Lucidchart SDK Patterns

Overview

Lucid's REST API uses OAuth 2.0 with versioned

Lucid-Api-Version

headers to manage documents, pages, shapes, data-linked fields, and collaborative comments. A structured SDK client is essential because the API requires version negotiation on every request, returns deeply nested shape tree hierarchies, and enforces document-level locking for concurrent edits. These patterns provide OAuth token lifecycle management, typed shape and document models, fluent query building for filtered shape searches, and mock factories for diagramming test scenarios.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+, TypeScript 5+

• LUCID_CLIENT_ID

  and

  LUCID_CLIENT_SECRET

  environment variables (OAuth 2.0 app credentials)

• LUCID_ACCESS_TOKEN

  or refresh token flow for per-user access

• axios

  or

  node-fetch

  for HTTP transport

Singleton Client

interface LucidConfig {
  clientId: string;
  clientSecret: string;
  accessToken: string;
  apiVersion?: string;
  baseUrl?: string;
}

let client: LucidClient | null = null;

export function getLucidClient(overrides?: Partial<LucidConfig>): LucidClient {
  if (!client) {
    const config: LucidConfig = {
      clientId: process.env.LUCID_CLIENT_ID ?? '',
      clientSecret: process.env.LUCID_CLIENT_SECRET ?? '',
      accessToken: process.env.LUCID_ACCESS_TOKEN ?? '',
      apiVersion: '2',
      baseUrl: 'https://api.lucid.co',
      ...overrides,
    };
    if (!config.accessToken) throw new Error('LUCID_ACCESS_TOKEN is required');
    client = new LucidClient(config);
  }
  return client;
}

Error Wrapper

interface LucidApiError { status: number; errorCode: string; message: string; documentId?: string; }

async function safeLucid<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
  try { return await fn(); }
  catch (err: any) {
    const parsed: LucidApiError = {
      status: err.response?.status ?? 500,
      errorCode: err.response?.data?.errorCode ?? 'INTERNAL',
      message: err.response?.data?.message ?? err.message,
      documentId: err.response?.data?.documentId,
    };
    if (parsed.status === 429) {
      const wait = parseInt(err.response?.headers?.['x-ratelimit-reset'] ?? '10', 10);
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, wait * 1000));
      return fn();
    }
    if (parsed.errorCode === 'DOCUMENT_LOCKED') throw new Error(`Document ${parsed.documentId} is locked by another editor`);
    if (parsed.status === 403) throw new Error(`Insufficient permissions: ${parsed.message}`);
    throw new Error(`Lucid ${parsed.errorCode} (${parsed.status}): ${parsed.message}`);
  }
}

Request Builder

class ShapeQueryBuilder {
  private params: Record<string, string> = {};
  inDocument(docId: string) { this.params.documentId = docId; return this; }
  onPage(pageId: string) { this.params.pageId = pageId; return this; }
  ofType(shapeType: string) { this.params.className = shapeType; return this; }
  withDataField(key: string, value: string) { this.params[`data.${key}`] = value; return this; }
  limit(n: number) { this.params.limit = String(Math.min(n, 200)); return this; }
  offset(n: number) { this.params.offset = String(n); return this; }
  build(): URLSearchParams { return new URLSearchParams(this.params); }
}

Response Types

interface LucidDocument { id: string; title: string; editUrl: string; pageCount: number; lastModified: string; owner: string; }
interface LucidPage { id: string; title: string; index: number; width: number; height: number; }
interface LucidShape { id: string; className: string; boundingBox: { x: number; y: number; w: number; h: number }; text: string; dataFields: Record<string, string>; }
interface LucidComment { id: string; author: string; body: string; shapeId?: string; resolved: boolean; createdAt: string; }

Middleware Pattern

type Middleware = (req: RequestInit, next: () => Promise<Response>) => Promise<Response>;

const versionMiddleware: Middleware = (req, next) => {
  req.headers = { ...req.headers as Record<string, string>, 'Lucid-Api-Version': '2' };
  return next();
};
const oauthRefreshMiddleware = (refreshToken: string): Middleware => async (req, next) => {
  const res = await next();
  if (res.status === 401) {
    const tokens = await refreshOAuthToken(refreshToken);
    (req.headers as Record<string, string>).Authorization = `Bearer ${tokens.access_token}`;
    return next();
  }
  return res;
};

Testing Utilities

function mockDocument(overrides?: Partial<LucidDocument>): LucidDocument {
  return { id: 'doc_abc123', title: 'Architecture Diagram', editUrl: 'https://lucid.app/documents/edit/doc_abc123', pageCount: 3, lastModified: '2025-06-01T12:00:00Z', owner: 'user@example.com', ...overrides };
}
function mockShape(overrides?: Partial<LucidShape>): LucidShape {
  return { id: 'shape_001', className: 'ProcessBlock', boundingBox: { x: 100, y: 50, w: 200, h: 100 }, text: 'API Gateway', dataFields: {}, ...overrides };
}
function mockComment(shapeId: string): LucidComment {
  return { id: 'cmt_xyz', author: 'reviewer@example.com', body: 'Needs error path', shapeId, resolved: false, createdAt: '2025-06-02T09:00:00Z' };
}

Error Handling

Pattern	When to Use	Example
Version negotiation	API returns 400 on outdated version header	Catch version mismatch, retry with server-suggested version
Document lock retry	409 DOCUMENT_LOCKED during shape updates	Exponential backoff up to 3 retries, then surface to user
OAuth token refresh	401 on any endpoint	Use refresh token middleware, update stored access token
Permission escalation	403 on shared document operations	Check document sharing settings before write operations
Shape tree validation	Creating shapes with invalid parent references	Validate page and container IDs exist before shape POST

Resources

• Lucid API Reference

Next Steps

Apply in

lucidchart-core-workflow-a

.