new-diagram

Create a New TikZ Diagram

Scaffold a diagram from templates/tikz-snippets/, check it against the prevention rules, compile standalone, run the reviewer with measurement citations, and loop until the diagram passes. Use this instead of writing TikZ from scratch; the snippets embed the invariants that tikz-prevention.md requires.

Inputs

• $0 (optional) — snippet name (without .tex). One of the filenames in templates/tikz-snippets/. If omitted, list the gallery and ask the user to pick.
• $1 (optional) — output path. Defaults to Figures/new_diagram.tex — ask the user if this target exists so we don't clobber.

Workflow

Step 1: Pick a snippet

ls -1 templates/tikz-snippets/*.tex

Current gallery (see templates/tikz-snippets/README.md for descriptions):

• dag-basic — 3-node causal DAG (X → Y with confounder U)
• dag-mediation — X → M → Y with direct path
• did-two-period — two-period difference-in-differences
• event-study — event-time coefficients with 95% CIs
• timeline — horizontal timeline with staggered events
• regression-scatter — scatter + OLS fit + confidence band
• flowchart-3step — vertical flow with decision diamond
• supply-demand — supply/demand with shifted demand

If $0 is not one of these, or is omitted, ask the user which to use.

Step 2: Copy the snippet to the output path

SRC="templates/tikz-snippets/$0.tex"
DST="${1:-Figures/new_diagram.tex}"

# Confirm before overwriting
if [ -f "$DST" ]; then
  echo "Output path already exists: $DST"
  # Ask the user whether to overwrite. Do NOT clobber silently.
fi

mkdir -p "$(dirname "$DST")"
cp "$SRC" "$DST"

Step 3: Edit the content to fit the user's intent

Ask the user what the diagram should show. Edit $DST with the Edit tool:

1. Update the comment block at the top so the intent sentence matches the user's goal.
2. Update the coordinate map comment if coordinates change.
3. Rename nodes and edit labels. Keep node style (dag-node, flow-node, etc.) unless the meaning actually changes.
4. Do not add a bare scale=X to the tikzpicture options. Coordinates shrink, text does not — collisions follow. Allowed forms: scale=X, every node/.style={scale=X} or scale=X, transform shape. See tikz-prevention.md P3 for the full rule and tikz-visual-quality.md for the scale=1.1 convention.
5. Every new edge label must carry a directional keyword (above, below, left, right, above left, etc.). midway alone is a path position, not a direction — P4 violation.