D2 Releases Open-Source Diagram Auto-Layout Engine 'TALA'

D2 has open-sourced TALA (Terrastruct's AutoLayout Algorithm), a new auto-layout engine for software architecture diagrams, under the MPL-2.0 license. Unlike existing DAG-based layouts, TALA is an orthogonal layout engine designed to suit the free-form placement of whiteboard-style diagrams.

Key Features and Usage

• Bundled with D2 v0.9.0, executable via the --layout=tala option.
• Supports 100% client-side execution on play.d2lang.com.
• Combines graph drawing research with proprietary techniques to consider aesthetic factors such as symmetry, median distance, flow, and similar node clustering.
• Optimized for collaboration with AI agents, supporting workflows where models generate 2D placements and TALA handles routing.

Hybrid Layout and Trade-offs

• Supports Hybrid Mode (Custom positioning), allowing some nodes to have fixed coordinates while the engine places the rest.
• The algorithm contains randomness, selecting the best result from three default seeds, but adding nodes can significantly change the overall layout (compared to Dagre/ELK).
• Execution time increases non-linearly for large diagrams, and Dagre or ELK may be preferred for complex DAG structures.