Whiteboard Collaboration with Live
Drawing and Real Time Sync

Every whiteboard element is stored as a structured JSON document, not a flattened image. Each element—path, shape, text block, image reference—is an individual record with its type, coordinates, style, creator, and timestamp. The canvas is reconstructed from structured data on every load, enabling version history, selective undo, and element-level attribution. Auto-save fires after every operation, so nothing is lost.

There's no hard limit on simultaneous collaborators; TARO's Pusher channel scales with the number of subscribers. Sessions typically involve 2–8 collaborators, well within the envelope where cursor tracking and stroke events stay responsive. For very large sessions, TARO throttles cursor updates (60fps to 30fps) to keep event volume manageable, but drawing operations are never throttled, every stroke fires immediately.

TARO uses last-write-wins for element edits: when two collaborators move or resize the same element at once, the most recent operation wins and is broadcast to all clients. This suits whiteboards because conflicting edits are rare, cursors are visible and users work in different areas. Freeform paths are never in conflict: each path belongs to the user drawing it. Once complete, any collaborator can select and move it.

TARO supports two ways to add images. Device upload lets you drag a file onto the canvas or use the image tool to open a file picker; the image is uploaded to TARO's storage and referenced in the canvas. URL embed lets you paste an image URL; TARO fetches it and stores a local copy, so it won't break if the source goes offline. Both support PNG, JPG, GIF, and SVG. Uploaded images count against the workspace storage quota.

Fullscreen mode is per user; it doesn't affect other collaborators' views. When you enter fullscreen, your browser fills the screen and the TARO chrome hides. Others see the same canvas in their normal embedded view. All drawing events are still shared in real time: a path drawn in fullscreen appears immediately on someone's embedded canvas. Exiting returns you to the task view at the same zoom and pan position.

The whiteboard can't be detached from its task; it's intentionally scoped to the task by design. Two external sharing options exist. Export: the canvas can be saved as a high-resolution PNG or vector SVG at any time. View link: task owners can generate a tokenised read-only link giving Viewer-level access, so external stakeholders can open it without a TARO account and export a copy, but cannot draw or modify anything.