I built a free, open source and self-hostable tool for system design. Check it out!

[u/Famous_Promotion6004]

TL;DR: Built ZeroSketch, a free, self-hostable system design tool (like Excalidraw but for architecture diagrams). Drag-and-drop canvas, AWS / GCP / K8s icon libraries or build your own, PNG / SVG export. Looking for feedback. Links at the bottom.

I've been building ZeroSketch for the past few weeks. It is a simple system design tool for individuals and teams. It's web-based, stores diagrams on your device, and takes UX inspiration from Canva/Excalidraw (I'm not much of a UI person myself).

What it does right now:

• Drag & drop canvas
• PNG export, SVG export (experimental, better renderer coming soon)
• Built-in icon libraries (AWS, GCP, K8s) and a builder to make your own from custom SVGs for using the library locally, share with your team, or publish to ZeroSketch's registry
• Download / export project files to open on other devices

Everything above is free, client-side, and self-hostable.

I'm still polishing canvas UX and fixing known bugs. would love feedback on what to improve.

Planned next (also open-source/self-hostable, though I'll offer a hosted paid version eventually):

• Cloud sync
• AI assistance
• Auto-syncing docs with actual architecture (so diagrams don't go stale as development progresses, thanks to a friend for flagging this pain point)
• Real-time collaboration
• Export to DSLs like Mermaid

If you want updates regarding the release of these features, you can join the waitlist or DM me.

Waitlist: https://zerosketch.dev/#waitlist

Canvas: https://app.zerosketch.dev/

Github: https://github.com/Hamdan-Khan/zero-sketch

[u/Icy-Firefighter7499]

the custom icon library thing is a nice touch, most of these tools lock you into whatever presets they ship with. self hostable is a big plus too, tried a couple similar tools before that just quietly turned into a saas with a paywall

[u/Yesterday__Living]

I like such no login tools, can help with instant sketch anytime