Get started - Get started with Liveblocks, CodeMirror, Yjs, and React

Liveblocks is a real-time collaboration infrastructure for building performant collaborative experiences. Follow the following steps to start adding collaboration to your React application using the APIs from the @liveblocks/yjs package.

Quickstart

1. Install Liveblocks, Yjs, and CodeMirror

   $npm install @liveblocks/client @liveblocks/react @liveblocks/yjs yjs codemirror @codemirror/lang-javascript y-codemirror.next

2. Initialize the liveblocks.config.ts file

   $npx create-liveblocks-app@latest --init --framework react

3. Set up the Liveblocks client

   The first step in connecting to Liveblocks is creating a client which will be responsible for communicating with the back end. You can do this by modifying createClient in your config file, and passing your public API key.

   liveblocks.config.ts

   const client = createClient({  publicApiKey: "pk_prod_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",});

4. Join a Liveblocks room

   Liveblocks uses the concept of rooms, separate virtual spaces where people collaborate. To create a real-time experience, multiple users must be connected to the same room.

   index.tsx

   import { RoomProvider } from "./liveblocks.config";import { Editor } from "./Editor";import { ClientSideSuspense } from "@liveblocks/react";
   export default function Page() {  return (    <RoomProvider id="my-room" initialPresence={{}}>      <ClientSideSuspense fallback="Loading…">        {() => <Editor />}      </ClientSideSuspense>    </RoomProvider>  );}

5. Set up the collaborative CodeMirror editor

   Now that we set up Liveblocks, we can start integrating CodeMirror and Yjs in the Editor.tsx file. To make the editor collaborative, we can rely on the yCollab from y-codemirror.next.

   import * as Y from "yjs";import { yCollab } from "y-codemirror.next";import { EditorView, basicSetup } from "codemirror";import { EditorState } from "@codemirror/state";import { javascript } from "@codemirror/lang-javascript";import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from "react";import LiveblocksProvider from "@liveblocks/yjs";import { useRoom } from "@/liveblocks.config";import styles from "./Editor.module.css";
   export default function Editor() {  const room = useRoom();  const [element, setElement] = useState<HTMLElement>();
     const ref = useCallback((node: HTMLElement | null) => {    if (!node) return;
       setElement(node);  }, []);
     // Set up Liveblocks Yjs provider and attach CodeMirror editor  useEffect(() => {    let provider: LiveblocksProvider<any, any, any, any>;    let ydoc: Y.Doc;    let view: EditorView;
       if (!element || !room) {      return;    }
       // Create Yjs provider and document    ydoc = new Y.Doc();    provider = new LiveblocksProvider(room as any, ydoc);    const ytext = ydoc.getText("codemirror");    const undoManager = new Y.UndoManager(ytext);
       // Set up CodeMirror and extensions    const state = EditorState.create({      doc: ytext.toString(),      extensions: [        basicSetup,        javascript(),        yCollab(ytext, provider.awareness, { undoManager }),      ],    });
       // Attach CodeMirror to element    view = new EditorView({      state,      parent: element,    });
       return () => {      ydoc?.destroy();      provider?.destroy();      view?.destroy();    };  }, [element, room]);
     return <div ref={ref} className={styles.editor} />;}

6. Next: set up authentication

   By default, Liveblocks is configured to work without an authentication endpoint where everyone automatically has access to rooms. This approach is great for prototyping and marketing pages where setting up your own security isn’t always required. If you want to limit access to a room for certain users, you’ll need to set up an authentication endpoint to enable permissions.

   Set up authentication

What to read next

Congratulations! You now have set up the foundation for your collaborative CodeMirror editor inside your React application.

• Yjs and CodeMirror guides
• How to create a collaborative code editor with CodeMirror, Yjs, Next.js, and Liveblocks
• @liveblocks/yjs API Reference
• CodeMirror website

Examples using CodeMirror

• 

  Collaborative Code Editor

  Next.js