Direct manipulation flowchart editor without the mouse
Hey HN, I made this because I wanted a fast editing experience when making flowcharts. Other tools (bottom)require clicking and dragging (or editing code). Knotend is keyboard centric and is supposed to feel more like editing a doc than dragging around boxes and arrows. I've tested in on safari and chrome desktop. Its difficult to use on mobile but you can view existing charts. I'd appreciate your feedback on how you use it, the design, any bugs etc. Thank you. Prior art - https://mermaid-js.github.io/ - Confluence (Atlassian) - draw.io - excalidraw EDIT: fixed the bug on…
Direct manipulation flowchart editor without the mouse launched on May 23, 2021 with 54 votes, #1,161 of 3,505 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 5 years on.
In plain words
Knotend is a keyboard-driven flowchart editor designed for fast creation without mouse interaction. Unlike traditional tools that require dragging or code editing, it offers a document-like editing experience. The tool works on desktop Safari and Chrome browsers, with viewing support on mobile but limited editing capability. It targets developers and users who prefer keyboard-centric workflows for creating and managing flowcharts efficiently.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN, I made this because I wanted a fast editing experience when making flowcharts. Other tools (bottom)require clicking and dragging (or editing code). Knotend is keyboard centric and is supposed to feel more like editing a doc than dragging around boxes and arrows. I've tested in on safari and chrome desktop.…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →- KAKnotend – a keyboard-driven flowchart editor2023 · knotend.com · ▲80
Hey all, I made knotend [0] because I wanted a flowchart editor that was keyboard-driven and super fast. I was tired of dragging boxes around on a canvas. You may have seen knotend around here before when I wrote an initial blog post [1] about why I wanted a new kind of flowchart editor. Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback here on HN! Since that blog post I’ve been working hard to get to a v1 which I’m showing now. You can use the free version without having to sign up for an account. I would love your feedback! What makes knotend different is two main things: 1) The nodes are…
- CECode2flow – easy flowcharts with no mouse, no dragging and no hassle2016 · code2flow.com · ▲238
A flow based data processing editor2021 · datablocks.pro · ▲188node-based editor for exploring, analyzing and transforming data without code
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