The framework-free heart of Quickdraw — an MIT-licensed infinite-canvas whiteboard engine. Zero dependencies, zero build step: plain ESM that runs in any modern browser.
If you're using React or React Native, you probably want
@quickdrawjs/react or
@quickdrawjs/react-native
instead — they wrap this engine.
npm install @quickdrawjs/coreimport { createQuickdraw } from '@quickdrawjs/core'
import '@quickdrawjs/core/quickdraw.css'
const board = createQuickdraw({
container: document.getElementById('board'),
theme: 'light', // or 'dark'
grid: 'lines', // 'none' | 'lines' (default) | 'ruled' | 'dots' | 'crosses' | 'iso'
})
// the document store emits a diff after every change
board.editor.store.listen((diff, source) => {
console.log('changed', diff)
})
// later
board.destroy()That's a complete whiteboard: pen with pressure/velocity ink, highlighter, shapes, arrows with bendable curves, text, sticky notes, images (paste/drop/pick), eraser, laser pointer, selection with resize/rotate, pan/zoom/pinch, undo/redo, PNG export, a responsive floating toolbar, light and dark themes, grid backdrops, and full keyboard shortcuts.
Both live on the editor and in the ⋮ board menu, so users can switch them without you building any chrome:
board.editor.setTheme('dark') // emits 'theme'
board.editor.setGrid('dots') // 'none' | 'lines' (default) | 'ruled' | 'dots' | 'crosses' | 'iso', emits 'grid'
board.editor.clearBoard() // one undoable step (⇧⌘⌫)
// mirror in-board switches into your own app state
board.editor.on('theme', () => setMyTheme(board.editor.theme.id))
board.editor.on('grid', () => setMyGrid(board.editor.grid))If your app owns its own theme chrome, drop the in-board switches:
createQuickdraw({ container, themeToggle: false, gridControl: false })A small "Quickdraw" mark sits in the board's corner. Keeping it helps people
find the project; watermark: false removes it — no purchase required.
The grid spacing adapts to the zoom (doubling and halving around a 40px page step, majors every fifth) and travels into PNG exports that keep the paper.
createQuickdraw is just new Editor(...) plus the stock toolbar. Use the
editor bare and bring your own chrome:
import { Editor } from '@quickdrawjs/core'
import '@quickdrawjs/core/quickdraw.css'
const editor = new Editor({ container, theme: 'dark', grid: 'dots' })
editor.setTool('draw')
editor.setStyle('color', 'blue')
editor.on('selection', () => console.log([...editor.selection]))The store is a flat map of immutable records. Every mutation happens in a
transaction and emits a diff — { added, removed, updated: {id: [from, to]} } —
which is also the wire format for sync and the shape of undo history:
const snapshot = editor.store.getSnapshot() // serialize (JSON-safe)
editor.store.loadSnapshot(snapshot) // restore
// real-time sync: ship diffs both ways
editor.store.listen((diff) => socket.send(JSON.stringify(diff)), { source: 'user' })
socket.onmessage = (e) => editor.store.applyDiff(JSON.parse(e.data), 'remote')Remote diffs don't enter local undo history, so collaborative undo stays sane.
const blob = await editor.exportImage({ background: true, scale: 2 })See the repository README for the full API, data model and guides.
MIT