---
title: Collaboration
description: Real-time collaborative editing via P2P WebRTC — no server, no account.
---

# Collaboration

Edit designs together in real time. Peers connect directly — no server relays your data, no account required.

## Sharing a Room

1. Click the share button in the top-right corner
2. Copy the generated link (`app.openpencil.dev/share/<room-id>`)
3. Send it to your collaborators

Anyone with the link can join. The room stays active as long as at least one participant has the page open.

## What Syncs

- **Document changes** — every edit (shapes, text, properties, layout) syncs instantly
- **Cursors** — see where each collaborator is pointing, with their name and color
- **Selections** — highlighted selections are visible to everyone
- **Agents** — the built-in AI chat appears as a cursor at the layers it is editing, its outlined label showing a sparkle and a callsign such as *Fern*. The cursor and outline have the color of the person running it, so you can tell whose agent it is. Only its name, kind, model, status, page, position, and edited layers are shared, never prompts or replies.

## Follow Mode

Click a collaborator's avatar in the top bar to follow their viewport. Your canvas pans and zooms to match their view. Click again to stop following.

## How It Works

Peers connect directly via WebRTC — your design data goes straight from browser to browser, never through a central server. The document state uses a CRDT (conflict-free replicated data type), so concurrent edits merge automatically without conflicts.

The room persists locally — if you refresh the page, you rejoin with the same state.

## Tips

- Works in the browser and the desktop app
- Room IDs are cryptographically random — only people with the link can join
- Stale cursors are cleaned up automatically when someone disconnects