GAPHOR(1)

📦 version 3.3.2, in ubuntu stonking

💖 GAPHOR 💖

okay bestie, so gaphor is a Simple GUI UML and SysML modeling tool — that's the whole vibe in one line, and honestly? it ate. this page lives in the User Commands chapter of the manual, so you know it's official official. 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

gaphor [-h] [-V] [COMMAND [OPTIONS] [ARGUMENTS...]]

like. that's the whole summoning ritual. no cap. ✨

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So Gaphor is a simple-but-actually-super-powerful modeling tool for UML, SysML, RAAML and C4 — yes, all four, she's versatile like that. 👑

It hooks you up with two things:

  • a whole graphical interface (the pretty part 🎨)
  • a collection of command-line utilities (the terminal-girl part 💅)

Here's the tea: if you don't pass any command at all, the GUI — that's gui — just starts up on its own. No arguments, no problem, she's already opening. 🫶

Also, at some point you're gonna need to set up that schema, once, with:

gaphor install-schemas

and if you're installing it system-wide, do it as root. (yes, that root. the sudo one. respect her. 🙈)

✨ OPTIONS (global) ✨

Heads up bestie, these ones are global, which means they have to show up before any command. Put them after the command and it's giving... nothing. 💀

  • -h, --help — pops up a help message and dips out.
  • -V, --version — prints the version number, then exits. iconic.

👑 COMMANDS 👑

🎀 gui [-g] [--gapplication-service] [model ...]

Launches the graphical user interface. main character entry point fr fr.

  • -g, --greeter — shows the new model greeter dialog (this is the move when you're not handing her a model file).
  • --gapplication-service — internal flag for GApplication activation. that's it, that's the whole thing, don't worry about it.
  • model — one or more Gaphor model files to open.

🎀 export [-u] [-o dir] [-f fmt] [-r regex] model [model ...]

Exports diagrams from a model out to files. very "send it to me in a usable format" of her. 💌

  • -u, --use-underscores — swaps spaces for underscores in the output filenames. aesthetic + also saves you from quoting hell.
  • -o, --dir directory — output directory (default is the current directory, chill of her).
  • -f, --format format — output format: pdf (that's the default), svg, png, etc.
  • -r, --regex regex — only exports diagrams whose qualified name matches the regex, and it's case-insensitive. picky in a good way. 🧚

🎀 html-report [-o dir] model [model ...]

Generates an HTML report from a model. yes ma'am, documentation that slaps. 📄✨

  • -o, --dir directory — output directory for the report.

🎀 exec script

Executes a Python script inside the Gaphor environment (so you get access to the Gaphor API 🔥).

(No extra options beyond the global logging flags. that's the whole row.)

🎀 install-schemas [--schemas-dir path] [--glib-compile-schemas path]

Installs the GSettings schema that you need for saving preferences. do this once and never think about it again. 🧘

  • --schemas-dir path — directory to install the XML schema file.
  • --glib-compile-schemas path — path to the glib-compile-schemas tool.

🎀 self-test [-V]

Runs Gaphor's internal self-tests and exits. she's doing her own vibe check. 🌈

  • -V, --version — prints the version and exits (overrides test execution — so no tests run, just the version, okay?).

🫶 the common options

Okay so every single command also accepts these, and you drop them directly after the command name:

  • -v, --verbose — verbose logging. she's telling you everything.
  • -q, --quiet — suppresses informational messages, so you only see warnings and errors. minimalist queen.
  • --profiler — runs the command under Python's cProfile profiler. for when you need to know where the time went. ⏱️

🍓 FILES 🍓

  • ~/.config/gaphor — per-user configuration. your personal little corner of Gaphor. 💜

🌸 Upstream Documents 🌸

You can find the upstream documentation at https://docs.gaphor.org/en/latest. bookmark it bestie, iykyk. 🔖

😭 BUGS 😭

Found something busted? Report issues at https://github.com/gaphor/gaphor/issues. they wanna hear it, fr fr.

💅 AUTHORS 💅

Arjan Molenaar and contributors. See https://gaphor.org.

Apache License 2.0.

💀 quick reminder for the group chat: global options go before the command, common options go right after the command name. get that order wrong and it's not gonna work. no cap.

okay that's the whole page!! 🎀 and for the cute sign-off: this is Gaphor, dated 2026-05-08 — so if you're reading this in the future, hi, hope you're slaying. bye bestie, go model something iconic. ✨💖🦋

📦 where this page comes from