Does this need to be shipped with a renderer? A better question is, are the node layout instructions ultimately being translated into absolute positions?

If so, you could target any number of render backends, keeping the same simple interface for your agent, avoiding the bazillion problems rendering engines face to work well across the ecosystem.

Great idea! Yep, the layout instructions are translated into absolute positions. The one gap right now is just that the CLI doesn't give you a way to say "just calculate the positions, stop there, and give me JSON". The logic basically exists to do that, with a minor tweak to the CLI to allow that.

I'll add that to my Reladraw todo list!