d2(1) General Commands Manual d2(1)

d2 — compiles and renders d2 diagrams into svgs.

d2 [--watch false] [--theme ] [--salt string] file.d2 [file.svg | file.png | file.pdf | file.pptx | file.gif | file.txt]

d2 layout [name]

d2 fmt file.d2 ...

d2 play file.d2

d2 validate file.d2

d2 compiles and renders file.d2 to file.svg | file.png | file.pdf | file.pptx | file.gif | file.txt.

It defaults to file.svg if no output path is passed.

Pass - to have d2 read from stdin or write to stdout.

Never use the presence of the output file to check for success. Always use the exit status of d2. This is because sometimes when errors occur while rendering, d2 still write out a partial render anyway to enable iteration on a broken diagram.

See more docs, the source code and license at https://oss.terrastruct.com/d2.

Hosted icons at https://icons.terrastruct.com.

Playground runner at https://play.d2lang.com.

, --watch false
Watch for changes to input and live reload. Use $PORT and $HOST to specify the listening address.
, --host localhost
Host listening address when used with watch.
, --port 0
Port listening address when used with watch.
, --theme 0
Set the diagram theme ID.
-1
The theme to use when the viewer's browser is in dark mode. When left unset --theme is used for both light and dark mode. Be aware that explicit styles set in D2 code will still be applied and this may produce unexpected results. We plan on resolving this by making style maps in D2 light/dark mode specific. See https://github.com/terrastruct/d2/issues/831.
, --sketch false
Renders the diagram to look like it was sketched by hand.
flag
Center the SVG in the containing viewbox, such as your browser screen.
-1
Scale the output. E.g., 0.5 to halve the default size. Default -1 means that SVG's will fit to screen and all others will use their default render size. Setting to 1 turns off SVG fitting to screen.
Path to .ttf file to use for the regular font. If none provided, Source Sans Pro Regular is used.
Path to .ttf file to use for the italic font. If none provided, Source Sans Pro Regular-Italic is used.
Path to .ttf file to use for the bold font. If none provided, Source Sans Pro Bold is used.
Path to .ttf file to use for the semibold font. If none provided, Source Sans Pro Semibold is used.
Path to .ttf file to use for the monospace font. If none provided, Source Code Pro Regular is used.
Path to .ttf file to use for the monospace bold font. If none provided, Source Code Pro Bold is used.
Path to .ttf file to use for the monospace italic font. If none provided, Source Code Pro Italic is used.
Path to .ttf file to use for the monospace semibold font. If none provided, Source Code Pro Semibold is used.
100
Pixels padded around the rendered diagram.
0
If given, multiple boards are packaged as 1 SVG which transitions through each board at the interval (in milliseconds). Can only be used with SVG and GIF exports.
true
Browser executable that watch opens. Setting to 0 opens no browser.
, --layout dagre
Set the diagram layout engine to the passed string. For a list of available options, run layout.
, --bundle true
Bundle all assets and layers into the output svg.
false
An appendix for tooltips and links is added to PNG exports since they are not interactive. Setting this to true adds an appendix to SVG exports as well.
Target board to render. Pass an empty string to target root board. If target ends with '*', it will be rendered with all of its scenarios, steps, and layers. Otherwise, only the target board will be rendered. E.g. --target='' to render root board only or --target='layers.x.*' to render layer 'x' with all of its children.
, --debug
Print debug logs.
true
In watch mode, images used in icons are cached for subsequent compilations. This should be disabled if images might change.
120
The maximum number of seconds that D2 runs for before timing out and exiting. When rendering a large diagram, it is recommended to increase this value.
false
Check that the specified files are formatted correctly.
string
Add a salt value to ensure the output uses unique IDs. This is useful when generating multiple identical diagrams to be included in the same HTML doc, so that duplicate id's do not cause invalid HTML. The salt value is a string that will be appended to IDs in the output..
, --help
Print usage information and exit.
, --version
Print version information and exit.
string
Set the output format when writing to stdout. Supported formats are: png, svg, ascii, txt, pdf, pptx, gif. Only used when output is set to stdout (-).
false
Omit XML tag (<?xml ...?>) from output SVG files. Useful when generating SVGs for direct HTML embedding.
false
omit D2 version from generated image.
extended
ASCII rendering mode for text outputs. Options: 'standard' (basic ASCII chars) or 'extended' (Unicode chars).

layout
Lists available layout engine options with short help.
layout [name]
Display long help for a particular layout engine, including its configuration options.
themes
Lists available themes.
fmt file.d2 ...
Format all passed files
play file.d2
Opens the file in playground, an online web viewer (https://play.d2lang.com)
validate file.d2
Validates file.d2

Many flags can also be set with environment variables.

See -w[atch] flag.
See -l[ayout] flag.
See -t[heme] flag.
See --dark-theme flag.
See --pad flag.
See --center flag.
See -s[ketch] flag.
See -b[undle] flag.
See --force-appendix flag.
See --font-regular flag.
See --font-italic flag.
See --font-bold flag.
See --font-semibold flag.
See --font-mono flag.
See --font-mono-bold flag.
See --font-mono-italic flag.
See --font-mono-semibold flag.
See --animate-interval flag.
See --timeout flag.
See --check flag.
See --ascii-mode flag.
See -d[ebug] flag.
See --img-cache flag.
See -h[ost] flag.
See -p[ort] flag.
See --browser flag.
See --stdout-format flag.
See --no-xml-tag flag.
See --omit-version

d2plugin-tala(1)

Terrastruct Inc.

February 7, 2026 Linux 6.18.6-arch1-1