Excalidraw support #64

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opened 2026-09-21 18:06:06 +01:00 by cruelacid · 1 comment

cruelacid commented

2026-09-21 18:06:06 +01:00

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Part of #37.

What Relay does

Broken, and unfixed. Their issue #105, open since June 2026: "Relay
synchronization causes data corruption and merge conflicts in Excalidraw files."
The only workaround is Excalidraw's legacy mode. Their proposed fix, open PR
#107, gives up on merging and treats Excalidraw as an opaque attachment.
Excalidraw collaboration sits under Considering on their roadmap.

What we do today

.excalidraw.md is markdown containing a large embedded JSON payload, so it
syncs as text and merges character-wise — the exact hazard blob-policy.ts
documents for JSON.

This is a live data-safety question, not a feature request. It is worth
checking whether we already corrupt these files, before deciding whether to
support them properly.

Options, in increasing cost

Classify .excalidraw.md as a blob — last-writer-wins with a visible
conflict copy. Honest, cheap, and per CLAUDE.md disagreement beats a file
that opens wrong. This is effectively Relay's PR #107.
Structured merge via the Phase 17 machinery. Real work; Excalidraw's schema is
not small.

Recommendation: do (1) now as a safety fix, and treat (2) as a genuine
feature later.

Risk

risk:none.

Verification

Two vaults edit one Excalidraw file concurrently. Today's behaviour is the first
thing to measure — if it corrupts, this stops being backlog.

Part of #37. ## What Relay does **Broken, and unfixed.** Their issue #105, open since June 2026: "Relay synchronization causes data corruption and merge conflicts in Excalidraw files." The only workaround is Excalidraw's legacy mode. Their proposed fix, open PR #107, gives up on merging and treats Excalidraw as an opaque attachment. Excalidraw collaboration sits under **Considering** on their roadmap. ## What we do today `.excalidraw.md` is markdown containing a large embedded JSON payload, so it syncs as text and merges character-wise — the exact hazard `blob-policy.ts` documents for JSON. **This is a live data-safety question, not a feature request.** It is worth checking whether we already corrupt these files, before deciding whether to support them properly. ## Options, in increasing cost 1. Classify `.excalidraw.md` as a **blob** — last-writer-wins with a visible conflict copy. Honest, cheap, and per `CLAUDE.md` disagreement beats a file that opens wrong. This is effectively Relay's PR #107. 2. Structured merge via the Phase 17 machinery. Real work; Excalidraw's schema is not small. **Recommendation: do (1) now as a safety fix**, and treat (2) as a genuine feature later. ## Risk `risk:none`. ## Verification Two vaults edit one Excalidraw file concurrently. Today's behaviour is the first thing to measure — if it corrupts, this stops being backlog.

cruelacid added this to the Backlog - unscheduled milestone

2026-09-21 18:06:06 +01:00

cruelacid added the

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2026-09-21 18:06:06 +01:00

cruelacid referenced this issue

2026-09-21 18:08:51 +01:00

Relay feature parity, with end-to-end encryption (tracking) #37