Features 🚀

• TALA is now open source and bundled with D2, including the JavaScript/WASM package. Select it with d2 --layout=tala, D2_LAYOUT=tala, or vars.d2-config.layout-engine: tala. No separate plugin installation or license key is required.
• tala: configure layout attempts with --tala-seeds, D2_TALA_SEEDS, or vars.d2-config.data.tala-seeds.
• exports: render PNG, GIF, PDF, and PPTX with the built-in renderer

Improvements 🧹

• performance: reduce repeated work in Dagre ranking, text measurement, SVG preparation, and PNG encoding
• performance: reduce repeated work in selective imports, dynamic grid layout, and PNG connection rendering
• exports: reduce PNG memory usage and support images above the previous 67-megapixel limit
• performance: SVG rendering is approximately 10× faster across the E2E corpus. Real-world diagrams compile, lay out, and render approximately 3× faster at the median.
• renders: SVG exports are approximately 24% smaller across the E2E corpus and 18% smaller across real-world fixtures, with unchanged appearance.
• renders: render Markdown labels as native SVG instead of HTML foreignObject content

Bugfixes ⛑️

• install: reject the obsolete --tala installer flag with migration guidance before installing, instead of incorrectly claiming that older D2 releases bundle TALA
• sequence diagrams: keep synthetic lifeline endpoint IDs stable across architectures
• exports: honor D2_TIMEOUT during PNG and GIF rendering
• compiler: keep recursive globs out of class and variable definitions and report class reference cycles instead of overflowing the stack
• renders: decode gzip, Brotli, and deflate remote images before embedding them

For the latest d2.js changes, see separate changelog.

Features 🚀

• exports: gif exports work with animate: true keyword #2663

Improvements 🧹

• releases: strip native binaries, build and smoke-test all six archives in CI, produce reproducible archives with checksums, signed provenance, and SBOM attestations, and verify standalone downloads when GitHub provides a digest
• plugins: make render post-processing optional and deprecate it for removal after one protocol compatibility cycle; legacy external postprocess commands remain supported during the transition
• api: deprecate legacy layout-feature constants, raw-WASM ELK/object-order bridges, unused public wrappers, and test-only comparison, validation, and logging helpers; compatibility entry points remain callable for one release while in-repository callers use supported or internal replacements
• maintenance: update the Go toolchain to 1.27.0 and refresh Go, d2.js, CI, release dependencies, and compression-sensitive snapshots
• renders: update syntax highlighting and migrate archived font and PDF dependencies to maintained replacements
• d2dagre: replace the embedded JavaScript runtime with native Go Dagro and update its D2-used layout surface from Dagre 0.8.5 to Dagre 3.1.1 behavior. This intentionally changes node ordering and coordinates, edge routes, self-loops, and compound sizing in some diagrams; regenerate and review stored SVG or board-JSON snapshots
• d2sketch: update the native rough-go renderer from Rough.js 4.0.4 to 4.6.6 behavior. Seeded sketch strokes, fills, arrowheads, and SVG paths may change; regenerate and review stored sketch SVG snapshots
• d2elk: replace the embedded ELK.js 0.8.2 runtime with native Go elk-go and update D2's ELK layout profile to ELK.js 0.12.0 behavior. This is a layout-behavior update, not an output-compatible runtime swap:
  • existing ELK diagrams may receive different node coordinates and ordering, edge and label routes, and component packing; regenerate and review stored SVG or board-JSON snapshots
  • children of nested compound graphs may be reordered because ELK 0.12 cannot safely apply D2's previous nested model-order profile
  • non-default --elk-algorithm modes may also produce different geometry; the optional DisCo algorithm is removed because upstream no longer bundles it
• d2latex: replace the embedded MathJax JavaScript runtime with the native Go mathjax-go port without changing rendered formulas
• performance: native Go engine migrations substantially reduce median end-to-end D2-to-SVG conversion time in Apple M4 benchmarks:
  • Dagre is 7–9× faster
  • ELK is 40–53× faster
  • LaTeX is 21.6× faster on a four-formula diagram
• performance: remove superlinear compiler and layout bottlenecks in large globs, repeated imports, nested diagrams, compound Dagre graphs, bend-heavy ELK layouts, and style-only scenario/step boards #2827. Median Apple M4 single-CPU synthetic stress benchmarks for these targeted cliffs, rather than corpus-wide conversion averages, improve by:
  • leading glob applied to 1,000 fields: 1.59s to 12ms (~133× faster)
  • 100 references into the same 100-field import file: 54ms to 12ms (~4.6× faster)
  • 4,000 flat fields: 67ms to 7ms (~9.6× faster)
  • 3,200 distinct edges: 200ms to 19ms (~10.6× faster)
  • 32-node base with 8 style-only scenarios and 8 steps (17 boards total): 40ms to 7.3ms (~5.5× faster)
  • 340-object nested D2 Dagre layout: 1.30s to 0.88s (~32% faster)
  • Dagro depth-100 compound layout: 3.60s to 0.90s (~4× faster)
  • 250-node, 1,000-edge ELK layout: 337ms to 238ms (~30% faster)
• d2ascii:
  • sql_table and uml class shapes are supported #2623
  • newlines are handled #2626
  • empty left columns are cropped #2626
• exports:
  • Chromium download through CLI for PNG exports is prompted #2655
  • animate-interval is no longer required, defaults to 1000ms for gifs #2663
• renders:
  • remote images are fetched more reliably #2659

