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TALA logo

TALA

TALA is a diagram layout engine designed specifically for software architecture diagrams, though it works well in other domains too.

TALA is closed-source. This repository is primarily for installation instructions. You can also use this repository to report issues, ask questions, and request features.

To learn more about TALA, please visit https://terrastruct.com/tala. Note that this is a paid layout engine, which requires a license for any commercial use. The license is purchasable in that same link. TALA is free to evaluate, but without a license, will render with a watermark.

To compare TALA with other layout engines, please visit https://text-to-diagram.com.

User Manual (PDF)

Rendering samples

You can see the .d2 text for these in ./docs/d2. Samples are generated through the CLI.

Installation

Install script

The most convenient way to install is through the install script.

# With --dry-run the install script will print the commands it will use
# to install without actually installing so you know what it's going to do.
curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s -- --tala --dry-run
# If things look good, install for real.
curl -fsSL https://d2lang.com/install.sh | sh -s -- --tala

You can also find binaries Releases page for Linux, MacOS and Windows, for both AMD and ARM. Download the appropriate one for your OS to a directory in your path.

macOS (Homebrew)

If you're on macOS, you can alternatively install with brew. (the install script above does this automatically if you have brew installed).

brew install terrastruct/tap/tala

Post-install

Check that it was installed properly:

d2 layout tala

It should print out information about TALA. If not, please see troubleshooting steps.

Use TALA

You are now ready to use TALA to layout your diagrams! Specify that D2 should use TALA by setting the environment variable D2_LAYOUT.

D2_LAYOUT=tala d2 in.d2 out.svg

Seeds

Optimal placements of nodes that minimizes distance and crossings is an NP-hard problem. TALA searches with heuristics to get an approximation. This search space has some randomness at each step. Choosing a different seed for this randomness can have signficant impact on the overall layout, as it may converge on an entirely different one.

For advanced usage of TALA, you may specify the seed to get a different layout:

d2 --layout tala --tala-seeds 44 input.d2

Add API token (optional)

You may skip this step if you are just evaluating.

As environment variable

If you have an API token, copy and paste it into your environment variables. E.g.

export TSTRUCT_TOKEN = "tstruct_..."

As config file

You can also use a JSON file as config. The benefit to this is that when the TALA license expires and has to renew, it will swap out the key for you automatically in the background with the updated one.

By default, TALA finds the configuration file at the following path:

$HOME/.config/tstruct/auth.json:

{
  "api_token": "tstruct_xxx"
}

You can change where this path is by configuring it with the following environment variable:

export TSTRUCT_AUTHFILE = /var/local/...

License keys

TALA is freely installable and locally runnable for evaluation. You'll need an API token from your Terrastruct account to run it out of evaluation mode. Alternatively, if you don't want to create an account, you can purchase a personal license key for TALA that allows you to run TALA forever with access to updates for 12 months here. If you'd like to get the benefits of a paid Terrastruct account at any time after, your license key will allow that.

Troubleshooting

TALA not found

which d2plugin-tala

If this does not return a directory, then d2plugin-tala is not in your path.

echo $PATH

Please move the downloaded binary to one of those locations.

License warning prints even with API token

In the same terminal that you're running d2 on, run

echo $TSTRUCT_TOKEN

If it is not found, then your environment variable has not been set in your shell. Make sure you add it to the appropriate shell config file and source it in the running terminal.

Other

Please open an Issue describing what you're running into and we're happy to help. If you'd like to remain anonymous/private, feel free to email us at [email protected]

FAQ

Does TALA use the internet?

The TALA plugin do not collect telemetry or use the internet in any way except to ping to check the status of a license. This is only done when necessary, e.g. if you purchased a month subscription, TALA will ping at the start of the next month and renew automatically if the subscription is ongoing. If you purchased a year, it won't ping for a year. The only data that's sent in these pings is the API token itself. No diagrams or anything else leaves your computer.

Others

Full FAQ at https://terrastruct.com/tala.