Install awsdac with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage

Commands and aliases

• awsdac
• awsdac-mcp-server

Project history

The `awslabs/diagram-as-code` repository was created in February 2024 and began publishing 0.x releases almost immediately. Its README presents the project as a way to manage diagrams with Git, write human-readable YAML, and generate AWS architecture diagrams that follow AWS diagram guidelines.

The project later expanded beyond a single CLI into a Go library and `awsdac-mcp-server`, with documentation for CloudFormation conversion, templating, resource definitions, links, and AI assistant integration.

Adoption history

awsdac's adoption is early but visible for a young AWS Labs tool: the repository is under the official `awslabs` organization, has Homebrew packaging, and has accumulated public GitHub attention since 2024. It fits the broader infrastructure-as-code habit of keeping generated artifacts and their source definitions in version control.

The tool targets teams that want architecture diagrams to live beside IaC and documentation, rather than in manually edited drawing files.

How it is used

Users install with `go install github.com/awslabs/diagram-as-code/cmd/awsdac@latest` or `brew install awsdac`, then run `awsdac <input filename>` to render YAML into an output image. Flags cover output filenames, templates, CloudFormation conversion, and definition-file overrides.

Because it draws from declarative YAML rather than cloud credentials, no AWS credentials file is documented as required for normal diagram generation.

Why package nerds care

awsdac is a package-manager-friendly example of documentation automation: one CLI turns versioned text into visual architecture diagrams. For package nerds, its appeal is that the rendering tool can be pinned in CI and used without a GUI, headless browser, or SaaS diagram editor.

Its presence in Homebrew also shows how AWS Labs experiments can move quickly into developer workstation tooling when they are delivered as a single Go CLI.

Timeline

• 2024: Public GitHub repository `awslabs/diagram-as-code` created.
• 2024: v0.10 release published.
• 2024: v0.21.x releases expand the early 0.x line.
• 2026: v0.23 release published with additional diagram features.

Related projects

• AWS Architecture Icons and guidelines provide the visual vocabulary referenced by the project.
• Infrastructure-as-code tools such as CloudFormation are adjacent inputs; the project documents beta CloudFormation conversion.
• MCP integrations are exposed by the `awsdac-mcp-server` executable.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/awslabs/diagram-as-code
• https://api.github.com/repos/awslabs/diagram-as-code/releases?per_page=100
• https://github.com/awslabs/diagram-as-code
• https://github.com/awslabs/diagram-as-code/tree/main/doc
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/awslabs/diagram-as-code/main/README.md