# Penrose

> Creates diagrams from mathematical notation in plain text, from Carnegie Mellon University.

- Category: [Diagrams as code](https://awesomedataviz.com/categories/diagrams-as-code/)
- Website: https://penrose.cs.cmu.edu
- Repository: https://github.com/penrose/penrose
- License: MIT
- Language: TypeScript
- Status: Active (commits in the last 90 days)
- GitHub stars: 7,985
- Commits in the last 12 months: 48
- Contributors: 40
- Last commit: Aug 30, 2026
- Latest release: v3.3.1 (Aug 30, 2026)
- Install (npm): `npm install @penrose/core`, 949 downloads per week
- Topics: Diagrams & diagrams as code

## Overview

Penrose is an open-source diagram-as-code tool released under the MIT license. Its GitHub repository has 7,985 stars, 365 forks, and 40 contributors. It is actively developed with 48 commits in the last 12 months. The latest release, v3.3.1, was published on Aug 30, 2026. On npm it is downloaded about 949 times per week.

## Alternatives

- [Mermaid](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/mermaid/): Generate diagrams and flowcharts from markdown-like text definitions, with a live editor. (90.5K stars)
- [Diagrams](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/diagrams/): Diagram as code in Python for prototyping cloud system architectures. (42.7K stars)
- [D2](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/d2/): Declarative diagram scripting language that turns text into diagrams. (25.6K stars)
- [PlantUML](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/plantuml/): Generates UML, Gantt, mind map and other diagrams from plain text. (13.4K stars)
- [Markmap](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/markmap/): Builds interactive mind maps from Markdown. (13.1K stars)
- [flowchart.js](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/flowchart-js/): Draws SVG flowcharts from a textual description. (8.7K stars)

Source: https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/penrose/ · Data updated 2026-10-04 · Content: CC BY 4.0, Awesome Dataviz (https://awesomedataviz.com).