Voidmesh

A small Python 3.12+ library for building and displaying live, Obsidian-inspired force-directed graphs. Values are rendered inside draggable rounded nodes; links act like springs; gravity and repulsion settle the graph into place.

Install

uv add voidmesh

Or with pip:

python -m pip install voidmesh

For local development:

uv sync
uv run voidmesh-demo

Quick start

from voidmesh import Canvas

canvas = Canvas(title="My graph", grid=True)
python = canvas.add_node("Python", color="#fbbf24")
graphs = canvas.add_node("Graphs", color="#a78bfa")
edge = canvas.link(python, graphs, color="#38bdf8")

# Keep executing code while the window stays responsive.
canvas.show(block=False)

canvas.update_node(graphs, value="Live graphs", color="#34d399")
canvas.update_link(edge, color="#fb7185", elasticity=0.06)
canvas.wait()  # Keep the script alive until the window is closed.

All mutating methods update an open window immediately:

third = canvas.add_node("New")
canvas.relink(edge, target=third)
canvas.unlink(edge)  # or canvas.unlink(python, third)
canvas.delete_node(graphs)  # also deletes attached links
canvas.clear()
canvas.close()

Call canvas.show() without arguments for a blocking window. Drag nodes with the left mouse button, pan with the right mouse button, zoom with the wheel, and press Escape to close. fixed=True pins a node after it is dragged. The force center is the origin until fixed nodes exist, then becomes their shared center. There is no artificial limit on graph zoom.

Press E in an open window to export its graph view to voidmesh-export.png at 4K (3840×2160). To choose the output location or a higher resolution:

canvas.export_png("exports/my-graph.png", width=7680, height=4320)

The Controls panel changes center force, repulsion, link force, and link distance while the graph is moving. Drag its heading to reposition it, or click the chevron to collapse it. Press F to hide or show the panel and G to toggle the background grid.

Physics and the grid can also be controlled from Python:

canvas.configure_physics(
    center_force=0.2,
    repel_force=8,
    link_force=0.4,
    link_distance=190,
    damping=0.92,
)
canvas.toggle_grid(True)

The same values can be passed to Canvas(...). Set controls=False for a minimal window without the controls panel. Controls scale automatically with the window; use ui_scale=1.5 (or another positive multiplier) to override their size on a HiDPI display. Graph zoom and UI scale are intentionally independent.

Switch to a deterministic, physics-free hierarchy with layout="tree", the Tree button in the panel, or the T key. Links are interpreted as parent to child in this view. See the bundled example:

uv run python examples/tree_view.py

Fonts, type size, node padding and roundness, link thickness, and grid color can be set on Canvas(...) or changed live with configure_style().

Development

uv run pytest
uv run ruff check .
uv build
uv run mkdocs serve

Complete documentation lives in docs/. Build it with uv run mkdocs build --strict.

Voidmesh is licensed under the MIT License.