Bugfixes ⛑️

• d2dagre: keep same-direction parallel edges and self-loop routes finite when using Dagre 3.1.1 behavior
• d2svg: reject padding that would produce invalid negative SVG dimensions
• d2elk: route ancestor-to-descendant connections around intermediate containers
• d2elk: prevent labels on multiple self-loops from overlapping in right-directed layouts, including the ent2d2_right regression case
• d2svg: render one-stop gradients with finite SVG offsets
• compiler: make suffix globs match only names with the requested suffix
• compiler: reject non-finite opacity values with a source diagnostic
• d2svg: preserve connection links on LaTeX, Markdown, and code labels
• d2lib: preserve caller-supplied light and dark theme overrides over source configuration
• compiler: index equivalent connections consistently when endpoint notation is reversed
• exports: pptx follows standards more closely, addressing warnings from some Powerpoint software #2645
• d2sequence: fix edge case of invalid sequence diagrams #2660
• d2svg: Text may overflow legend bounds when monospace font is used #2674

For the latest d2.js changes, see separate changelog.

Features 🚀

• ASCII renders. Output txt for d2 to render diagrams as ASCII art #2572
• cross arrowhead shape is available #2190
• style.underline support for class fields and methods #2544
• markdown, latex, and code can be used as edge labels #2545
• border-x label positioning functionality #2549
• tooltips with near set always show even without hover #2564
• CLI supports customizing monospace fonts with --font-mono, --font-mono-bold, --font-mono-italic, and --font-mono-semibold flags #2590

Improvements 🧹

• labels on scenario/step boards can be set with primary value (like layers) #2579
• autoformatter preserves order of boards #2580
• rename "Legend" with a title/label of your choosing (especially useful for non-English diagrams) #2582
• sketch mode fonts will use custom fonts if provided #2582

Bugfixes ⛑️

• actors in sequence diagrams with labels and icons together no longer overlap, position keywords now work too #2548
• fix double glob behavior in scenarios (wasn't propagating correctly) #2557
• fix diagram bounding box not accounting for legend in some cases #2584

Breaking Changes

• If you are using D2 as a library/API, passing in a FontFamily with sketch renders will now use the font, instead of previously ignoring it.

For the latest d2.js changes, see separate changelog.

Features 🚀

• Icons:
  • connections can include icons #12
• Syntax:
  • suspend/unsuspend to define models and instantiate them #2394
• Globs:
  • support for filtering edges based on properties of endpoint nodes (e.g., &src.style.fill: blue) #2395
  • level filter implemented #2473
• Render:
  • markdown, latex, and code can be used as object labels #2204
  • shape: c4-person to render a person shape like what the C4 model prescribes #2397
• Icons:
  • border-radius should work on icon #2409
• Misc:
  • Diagram legends are implemented #2416

