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Graphviz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Graphviz
DevelopersAT&T Labs Research and contributors[1]
Releasebefore 1991; 35 years ago (1991)[2]
Stable release
16.1.0[3] / 4 September 2026; 59 days ago (4 September 2026)
Written inC
Operating systemLinux, macOS, Windows
TypeGraph visualization
LicenseEclipse Public License
Websitegraphviz.org
Repositorygitlab.com/graphviz/graphviz
A red–black tree plotted by Graphviz
Undirected graph showing adjacency of the 48 contiguous United States
A visualization of a JavaScript life cycle made by using Graphviz

Graphviz (short for Graph Visualization Software) is a package of open-source tools initiated by AT&T Labs Research for drawing graphs (as in nodes and edges, not as in bar charts) specified in DOT language scripts having the file name extension "gv". It also provides libraries for software applications to use the tools. Graphviz is free software licensed under the Eclipse Public License.

Tools

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dot
a command-line tool to produce layered graph drawings in a variety of output formats, such as (PostScript, PDF, SVG, annotated text and so on).
neato
useful for undirected graphs up to about 1000 nodes. "Spring model" layout minimizes global energy.
fdp
force-directed graph drawing similar to "spring model", but minimizes forces instead of energy. Useful for undirected graphs.
sfdp
multiscale version of fdp for the layout of large undirected graphs.
twopi
for radial graph layouts. Nodes are placed on concentric circles depending on their distance from a given root node.
circo
circular layout. Suitable for certain diagrams of multiple cyclic structures, such as certain telecommunications networks.
dotty
a graphical user interface to visualize and edit graphs.
lefty
a programmable (in a language inspired by EZ[4]) widget that displays DOT graphs and allows the user to perform actions on them with the mouse. Therefore, Lefty can be used as the view in a model–view–controller GUI application that uses graphs.
gml2gv, gv2gml
convert to/from GML, another graph file format.
graphml2gv
convert a GraphML file to the DOT format.
gxl2gv, gv2gxl
convert to/from GXL, another graph file format.

Applications that use Graphviz

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Notable applications of Graphviz include:

  • ArgoUML's alternative UML diagram rendering called argouml-graphviz.[5]
  • AsciiDoc can embed Graphviz syntax as a diagram.
  • Bison is able to output the grammar as dot for visualization of the language.[6]
  • Confluence has a Graphviz plugin to render diagrams from text descriptions.
  • ConnectedText has a Graphviz plugin.
  • Doxygen uses Graphviz to generate diagrams, including class hierarchies, collaboration and call trees for source code.[7]
  • FreeCAD uses Graphviz to display the dependencies between objects in documents.[8]
  • Gephi has a Graphviz plugin.
  • Gramps uses Graphviz to create genealogical (family tree) diagrams.
  • Graph-tool a Python library for graph manipulation and visualization.
  • OmniGraffle version 5 and later uses the Graphviz engine, with a limited set of commands, for automatically laying out graphs.[9]
  • Org-mode can work with DOT source code blocks.[10]
  • PlantUML uses Graphviz to generate UML diagrams from text descriptions.
  • Puppet can produce DOT resource graphs that can be viewed with Graphviz.
  • Scribus is an open-source DTP program that can use Graphviz to render graphs by using its internal editor in a special frame type called render frame.[11]
  • Sphinx is a documentation generator that can use Graphviz to embed graphs in documents.
  • Terraform an infrastructure-as-code tool from Hashicorp allows output of an execution plan as a DOT resource graph
  • TOra a free-software database development and administration GUI, available under the GNU GPL.
  • Trac wiki has a Graphviz plugin.[12]
  • Zim includes a plugin that allows adding and editing in-page diagrams using the Graphviz dot language.[13]

Version history

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DateVersion
15 December 20001.7.4
7 February 20021.8.0
31 January 20031.9.0
3 July 20031.10.0
23 February 20041.11.0
1 March 20041.12.0
30 August 20041.14.0
14 September 20041.16.0
11 December 20041.18.0
11 December 20042.0.0
19 January 20052.2.0
20 July 20052.4.0
28 August 20052.6.0
3 February 20062.8.0
27 November 20062.10.0
5 December 20062.12.0
2 August 20072.14.0
9 November 20072.16.0
10 March 20082.18.0
20 June 20082.20.0
3 March 20092.22.0
16 June 20092.24.0
10 December 20092.26.0
6 May 20112.28.0
13 January 20132.30.0
1 August 20132.32.0
6 September 20132.34.0
11 January 20142.36.0
13 April 20142.38.0
20 December 20162.40.0
4 July 20192.42.0
8 April 20202.44.0
18 January 20212.46.0
16 March 20212.47.0
17 July 20212.48.0
28 August 20212.49.0
4 December 20212.50.0
26 February 20223.0.0
29 May 20224.0.0
7 July 20225.0.0
11 September 20226.0.1
23 October 20227.0.0
27 March 20238.0.1
11 September 20239.0.0
10 February 202410.0.1
28 April 202411.0.0
4 July 202412.0.0
8 June 202513.0.0

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Credits Graphviz".
  2. ↑ Eleftherios Koutsofios and Stephen North. Drawing graphs with dot. Technical Report 910904-59113-08TM, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, September 1991.
  3. ↑ "16.1.0 · graphviz / graphviz · GitLab". Retrieved 5 September 2026.
  4. ↑ The Lefty guide (“Editing Pictures with lefty”), section 3.1, p. 9.
  5. ↑ "argouml-graphviz.tigris.org". argouml-graphviz.tigris.org. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  6. ↑ Naumann, Uwe (2012). The Art of Differentiating Computer Programs: An Introduction to Algorithmic Differentiation. SIAM. p. 181. ISBN 9781611972078. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Anderson, Fritz (2014). Xcode 5 Start to Finish: iOS and OS X Development. Addison-Wesley Professional. p. 425. ISBN 9780133751024. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Std DependencyGraph". FreeCAD web. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "OmniGraffle 7.6 Reference Manual for macOS – Opening and Importing Files in OmniGraffle".
  10. ↑ Voit, Karl. "Org tutorial on generating simple process diagrams using dot and tables". orgmode.org. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  11. ↑ Gemy, Cedric (2010). Scribus 1.3.5 Beginner's Guide. Packt Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781849513012. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  12. ↑ "GraphvizPlugin". trac-hacks.org. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  13. ↑ "Zim – a desktop wiki: Diagram Editor". zim-wiki.org. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
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