System Design10 July 202610 min read

Designing a Real-Time Collaborative Whiteboard canvas with WebSockets & Yjs

Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) powering low-latency multi-user canvas state synchronization.

Designing a Real-Time Collaborative Whiteboard canvas with WebSockets & Yjs Cover

Why Central Lock Models Fail Real-Time Editing

When multiple users move canvas elements simultaneously, central server locks introduce noticeable cursor lag. Yjs CRDTs merge state vectors deterministically on each client.

References & Further Reading:

Yjs CRDT Framework Documentation

#System Design #developerOS #Next.js

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