Improvements 🧹

• CLI:
  • Support validate command. #2415
  • Watch mode ignores backup files (e.g. files created by certain editors like Helix). #2131
  • Support for --omit-version flag. #2377
  • Casing is ignored for plugin names #2486
• Compiler:
  • links can be set to root path, e.g. /xyz. #2357
  • When importing a file, attempt resolving substitutions at the imported file scope first #2482
  • validate gradient color stops. #2492
• Parser:
  • impose max key length. It's almost certainly a mistake if an ID gets too long, e.g. missing quotes #2465
• Render:
  • horizontal padding added for connection labels #2461

Bugfixes ⛑️

• Compiler:
  • fixes panic when sql_shape shape value had mixed casing #2349
  • fixes panic when importing from a file with spread substitutions in vars #2427
  • fixes support for center in d2-config #2360
  • fixes panic when comment lines appear in arrays #2378
  • fixes inconsistencies when objects were double quoted #2390
  • fixes globs not applying to spread substitutions #2426
  • fixes panic when classes were mixed with layers incorrectly #2448
  • fixes panic when gradient colors are used in sketch mode #2481
  • fixes panic using glob ampersand filters with composite values #2489
  • fixes leaf ampersand filter when used with imports #2494
• Formatter:
  • fixes substitutions in quotes surrounded by text #2462
• CLI:
  • fetch and render remote images of mimetype octet-stream correctly #2370
• Composition:
  • spread importing scenarios/steps was not inheriting correctly #2460
  • imported fields were not merging with current fields/edges #2464
• Markdown:
  • fixes nested var substitutions not working #2456

For the latest d2.js changes, see separate changelog.

Features 🚀

• Animations: style.animated: true is supported on shapes #2250
• Connections now support link #1955
• Vars: vars in markdown blocks are substituted #2218
• Markdown: Github-flavored tables work in md blocks #2221
• Render: adds box arrowheads #2227
• d2 fmt now supports a --check flag #2253
• CLI: PNG output to stdout is supported using --stdout-format png - #2291
• Globs: &connected and &leaf filters are implemented #2299
• CLI: add --no-xml-tag for direct HTML embedding #2302
• CLI: play cmd added for opening d2 input in online playground #2242

Improvements 🧹

• Composition: links pointing to own board are purged #2203
• Syntax: reserved keywords must be unquoted #2231
• Latex: Backslashes in Latex blocks do not escape #2232
  • This is a breaking change. Previously Latex blocks required escaping the backslash. So
    for older D2 versions, you should remove the excess backslashes.
• Links: non-http url scheme links are supported (e.g. x.link: vscode://file/) #2237
• Compiler: reserved keywords with missing values error instead of silently doing nothing #2251
• Render: SVG outputs conform to stricter HTML standards, e.g. no duplicate ids #2273
• Themes: theme names are consistently cased #2322
• Nears: constant nears avoid collision with edge routes #2327

Bugfixes ⛑️

• Imports: fixes using substitutions in icon values #2207
• Markdown: fixes ampersands in URLs in markdown #2219
• Globs: fixes edge case where globs with imported boards would create empty boards #2247
• Sequence diagrams: fixes alignment of notes when self messages are above it #2264
• Null: fixes nulling a connection with absolute syntax #2318
• Gradients: works with connection fills #2326
• Latex: fixes backslashes doubling on successive parses #2328

Features 🚀

• Render: SVG files render in non-browser contexts (e.g. Inkscape, LaTeX) #2147

Improvements 🧹

• Lib: removes a dependency on external slog that was causing troubles with installation #2137
• CLI: attempts writing to path atomically, falling back to non-atomic if failed #2141
• Export: pptx has "created at" metadata removed, so successive runs yield the same result #2169
• Formatter: empty board keywords (e.g. layers) are removed #2178
• Render: a tooltip or link by itself will not expand width of shape #2183

Bugfixes ⛑️

• Render: fixes edge case of a 3d shape with outside label being cut off #2132
• Composition: labels for boards set with shorthand x: y was not applied #2182
• Globs: double globs (**) were erroring when used with multiple scenario boards #2195

Features 🚀

• Vars: Variable definitions can refer to other variables in the current scope #2052
• Composition: Imported boards can use underscores to reference boards beyond its own scope (e.g. to a sibling board at the scope its imported to) #2075
• Autoformat: Reserved keywords are formatted to be lowercase #2098
• Misc: support for characters in the Latin-1 and geometric shapes unicode range #2100
• Imports: can now import from absolute file paths #2113
• Render: linear and radial gradients are now available for fill, stroke and font-color #2120

