Object "%s" has "near" set to another object, but layout eng

Error message

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.

What it means

FeatureSupportCheck rejects graphs where an object's near is set to another object's key while the layout engine only supports constant near values (no NEAR_OBJECT feature).

Source

Thrown at d2plugin/plugin_features.go:55

	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
			}
			if !e.Src.IsContainer() && !e.Dst.IsContainer() {
				continue
			}
			if e.Src == e.Dst {
				return fmt.Errorf(`Connection "%s" is a self loop on a container, but layout engine "%s" does not support this. See https://d2lang.com/tour/layouts/#layout-specific-functionality for more.`, e.AbsID(), info.Name)
			}
			if e.Src.IsDescendantOf(e.Dst) || e.Dst.IsDescendantOf(e.Src) {
				return fmt.Errorf(`Connection "%s" goes from a container to a descendant, but layout engine "%s" does not support this. See https://d2lang.com/tour/layouts/#layout-specific-functionality for more.`, e.AbsID(), info.Name)

View on GitHub (pinned to 0d69dca6f5)

Solutions

Switch to ELK, which supports object-relative near
Remove the near attribute and use constant positions
Reorder declaration or restructure containers to get desired placement

Example fix

// before
b.near: a
// after
b.near: top-center // or use layout: elk

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

for _, obj := range g.Objects {
	if obj.NearKey != nil && engineName != "elk" {
		if isKey, _ := g.Root.HasChild(d2graph.Key(obj.NearKey)); isKey {
			// object-near unsupported; rewrite
		}
	}
}

Try / catch

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

Prevention

Use constant near values (top-center etc.) with non-ELK engines
Keep object-relative positioning restricted to ELK diagrams
Validate diagrams with FeatureSupportCheck before layout

When it happens

Trigger: obj.NearKey is a key that resolves to another object in the graph root (g.Root.HasChild succeeds) and the engine lacks NEAR_OBJECT.

Common situations: Writing `b.near: a` to position b relative to a while using dagre, which only supports near: top-center style constants.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of d2lang/d2@0d69dca6f5 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/84eb61597d7f7377. Report an issue: GitHub.