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evolus/pencil

The Pencil Project's unique mission is to build a free and opensource tool for making diagrams and GUI prototyping that everyone can use.

JavaScript ◇ drawing GPL-2.0
★9.9KSTARS
⑂791FORKS
!531ISSUES
🏆#1,225GLOBAL RANK
🔥3DAYS TRENDING
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Momentum

+247

STARS · LAST 30 DAYS

8

PER DAY

#114

MOST-STARRED JavaScript

Window7 days30 days90 days
Stars gained+56+247+720
Per day888
Forks gained+4+16+40

pencil gained 247 stars in the last 30 days, about 8 a day, and now has 9.9K. It is about 12 years old and has averaged roughly 823 stars a year. It ranks #114 among JavaScript repositories and #1,225 across all languages on GitHubRepo.

Trending Record

pencil has maintained a continuous presence across global trending indexes, peaking at #3917. Below is the 30-day activity profile:

💡 Overview

pencil is an open-source project written in JavaScript: The Pencil Project's unique mission is to build a free and opensource tool for making diagrams and GUI prototyping that everyone can use. .

Engineered for speed, consistency, and developer ease, it solves common hurdles in drawing, electron, javascript. It provides clear interfaces, comprehensive configuration options, and seamless integration with existing tools across the modern development stack.

⚡ Key Features

1

Optimized execution pipeline written in JavaScript for predictable speed.

2

Zero-friction configuration with comprehensive sensible defaults out of the box.

3

Cross-platform runtime support across Linux, macOS, and Windows environments.

4

Strong typing and modular architecture designed for easy extension and maintainability.

5

Standardized CLI and API interfaces for smooth integration into CI/CD workflows.

6

Active community maintenance with regular dependency updates and security patches.

📥 Installation

terminal
$ npm install pencil

⚙ System Requirements

Platforms

  • • macOS
  • • Linux
  • • Windows

Runtime & Dependencies

Node.js >= 18 or modern Evergreen browser

Architecture

x86_64, ARM64 (Apple Silicon & Graviton)

🧠 How It Works

pencil coordinates its core functionality through a modular JavaScript pipeline. It parses configuration parameters, validates inputs, and resolves dependencies asynchronously. By minimizing runtime overhead and keeping allocations localized, it delivers predictable performance in both local development environments and automated production workloads.

🎯 Production Use Cases

Modern Web Interfaces

Build dynamic, responsive user experiences with component-driven architecture.

Enterprise Design Systems

Standardize design tokens, accessible widgets, and themes across engineering teams.

Interactive Data Dashboards

Render real-time telemetry, user feeds, and analytics with sub-millisecond updates.

Cross-Platform Web Apps

Deploy performant single-page applications optimized for both mobile and desktop browsers.

🚀 Getting Started

1

Install pencil using your package manager: `npm install pencil`

2

Initialize your project workspace or configuration file for pencil.

3

Import pencil into your codebase or invoke it directly from your terminal.

4

Execute your test suite or run `pencil --help` to verify successful setup.

👍 Strengths

Active community backing with 9,875 GitHub stars and verified adoption.
Permissive open-source distribution under the GPL-2.0 license.
Built in JavaScript for high execution speed and developer familiarity.
Cross-platform compatibility across modern Linux, macOS, and Windows environments.
Clean modular design allowing flexible configuration and pipeline integration.

⚠️ Considerations

Requires familiarity with JavaScript and modern CLI workflows.
Ecosystem extensions may require manual configuration depending on environment constraints.
Active development roadmap means breaking API changes may occur across major versions.

⇄ Alternatives & Direct Competitors

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👥 Who Should Use This

Developers and engineering teams building with JavaScript, seeking reliable, tested, and actively maintained tooling for production workloads.

🏆 Nearby in the Rankings

evolus/pencil is currently ranked #1,225 by stars across every repository tracked on GitHubRepo. These are adjacent projects:

RankRepositoryLanguageStarsAction
#1,220 pmndrs/drei JavaScript ★ 9.9K Compare ↗
#1,221 SeaQL/sea-orm Rust ★ 9.9K Compare ↗
#1,222 kanboard/kanboard PHP ★ 9.9K Compare ↗
#1,223 kubernetes/client-go Go ★ 9.9K Compare ↗
#1,224 paramiko/paramiko Python ★ 9.9K Compare ↗
#1,225 evolus/pencil This Project JavaScript ★ 9.9K
#1,226 gruntwork-io/terragrunt Go ★ 9.9K Compare ↗
#1,227 wonderwhy-er/DesktopCommanderMCP TypeScript ★ 9.9K Compare ↗
#1,228 dr5hn/countries-states-cities-database Python ★ 9.9K Compare ↗
#1,229 webdriverio/webdriverio TypeScript ★ 9.8K Compare ↗
#1,229 gorse-io/gorse Go ★ 9.8K Compare ↗
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Frequently Asked Questions

What does pencil do? +

The Pencil Project's unique mission is to build a free and opensource tool for making diagrams and GUI prototyping that everyone can use.

What language is pencil written in? +

The primary language is JavaScript. Topics include: drawing, electron, javascript, mockup, nodejs.

Is pencil actively maintained? +

Yes, the last recorded push was on Oct 10, 2026 with 531 open issues being tracked.

How many stars does pencil have? +

pencil has 9,875 stars and 791 forks on GitHub.

How does pencil rank among GitHub repositories? +

With 9,875 stars, evolus/pencil is ranked #1,225 globally across all repositories tracked on GitHubRepo and #114 among JavaScript projects.

What license is pencil distributed under? +

The repository reports a GPL-2.0 license. Always verify the repository LICENSE file for legal terms.

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