diff --git a/clab/graph.go b/clab/graph.go
index f55994bf1..e178778be 100644
--- a/clab/graph.go
+++ b/clab/graph.go
@@ -273,20 +273,34 @@ func (c *CLab) ServeTopoGraph(tmpl, staticDir, srv string, topoD TopoData) error
 	return http.ListenAndServe(srv, nil)
 }
 
-func (c *CLab) GenerateDrawioDiagram(version string) error {
+func (c *CLab) GenerateDrawioDiagram(version string, additionalFlags []string) error {
 	topoFile := c.TopoPaths.TopologyFilenameBase()
 
-	cmd := exec.Command("sudo", "docker", "run", "-v",
-		fmt.Sprintf("%s:/data", c.TopoPaths.TopologyFileDir()),
+	cmdArgs := []string{
+		"docker", "run",
+		"-v", fmt.Sprintf("%s:/data", c.TopoPaths.TopologyFileDir()),
 		fmt.Sprintf("ghcr.io/srl-labs/clab-io-draw:%s", version),
-		"-i", topoFile)
+		"-i", topoFile,
+	}
+
+	log.Infof("Generating draw.io diagram with version: %s", version)
+
+	// Process additional flags
+	for _, flag := range additionalFlags {
+		parts := strings.Fields(flag)
+		cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, parts...)
+	}
+
+	cmd := exec.Command("sudo", cmdArgs...)
 
 	out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("cmd.CombinedOutput() failed with %s\n", err)
+		log.Errorf("Command execution failed: %v", err)
+		log.Errorf("Command output: %s", string(out))
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to generate diagram: %w\nOutput: %s", err, string(out))
 	}
 
-	log.Infof("Diagram created. %s", out)
+	log.Infof("Diagram created successfully. Output: %s", string(out))
 
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/cmd/graph.go b/cmd/graph.go
index 3e8f129a0..ba2bf6589 100644
--- a/cmd/graph.go
+++ b/cmd/graph.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ var (
 	mermaidDirection string
 	drawio           bool
 	drawioVersion    string
+	drawioArgs       []string
 	staticDir        string
 )
 
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ func graphFn(_ *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 	}
 
 	if drawio {
-		return c.GenerateDrawioDiagram(drawioVersion)
+		return c.GenerateDrawioDiagram(drawioVersion, drawioArgs)
 	}
 
 	gtopo := clab.GraphTopo{
@@ -153,6 +154,8 @@ func init() {
 	graphCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&dot, "dot", "", false, "generate dot file")
 	graphCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&mermaid, "mermaid", "", false, "print mermaid flowchart to stdout")
 	graphCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&mermaidDirection, "mermaid-direction", "", "TD", "specify direction of mermaid dirgram")
+	graphCmd.Flags().StringSliceVar(&drawioArgs, "drawio-args", []string{},
+		"Additional flags to pass to the drawio diagram generation tool (can be specified multiple times)")
 	graphCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&drawio, "drawio", "", false, "generate drawio diagram file")
 	graphCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&drawioVersion, "drawio-version", "", "latest",
 		"version of the clab-io-draw container to use for generating drawio diagram file")
diff --git a/docs/cmd/graph.md b/docs/cmd/graph.md
index 82ec0149b..07aa7c144 100644
--- a/docs/cmd/graph.md
+++ b/docs/cmd/graph.md
@@ -64,6 +64,12 @@ The `group` property set to the predefined value will automatically auto-align t
 
 When `graph` command is called with the `--drawio` flag, containerlab will leverage the [`clab-io-draw`](https://github.com/srl-labs/clab-io-draw) project to generate the drawio file that represents the topology in a graphical form and can be imported into [draw.io](https://draw.io).
 
+You can pass additional arguments to the `clab-io-draw` tool using the `--drawio-args=` flag. For example:
+
+```
+containerlab graph --drawio --drawio-args="--theme nokia_dark --layout horizontal" -t topo.yaml
+```
+
 ### Mermaid
 
 When `graph` is called with the `--mermaid` flag containerlab generates a graph description file in [Mermaid graph format](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/flowchart.html). Several [Markdown renders](https://mermaid.js.org/ecosystem/integrations-community.html) such as Github, Gitlab, and Notion support rendering embeded mermaid graphs in code blocks. If the results of the render are not satisfying the result can be imported into [draw.io](https://draw.io) and further edited.