Object "%s" has attribute "width" and/or "height" set, but l

Error message

Object "%s" has attribute "width" and/or "height" set, but layout engine "%s" does not support dimensions set on containers. See https://d2lang.com/tour/layouts/#layout-specific-functionality for more.

What it means

FeatureSupportCheck rejects graphs where a container object has explicit width/height set, but the layout engine did not declare the CONTAINER_DIMENSIONS feature. Engines that lay out containers automatically cannot honor forced container dimensions.

Source

Thrown at d2plugin/plugin_features.go:47

	if info.Features == nil {
		return nil
	}

	featureMap := make(map[PluginFeature]struct{}, len(info.Features))
	for _, f := range info.Features {
		featureMap[f] = struct{}{}
	}

	for _, obj := range g.Objects {
		if obj.Top != nil || obj.Left != nil {
			if _, ok := featureMap[TOP_LEFT]; !ok {
				return fmt.Errorf(`Object "%s" has attribute "top" and/or "left" set, but layout engine "%s" does not support locked positions. See https://d2lang.com/tour/layouts/#layout-specific-functionality for more.`, obj.AbsID(), info.Name)
			}
		}
		if (obj.WidthAttr != nil || obj.HeightAttr != nil) &&
			len(obj.ChildrenArray) > 0 && !obj.IsGridDiagram() {
			if _, ok := featureMap[CONTAINER_DIMENSIONS]; !ok {
				return fmt.Errorf(`Object "%s" has attribute "width" and/or "height" set, but layout engine "%s" does not support dimensions set on containers. See https://d2lang.com/tour/layouts/#layout-specific-functionality for more.`, obj.AbsID(), info.Name)
			}
		}

		if obj.NearKey != nil {
			_, isKey := g.Root.HasChild(d2graph.Key(obj.NearKey))
			if isKey {
				if _, ok := featureMap[NEAR_OBJECT]; !ok {
					return fmt.Errorf(`Object "%s" has "near" set to another object, but layout engine "%s" only supports constant values for "near". See https://d2lang.com/tour/layouts/#layout-specific-functionality for more.`, obj.AbsID(), info.Name)
				}
			}
		}
	}
	if _, ok := featureMap[DESCENDANT_EDGES]; !ok {
		for _, e := range g.Edges {
			// descendant edges are ok in sequence diagrams
			if e.Src.OuterSequenceDiagram() != nil || e.Dst.OuterSequenceDiagram() != nil {
				continue
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to 0d69dca6f5)

Solutions

Remove width/height from containers and let the engine size them
Switch to a layout engine supporting container dimensions (e.g. ELK)
Convert the container to a grid diagram (grid-rows/grid-columns), which is exempt

Example fix

// before
container: { width: 500; a; b }
// after
container: { a; b } // or use layout: elk

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

for _, obj := range g.Objects {
	if (obj.WidthAttr != nil || obj.HeightAttr != nil) && len(obj.ChildrenArray) > 0 && !obj.IsGridDiagram() && engineName != "elk" {
		// strip width/height or switch engine
	}
}

Try / catch

if err := engine.FeatureSupportCheck(ctx, g); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("container dimensions unsupported: %w", err)
}

Prevention

Avoid explicit sizes on containers unless using ELK
Prefer grid layouts for fixed-size containers
Call FeatureSupportCheck in CI for authored diagrams

When it happens

Trigger: An object with children (a container, non-grid) has WidthAttr or HeightAttr set and the engine lacks CONTAINER_DIMENSIONS.

Common situations: Setting explicit sizes on boxes that contain other boxes while using dagre; diagrams authored for ELK reused with another engine.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of d2lang/d2@0d69dca6f5 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2f289973b36fb4c1. Report an issue: GitHub.