SVG.js — lightweight SVG manipulation & animation library.

SVG.js — lightweight SVG manipulation & animation library. Zero dependencies, chainable API, full SVG spec coverage. Create/position/animate shapes (rect/circle/ellipse/line/polyline/polygon/path), text, images, groups, gradients, masks, patterns, text paths.

SVG.js

Zero-dependency SVG manipulation and animation. npm install @svgdotjs/svg.js or import { SVG } from '@svgdotjs/svg.js'

Use Cases

Use when drawing SVG, animating vector graphics, building data visualizations, creating SVG-based UI components, or manipulating SVG DOM.

Core API

SVG() — entry point for everything: create doc, get from DOM, create from fragment:

js

const draw = SVG().addTo('body').size(300, 300)  // SVG doc MUST have explicit size()
const rect = SVG('#myRect')                       // get from DOM
const el = SVG('<circle>')                        // create from fragment

Chainable — every setter returns this:

js

draw.rect(100, 100).fill('#f06').stroke({ width: 2, color: '#000' }).move(50, 50)

// .animate() starts animation chain, returns SVG.Runner (NOT the element)
rect.animate(1000).move(200, 200).fill('#0f0')
rect.animate({ duration: 2000, delay: 500, times: 3 }).rotate(45)
// Sequence: rect.animate().fill('#f03').animate().dmove(50, 50)

Quick example:

js

import { SVG } from '@svgdotjs/svg.js'
const draw = SVG().addTo('body').size(400, 300)
draw.rect(100, 100).fill('#f06').move(50, 50)
draw.circle(50).fill('#0f0').center(200, 150)
draw.text('Hello').font({ family: 'Arial', size: 24 }).move(50, 200)

Progressive References

• Shapes: rect/circle/ellipse/line/polyline/polygon/path → references/shapes.md
• Text, images, masks, gradients, patterns → references/text-image.md
• Positioning, sizing, attr, transforms, tree manipulation → references/manipulating.md
• Animation, Runner, Timeline, easing, controllers → references/animating.md
• Containers: groups, nested SVG, defs, symbols, links → references/containers.md
• Events, custom events, namespaces → references/events.md
• Import/export, extend, subclass → references/utilities.md
• Color, Matrix, Point, Box, List, PointArray, PathArray → references/classes.md

Gotchas

1. SVG doc must have explicit size() — defaults to 0×0 without it
2. .animate() returns Runner, not element — chain .animate() again for sequencing
3. Positioning works on ALL elements — rect.cx(50) works though cx isn't native to rect
4. Groups have no geometry — no x/y/w/h; use nested() for positioned containers
5. Text needs explicit newlines — SVG has no flowing text; use \n or tspan().newLine()
6. Path animation needs same command structure — both paths must have identical M/C/S commands
7. css() ≠ attr() — css() sets inline styles, attr() sets SVG attributes
8. First SVG() call creates invisible parser <svg> — normal, documented in FAQ