Custom shape libraries

An overview of Lucid's custom shape libraries

What is a custom shape library?

Lucidchart and Lucidspark both support custom, user-created shape libraries. Custom shape libraries appear in the left panel of Lucid documents alongside Lucid's built-in shape libraries.
Users can drag shapes from any custom shape libraries they have installed onto the canvas as they’re creating their documents.

Custom Shape Example

To create a shape library, you can use the Extension API to create a shape library extension that can be published and shared through Lucid’s extension marketplace.

What can a custom shape library do?

Lucid's custom shape library framework allows you to create all sorts of powerful shapes.
The following are features of custom shapes you can leverage.

Conditional formatting

Conditional Formatting

Grouping and nesting

Grouping and Nesting

Images

Images

Data linking

Data Linking

Anchor points

Anchor Points

Repeat geometries

Repeat Geometries

By combining these features, you can create intelligent shapes that bring clarity to your visualizations.

What are the limitations of custom shape libraries?

  • User-defined international/i18n translations are parsed and verified but aren't currently used.
  • Formatting inside of text areas is not implemented (text areas as a whole can be formatted, but the format can't change within the text area).

What’s Next

Examples of custom shape libraries:

Get started building a custom shape library:

If you're interested in building your own custom shape library, you can follow our comprehensive walkthrough.