flowchart-mcp-server

A local MCP server that lets Claude generate academic-quality flowcharts from natural language or code.

You describe what you want — or connect a codebase via the filesystem connector — and Claude constructs the full graph. The server renders it into a clean SVG using Graphviz.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.12+
• uv
• Graphviz — must be on your PATH

Install Graphviz for your OS:

# Windows
winget install graphviz

# macOS
brew install graphviz

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install graphviz

Verify it's installed:

dot -V

Installation

git clone https://github.com/your-username/flowchart-mcp-server
cd flowchart-mcp-server
uv sync

Connecting to Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the server under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "flowchart": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--directory",
        "/absolute/path/to/flowchart-mcp-server",
        "python",
        "server.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace the path with the actual location on your machine, then restart Claude Desktop.

Usage

Once connected, talk to Claude naturally:

"Draw a flowchart of the binary search algorithm"

"Create an academic-style flowchart of how TCP handshakes work"

"Read my auth.py and generate a flowchart of the login flow" (requires filesystem connector)

Charts are returned inline and saved as SVG to the charts/ folder.

Styles

| Style | Description | |-------|-------------| | colorful | Vibrant colour-coded nodes (default) | | academic | Black & white, thick borders — suitable for papers and theses | | minimal | Soft greys, clean modern look |

Specify a style in your prompt: "...use the academic style"

| | colorful | academic | minimal | |---|---|---|---| | | | | |

Node types

| Type | Shape | Used for | |------|-------|----------| | start | Oval | Entry point | | end | Oval | Exit point | | process | Rectangle | Computation or action | | decision | Diamond | Branch / condition | | io | Parallelogram | Input or output | | subprocess | Double rectangle | Named function call | | connector | Small circle | Off-page connector | | annotation | Note | Clarifying comment |

Project structure

flowchart-mcp-server/
├── server.py        # MCP server
├── charts/          # Generated SVG output
├── pyproject.toml
└── uv.lock