Real-Time Collaboration on Boards

StretchWire boards support real-time collaboration — multiple people editing the same board together, with changes saved automatically as versions. This article explains how live sessions work and how to collaborate effectively and securely.

How live editing works

When you open a board in the canvas editor, StretchWire joins a secure live room dedicated to that specific board. Everyone who opens the same board joins the same room and works against one shared document, so edits appear to collaborators as they happen rather than after a manual refresh.

Behind the scenes, opening a board mints a short-lived room token authorized for exactly that board. The token is scoped, time-limited (it refreshes automatically during an active session), and never grants access to any other board or organization.

Join a board room

1. Open the board you want to work on (from Boards, Recent, or the command palette).
2. The editor connects you to that board's live room automatically — there's no separate "start collaboration" step.
3. Have teammates open the same board and they join the same room.
4. Edit together; press Esc or Close to leave the room and return to the launcher.

What collaborators see

Everyone in the room works against the same live document. As blocks are placed, moved, resized, or edited, the shared state updates for all participants. Because the session targets one board, teammates on different boards don't interfere with each other — each board is its own room.

Autosave and version capture

You don't have to remember to save during a live session. Autosaves from a session are captured as board versions, building an ongoing history automatically. That means:

• You always have recent restore points, even mid-session.
• The board's last-updated timestamp stays current, keeping it at the top of Recent.
• You can still take deliberate, named snapshots at milestones for a cleaner history (see Importing and version snapshots).

Security and scoping

Collaboration is locked down by design:

• Organization scope. On the workspace surface, a session is limited to your organization's boards. You can't join a room for a board outside your org.
• Board scope. A room token authorizes only the exact board you opened. A mismatched or reused token is rejected.
• Time-limited tokens. Room tokens are short-lived and refresh during active use, so a captured token can't grant lasting access.

Example

You and a colleague are refining the Onboarding board before a review. You open it; the editor joins the Onboarding room. Your colleague opens the same board and joins too. You reposition the progress-stepper block while they rework the form; both changes land in the shared document. Autosaves quietly accumulate as versions. Before the review you capture a named snapshot, Pre-review v1, so there's a clean checkpoint to return to.

Tips

• Agree on who owns which region of a busy board to avoid two people reshaping the same block at once.
• Take a named snapshot at natural milestones — the autosave history is great for recovery, but named versions are easier to find later.
• Keep the board you're collaborating on as your most recent edit so Open Canvas returns everyone to the same place.

Troubleshooting

A teammate can't see my edits. Confirm you both opened the same board and are in the same organization. Separate boards are separate rooms.

"Room token does not authorize this board" / session won't connect. The room token is board-specific and short-lived. Close and reopen the board to mint a fresh token for the correct board.

Collaboration seems unavailable. Real-time rooms require the collaboration service to be configured for your environment. If sessions won't start at all, contact your administrator — reading and manual saving still work in the meantime.