package and plugins for coding agents, all free.