gbdraw

gbdraw is a command-line and browser-based tool for publication-quality genome diagrams. It accepts GenBank/DDBJ flatfiles or GFF3 + FASTA pairs and produces circular or linear plots in SVG, PNG, PDF, EPS, or PS.

Interactive SVG output gallery

Features

• Circular and linear genome diagrams from annotated sequence files
• Comparative genomics tracks from BLAST outfmt 6 or 7
• Reusable coordinate- and feature-targeted annotation tracks
• Browser-based GUI at gbdraw.app and local GUI via gbdraw gui
• Fine-grained control over colors, labels, legends, and track layout
• Export to SVG, PNG, PDF, EPS, and PS (PNG, PDF, EPS, and PS require CairoSVG)

Documentation

Guide	Description
Full documentation	Main entry point for the published docs set.
Installation	Hosted app, Bioconda, and local development installation.
Quickstart	Create a circular plot from a GenBank record.
Tutorials	Numbered command-line guides, web app tutorials, and related workflows.
Recipes	Copy-paste command patterns for common tasks.
CLI Reference	Current command help for the CLI.
Gallery	Example plots and commands.
FAQ	Common questions and known limitations.
About	Citation information and project background.

Use without local installation

The hosted web app runs entirely in your browser:

https://gbdraw.app/

Uploaded genomic data stays on your machine. The hosted site uses Google Analytics 4 for aggregate page-usage metrics; gbdraw does not send uploaded genome files or generated diagrams to Google Analytics.

Local installation

For regular use, Bioconda is the main installation path:

mamba create -n gbdraw -c conda-forge -c bioconda gbdraw
conda activate gbdraw
gbdraw -h
gbdraw gui

For development from source:

git clone https://github.com/satoshikawato/gbdraw.git
cd gbdraw
python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"

If you need PNG/PDF/EPS/PS export from a source install, add the optional export dependency:

python -m pip install -e ".[dev,export]"

See Installation for details and platform notes.

Bug reports and suggestions

Please open an issue if you find a bug or want to propose an improvement:

https://github.com/satoshikawato/gbdraw/issues

How to cite

If you use gbdraw in your research, please cite the preprint:

Kawato, S. (2026). gbdraw: a genome diagram generator for microbes and organelles. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.07.716863