How can I set the overall spacing for block diagrams?

[muteboy]

I have a simple block diagram in Obsidian, with arrows between the blocks. The blocks are so close together the arrows are almost invisible.
How can I set an overall spacing for the grid of blocks?
I know I can add "space" blocks, but that would mean having to add columns, rows and spaces throughout.

Example of desired diagram:

block
columns:3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
A --> B
B --> D
H --> I

With "space" blocks it would be:

block
columns: 5
A space B space C
space:5
D space E space F
space:5
G space H space I
A --> B
B --> D
H --> I

In D2 I can set the grid spacing. Can I do it in Mermaid?

[mg1986jp]

There isn't a dedicated "spacing" config for block diagrams right now. The space blocks you mentioned are pretty much the intended approach.

One option that might help without adding explicit spacer blocks — you can try using the %%{init: {'block': {'padding': 20}}}%% directive at the top of your diagram. I'm not 100% sure padding is exposed for block diagrams specifically, but it works for some other diagram types.

If that doesn't work, your best bet is probably using CSS to adjust the spacing if you're rendering in a web context. The SVG output uses g elements with transform attributes, and you could scale/translate those.

In Obsidian specifically, you could add a CSS snippet that targets the mermaid block diagram elements to add some margin between them.