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Vellum

Vellum

Vellum is Blueprintr's diagram editor and the default engine for any new diagram. It runs inside the blueprint editor, as a standalone diagram, and as a desktop app.

blueprint:josh/drawing-in-vellum

Two layers

Every shape sits on one of two layers.

LayerFor
BlueprintThe diagram itself. Shapes here can carry strata, be linked to, and be read by Continuum.
NotesWorking annotations. Stickies, questions, things to resolve.

The layer pills at the bottom left of the canvas: Notes, Both and Blueprint, with Both selected

Press W to switch which layer you draw on. The pills at the bottom left control which layers you can see, so you can hide the noise without deleting it.

Press Shift Cmd P to promote a Notes item to the Blueprint layer.

Getting around

Cmd K searches every shape, icon and command.

Cmd 0 resets the view; Cmd 1 fits everything to the viewport.

Tools

The Vellum toolbar: shape, connector, text, sticky, pen and icon tools, each labelled with its keyboard shortcut

KeyTool
QTool lock, keeping a drawing tool active so you can drop several shapes in a row
8Container, a frame you drag shapes into
9Freehand pen, for annotating over the canvas
LLaser pointer, a fading cursor trail for screen shares

The Tips & shortcuts button in the editor lists everything, always current. The shortcuts page here mirrors it.

Shapes and connectors

What you can draw, and how connectors attach.

Icon packs

Thousands of vendor icons, plus your own.

Other engines

draw.io, Excalidraw and Mermaid.