CloudDocs: Collaborative Document Editor
Building a real-time collaborative document editor that enables teams to work together seamlessly with rich text formatting, inline commenting, and intelligent conflict resolution.
The Challenge
Real-time Synchronization
Needed to ensure that edits from multiple users don't conflict and that all clients stay synchronized without excessive bandwidth usage.
Performance at Scale
Large documents (100+ pages) caused performance degradation and slow initial load times, affecting user experience.
Version History Storage
Storing complete document snapshots for every change was consuming excessive database storage and affecting query performance.
Connection Management
Maintaining stable WebSocket connections across network interruptions and server restarts without losing data.
Core Features
Real-time Collaboration
Multiple users can edit the same document simultaneously with instant synchronization. Changes appear in real-time with visible cursor positions and user presence indicators.
Rich Text Editor
Full-featured editor with markdown shortcuts, formatting options, tables, code blocks, embedded images, and keyboard shortcuts for power users.
Inline Comments
Users can highlight text and add comments, mention team members, and have threaded discussions directly within the document context.
Version History
Complete revision history with the ability to view, compare, and restore any previous version. Automatic snapshots every 5 minutes and on major changes.
Conflict Resolution
Intelligent operational transformation ensures that concurrent edits don't conflict. The system automatically merges changes and maintains document consistency.
Access Control
Granular permissions system with view-only, comment, and edit access levels. Share documents with specific users or generate public links.
Technical Architecture
Technology Stack
Implementation Timeline
Architecture Design & Setup
Designed the real-time collaboration architecture, chose Y.js CRDT for conflict resolution, and set up the Next.js project with WebSocket server integration.
Rich Text Editor Integration
Integrated Tiptap editor with custom extensions for collaborative editing. Implemented markdown shortcuts and formatting toolbar.
Real-time Sync Engine
Built WebSocket connection manager with reconnection logic. Implemented delta-based updates to minimize bandwidth usage.
Version History System
Developed hybrid storage approach with full snapshots every 50 changes and delta patches in between, reducing storage by 80%.
Performance Optimization
Implemented lazy loading with virtualization for large documents. Optimized ProseMirror document structure and added efficient change detection.
Results & Impact
User Adoption
Deployed to 500+ team members across the organization within the first month. Became the primary documentation tool, replacing Google Docs for internal use.
Performance
Sub-50ms synchronization latency for real-time edits. Successfully handles documents up to 500 pages with 50+ concurrent editors without performance degradation.
Reliability
Zero data loss incidents since launch. 99.9% uptime with automatic failover and recovery mechanisms. Successfully recovered from all network partition scenarios.
User Feedback
"CloudDocs has completely transformed how our distributed team collaborates on documentation. The real-time editing is seamless, and we've never lost a single change." - Sarah Johnson, Product Manager