Terrastruct's AutoLayout Algorithm (TALA) is now open-source under MPL-2.0; it's an orthogonal layout engine for software-architecture diagrams that emphasizes aesthetic objectives (symmetry, clustering, flow), supports fixed or partial node positioning, and is bundled in D2 v0.9.0. The algorithm trades deterministic stability and DAG-oriented layouts for more whiteboard-like arrangements, uses randomized seeds, and can scale nonlinearly on large diagrams (benchmarks linked).

A roboticist describes trying to offload visual debugging to an LLM-based coding assistant but finds language models lack practical understanding and the GUI/tooling is too limited and slow, so the automated loop fails and they revert to manual debugging.