KaisarCode

fldot - Flow to DOT Converter

fldot is a command-line tool that converts .flow documents into DOT graph syntax. It parses node definitions, inheritance, and link structures to generate a visual representation of the execution flow that can be rendered using Graphviz or other DOT-compatible tools.

CLI

Example CLI interface provided by the application.

Examples

Generate DOT in the same directory (creates example.dot):

./bin/x86_64/linux/fldot -i example.flow

Generate DOT in a specific location:

./bin/x86_64/linux/fldot -i example.flow -o build/output.dot

Render the generated DOT file to PNG using Graphviz:

dot -Tpng example.dot -o example.png

Parameters

Flow Metadata

Flow documents may attach display metadata under the meta namespace:

flow.meta.title=Website Runtime
flow.meta.summary=Registers the listener and dispatches parsed requests.

node.router.meta.title=Request Router
node.router.meta.summary=Extracts request.path from parsed HTTP fields.

fldot builds graph structure from execution fields such as flow.link, node.*.link, node.*.use, and node.*.file. It uses flow.meta.title as the visible graph label, and node.*.meta.title or func.*.meta.title as visible element labels when present. Other metadata fields remain valid Flow data and are safe to keep in input documents; *.meta.summary can later map to DOT tooltip or graph-comment attributes.

Theming

The visual appearance of the generated DOT graphs is fully customizable through the src/theme.h C header file. fldot is built with a sleek, dark KaisarCode product theme by default.

To change background colors, border colors, typography, node shapes, or edge styles, simply modify the macro definitions in src/theme.h and rebuild the project:

#define KCV_BG                    "#1f1f1f"
#define KCV_NODE_FILL             "#111111"
#define KCV_NODE_SHAPE            "box"
#define KCV_ENTRY_EDGE_STYLE      "solid"
#define KCV_FILE_SHAPE            "folder"

Build

Compiled artifacts are generated under bin/{arch}/{platform}/ for the host architecture running the build.

make clean && make

Multiarch Builds

The project is prepared to build artifacts for multiple architectures under bin/{arch}/{platform}/. A plain make builds only the current host architecture, while the targets below build the full matrix or a specific target.

make all
make x86_64/linux
make x86_64/windows
make i686/linux
make i686/windows
make aarch64/linux
make aarch64/android
make armv7/linux
make armv7/android
make armv7hf/linux
make riscv64/linux
make powerpc64le/linux
make mips/linux
make mipsel/linux
make mips64el/linux
make s390x/linux
make loongarch64/linux

Beta Notice

This is a beta project tested only on Debian x86_64. It was created out of a personal need for these tools, but no guarantees are provided regarding its stability or future support. You are free to test it, use it, and modify it as you please.

If you'd like to reach out, you can send an email to [email protected]. Please note that I do not accept pull requests; the goal is to avoid long-term dependency on platforms like GitHub, and I do not maintain fixed infrastructure to guarantee long-term stability for these projects.

Repo

You can download the repository and read the most up-to-date documentation directly from its official source.

GitHub: kaisarcode/fldot

License

This project is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3).