Improvements 🧹

• Sequence diagram: edge groups account for edge label heights #2038
• Sequence diagram: self-referential edges account for edge label heights #2040
• Sequence diagram: The spacing between self-referential edges and regular edges is uniform #2043
• Compiler: Error on multi-line labels in sql_table shapes #2057
• Sequence diagram: Image shape actors can use spans and notes #2056
• Globs: Filters work with default values (e.g. &opacity: 1 will capture everything without opacity explicitly set) #2090
• Render: connection label fills have a bit of padding and border-radius for better aesthetics #2094
• Sequence diagram: the padding between message labels and message endpoints are slightly increased #2096
• Render: code syntax highlighter dependency upgrade caused some slight subtle color changes in code snippets #2119

Bugfixes ⛑️

• Sequence diagram: multi-line edge labels no longer can collide with other elements #2049
• Sequence diagram: long self-referential edge labels no longer can collide neighboring actors (or its own) lifeline edges #2050
• Sequence diagram: fixes layout when sequence diagrams are in children boards (e.g. a layer) #1692
• Globs: An edge case was fixed where globs used in edges were creating nodes when it shouldn't have #2051
• Render: Multi-line class labels/headers are rendered correctly #2057
• CLI: Watch mode uses correct backlinks (_ usages) #2058
• Vars: Spread variables are inserted in place instead of appending to end of scope #2062
• Imports: fix local icon imports from files that are imported #2066
• CLI: fixes edge case of watch mode links to nested board that had more nested boards not working #2070
• CLI: fixes theme flag not being passed to GIF outputs #2071
• CLI: fixes scale flag not being passed to animated SVG outputs #2071
• CLI: pptx exports use theme flags correctly #2099
• Imports: importing files with url links is fixed #2105
• Composition: linking to invalid boards no longer produces an invalid link #2118

Features 🚀

• Glob inverse filters are implemented (e.g. *: {!&shape: circle; style.fill: red} to turn all non-circles red) #2008
• Globs can be used in glob filter values, including checking for existence (e.g. *: {&link: *; style.fill: red} to turn all objects with a link red) #2009

Improvements 🧹

• Opacity 0 shapes no longer have a label mask which made any segment of connections going through them lower opacity #1940
• Bidirectional connections are now animated in opposite directions rather than one direction #1939

Bugfixes ⛑️

• Local relative icons are relative to the d2 file instead of CLI invoke path #1924
• Custom label positions weren't being read when the width was smaller than the label #1928
• Using shape: circle for arrowheads no longer removes all arrowheads along path in sketch mode #1942
• Globs to null connections work #1965
• Edge globs setting styles inherit correctly in child boards #1967
• Board links imported with spread imports work #1972
• Fix importing a file with nested boards #1998
• Fix importing a file with underscores in links #1999
• Replace a panic with an error message resulting from invalid link usage #2011
• Fix globs not applying to scenarios on keys that were applied in earlier scenarios #2021
• Fix edge case of invalid SVG from code blocks #2031

D2 0.6.5 has a hotfix for 0.6.4 breaking plugin compatibility. Also includes 2 compiler fixes regarding substitutions/vars.

Bugfixes ⛑️

• Fix executable plugins that implement standalone router #1910
• Fix compiler error with multiple nested spread substitutions #1913
• Fix substitutions from imports into different scopes #1914

Features 🚀

• style.underline works on connections #1836
• none is added as an accepted value for fill-pattern. Previously there was no way to cancel the fill-pattern on select objects set by a theme that applies it (Origami) #1882

Improvements 🧹

• Dimensions can be set less than label dimensions #1901
• Boards no longer inherit label fields from parents #1838
• Prevents near targeting a child of a special object like grid cells, which wasn't doing anything #1851

Bugfixes ⛑️

• Theme flags on CLI apply to PDFs #1894
• Fixes styles in connections not overriding styles set by globs #1857
• Fixes null being set on a nested shape not working in certain cases when connections also pointed to that shape #1830
• Fixes edge case of bad import syntax crashing using d2 as a library #1829
• Fixes style.fill not applying to markdown #1872
• Fixes compiler erroring on certain styles when the shape's shape value is not all lowercase (e.g. Circle) #1887