Having an Import from clipboard would truly make this a remarkable app.
I tried generating the json from the ascii exported to the clipboard but see why this could get very tricky. So, I added an Export (JSON) to file and Import (JSON) from file and placed them in a More Popup component in which I put the existing export button, so the menu bar does not get too crowded. (for code see (1)) -
This now allows me to save the json and import/edit it at a later time - no short url needed and the data stays private.
Your code was well laid out and deepseek was able to make all the changes error-free.
(1) https://github.com/ssr1ram/cascii-core/tree/more-export-impo...
This might break state for the online version, but I can do some tweaks and get it merged if you open the PR.
to be clear, the short url feature is useful in that other people can easily edit / update diagrams they see referenced in code comments. If privacy is a concern and you're not distributing the diagram, then indeed exporting JSON is a good way to go.
Maybe base64 encoded metadata under the diagram? Maybe encode in non-printable characters?
Maybe just use non-printable characters to hint where the corners of objects are?
Perhaps a good middle ground would just be offering the gzip dump.