drawio-desktop is a desktop diagramming application built with Electron that wraps the core draw.io editor.
The tool solves the need for a locally-installed diagramming application by packaging the web-based draw.io editor as a standalone desktop app. It runs completely offline after installation, with no diagram data sent externally and no usage analytics collected. The application enforces network isolation through Content Security Policy, preventing remotely-loaded JavaScript execution. Update checks occur at startup by connecting to GitHub, but this can be disabled via environment variable or command-line flag for centrally-managed deployments.
Developers should choose this tool if they need a free, self-contained diagramming application that prioritizes data privacy and offline operation. It suits teams working with sensitive diagrams that should never leave the local machine. The project publishes multiple Windows installation options: an NSIS installer requiring administrator privileges, an MSI installer for per-user installation without admin rights, a portable executable, and a Microsoft Store build. The README emphasizes that security and isolation are primary design objectives and states that feature requests involving external connections enabled by default will be declined.
Development activity shows consistent maintenance with regular releases published to the releases section. The project maintains draw.io as a git submodule, requiring recursive cloning for local development. Setup involves standard npm installation and startup commands, with optional debug logging available. Support is provided through the repository's issue tracker on a reasonable business constraints basis without contractual guarantees, and purchasing draw.io for other platforms does not extend to commercial support for the desktop version.
