FAQ and troubleshooting
Questions
Section titled “Questions”Is Larrygram ready for my work?
Section titled “Is Larrygram ready for my work?”Not yet. Larrygram is pre-alpha: it opens, edits and saves .vsdx drawings, but visual fidelity is approximate and many commands are not built. Keep a copy of important files while you try it.
Is it free?
Section titled “Is it free?”Yes. Larrygram is free and open source under the MIT license. The libvisio-derived .vsd importer will be MPL-2.0.
Does it work with Microsoft Visio files?
Section titled “Does it work with Microsoft Visio files?”Larrygram opens .vsdx, .vssx and .vstx files and saves .vsdx. It keeps parts of the file it does not understand yet, so saving does not throw them away. Binary .vsd files are planned (read-only).
Is Larrygram made by Microsoft?
Section titled “Is Larrygram made by Microsoft?”No. Larrygram is an independent, clean-room project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. It is built from public specifications and observed behavior, and contains no Microsoft code, icons, fonts, stencils or templates.
When is the first release?
Section titled “When is the first release?”The first release will be 1.0.0-alpha.1. There is no date yet. Watch the changelog.
Which layout should I choose?
Section titled “Which layout should I choose?”Choose the one you are used to: Panel Modern for tabs and a command bar, Panel Classic for menus and toolbars. You can switch at any time. See the Interface tour.
Can I script it or use it with AI agents?
Section titled “Can I script it or use it with AI agents?”Yes, with the command-line tool, which inspects, renders and exports drawings. A JSON control channel and an MCP server for agents are planned.
Why is it called Larrygram?
Section titled “Why is it called Larrygram?”It is named for Larry Jeffus, an engineer who could not read as a child because of severe dyslexia and went on to write more than 40 books. Read the story.
How is it built?
Section titled “How is it built?”In Rust, by AI coding agents working under written project rules, with every change reviewed and gated by tests. See About.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”The build fails
Section titled “The build fails”See Common errors in the installation guide.
A shape is blank
Section titled “A shape is blank”The shape’s geometry depends on formulas that have no saved values in the file. Larrygram does not evaluate formulas yet; this is a known limit until the ShapeSheet engine is wired in.
A command is greyed out
Section titled “A command is greyed out”Many controls are listed but not built yet. Their tooltip says “Not yet implemented”. Others need a selection first.
A file looks different from the original
Section titled “A file looks different from the original”Rendering is approximate in the alpha. Please report it with the file if you can share it.
I chose the wrong layout
Section titled “I chose the wrong layout”Change it in Options, or open the welcome wizard again from Help > Welcome.