JSON Schema

The Excalidraw data format uses plaintext JSON.

Excalidraw files

When saving an Excalidraw scene locally to a file, the JSON file (.excalidraw) is using the below format.

Attributes

Attribute	Description	Value
type	The type of the Excalidraw schema	"excalidraw"
version	The version of the Excalidraw schema	number
source	The source URL of the Excalidraw application	"https://excalidraw.com"
elements	An array of objects representing excalidraw elements on canvas	Array containing excalidraw element objects
appState	Additional application state/configuration	Object containing application state properties
files	Data for excalidraw image elements	Object containing image data

JSON Schema example

{
  // schema information
  "type": "excalidraw",
  "version": 2,
  "source": "https://excalidraw.com",

  // elements on canvas
  "elements": [
    // example element
    {
      "id": "pologsyG-tAraPgiN9xP9b",
      "type": "rectangle",
      "x": 928,
      "y": 319,
      "width": 134,
      "height": 90
      /* ...other element properties */
    }
    /* other elements */
  ],

  // editor state (canvas config, preferences, ...)
  "appState": {
    "gridSize": 20,
    "viewBackgroundColor": "#ffffff"
  },

  // files data for "image" elements, using format `{ [fileId]: fileData }`
  "files": {
    // example of an image data object
    "3cebd7720911620a3938ce77243696149da03861": {
      "mimeType": "image/png",
      "id": "3cebd7720911620a3938c.77243626149da03861",
      "dataURL": "data:image/png;base64,iVBORWOKGgoAAAANSUhEUgA=",
      "created": 1690295874454,
      "lastRetrieved": 1690295874454
    }
    /* ...other image data objects */
  }
}

Element creation time

Every normalized element has a created: number | null field. A number is the client's wall-clock time in epoch milliseconds when this element instance was created. null means the creation time is unknown; restoring an older file does not substitute its load time or last-update time.

Operation	created
Construct a new element	Current time, unless explicitly supplied (including null)
Duplicate, paste, or insert from a library	New time for the new instance
Convert element skeletons with ID regeneration	New time for each resulting instance
Restore/open/import an existing scene	Preserve the carried value; missing values become null
Edit, change type while retaining the ID, capture, undo, or redo	Preserve the value

Excalidraw clipboard format

When copying selected excalidraw elements to clipboard, the JSON schema is similar to .excalidraw format, except it differs in attributes.

Attributes

Attribute	Description	Example Value
type	The type of the Excalidraw document.	"excalidraw/clipboard"
elements	An array of objects representing excalidraw elements on canvas.	Array containing excalidraw element objects (see example below)
files	Data for excalidraw image elements.	Object containing image data