CoDoc
CoDoc is a collaborative document editor that allows multiple users to create, edit, and manage documents in real-time. The platform ensures secure user authentication, provides suggestion features, and supports saving documents in various formats for offline access.
Traditional offline document editors lack real-time collaboration, leading to version control issues, conflicting copies, and inefficient workflows when multiple people work on the same document.
CoDoc provides a web-based, real-time collaborative editor that allows multiple users to edit the same document simultaneously, with changes instantly visible to all participants, eliminating the need for manual merging.
Key Features
Architecture
A client-server architecture built with Next.js for the frontend. Real-time collaboration is powered by LiveBlocks, which manages WebSocket connections and synchronizes document state.
Database Design
Document state and user data are managed and persisted through the LiveBlocks backend service, which acts as the single source of truth.
Real-time Features
Leverages Y.js, a Conflict-Free Replicated Data Type (CRDT), to handle simultaneous edits without conflicts, ensuring data consistency across all clients. This is synchronized via the LiveBlocks platform.
Frontend
Backend & Real-time
Deployment
Conflict-Free Real-Time Editing
Ensuring that simultaneous edits from multiple users don't result in data loss or inconsistencies.
Solution:
Integrated Y.js, a powerful CRDT library that mathematically guarantees convergence of document state without a central server having to resolve conflicts.
State Management for Collaboration
Managing the complex state of a collaborative environment, including user cursors, presence, and live document updates.
Solution:
Utilized the LiveBlocks platform, which provides a fully managed backend and suite of frontend hooks to handle real-time state synchronization and user presence.
Integrating a Rich Text Editor
Building a feature-rich text editor that is compatible with the real-time collaboration backend.
Solution:
Used Tiptap, a headless and extensible editor framework, and connected it to the LiveBlocks/Y.js backend to enable collaborative features on top of a powerful editor.
Timeline
1 months
2024
Team
team of 4