What is TheOneFile used for?

TheOneFile is a self-contained, offline-first HTML tool for diagramming networks, smart homes, plays and mind maps with encryption, animation and optional multiplayer. It is a good fit for homelab and network documentation, and air-gapped or disaster-recovery runbooks.

Is TheOneFile open source?

Yes. TheOneFile is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at gelatinescreams/The-One-File.

Yes. TheOneFile is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host TheOneFile?

Yes. TheOneFile can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is TheOneFile an alternative to?

TheOneFile is an open-source alternative to Microsoft Visio, Lucidchart, Creately and SmartDraw. Other open-source alternatives to Microsoft Visio include Drawnix and draw.io.

Is TheOneFile actively maintained?

The most recent commit to TheOneFile was on 12 June 2026. The project has 550 stars on GitHub.

TheOneFile: open-source alternative to Microsoft Visio

About TheOneFile

TheOneFile is a visual planning and replay environment that lives in a single HTML file. It lets you map anything made of nodes and connections, such as networks, smart homes, sports plays, mind maps, facilities and infrastructure, and it works offline, opens in a browser and saves changes back into itself.

The core edition offers shapes, lines and full styling, animated zones, replay video export and encryption of saved data. A Networkening edition adds live status monitoring and icon sets from selfh.st, Material Design Icons and Simple Icons while remaining a single file. TheOneFile Verse is a Docker-based wrapper that adds real-time collaboration so multiple users can create, edit and share diagrams together.

Online demos exist for corporate and homelab examples, and the repository topics point to use as air-gapped or break-glass documentation, with OIDC and SSO also mentioned. The repository metadata lists the license as Other, so check the license file for the exact terms.

Key features

Single self-contained HTML file
Offline-first, saves into itself
Animated zones and replay video export
Encrypted diagrams
Live status monitoring in Networkening edition
Real-time multiplayer through Docker-based Verse

Good fit for

→Homelab and network documentation
→Air-gapped or disaster-recovery runbooks

Built with: HTML
Tags: network-diagram; diagramming; offline-first; self-hosted; encryption; homelab; documentation; mind-map

TheOneFile: questions and answers

What is TheOneFile used for?: TheOneFile is a self-contained, offline-first HTML tool for diagramming networks, smart homes, plays and mind maps with encryption, animation and optional multiplayer. It is a good fit for homelab and network documentation, and air-gapped or disaster-recovery runbooks.
Is TheOneFile open source?: Yes. TheOneFile is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at gelatinescreams/The-One-File.
Is TheOneFile free?: Yes. TheOneFile is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host TheOneFile?: Yes. TheOneFile can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is TheOneFile an alternative to?: TheOneFile is an open-source alternative to Microsoft Visio, Lucidchart, Creately and SmartDraw. Other open-source alternatives to Microsoft Visio include Drawnix and draw.io.
Is TheOneFile actively maintained?: The most recent commit to TheOneFile was on 12 June 2026. The project has 550 stars on GitHub.