Minimal TikZ standalone example

This example contains a simple TikZ graphic using the standalone package, i.e. it will be exported to a PDF/DVI where the page just fits the content:

\documentclass[tikz, border=1mm]{standalone}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0,0) node [draw=black] {My text};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

The result looks like this:

Assuming the file is named MyDiagram.tex, you can compile it to PDF using

pdflatex MyDiagram.tex

Note that our example contains a 1mm border by default since this seems to be more suitable for the average usecase than having no border at all. In order to change that, you just need to modify the first line, e.g.

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone} % No border

or

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone, border=5mm} % 5mm border