Get started – Get started with Liveblocks, Lexical, and React

Liveblocks is a realtime 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/react-lexical package.

Quickstart

  1. Install Liveblocks and Lexical

    Every Liveblocks package should use the same version.

    $npm install @liveblocks/client @liveblocks/react @liveblocks/react-ui @liveblocks/react-lexical lexical @lexical/react

  2. Initialize the liveblocks.config.ts file

    We can use this file later to define types for our application.

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

  3. Set up the Liveblocks client

    Liveblocks uses the concept of rooms, separate virtual spaces where people collaborate, and to create a realtime experience, multiple users must be connected to the same room. Set up a Liveblocks client with LiveblocksProvider, and join a room with RoomProvider.

    App.tsx
    "use client";
    import {  LiveblocksProvider,  RoomProvider,} from "@liveblocks/react/suspense";import { Editor } from "./Editor";
    export default function App() {  return (    <LiveblocksProvider publicApiKey={""}>      <RoomProvider id="my-room">        {/* ... */}      </RoomProvider>    </LiveblocksProvider>  );}

  4. Join a Liveblocks room

    After setting up the room, you can add collaborative components inside it, using ClientSideSuspense to add loading spinners to your app.

    App.tsx
    "use client";
    import {  LiveblocksProvider,  RoomProvider,  ClientSideSuspense,} from "@liveblocks/react/suspense";import { Editor } from "./Editor";
    export default function App() {  return (    <LiveblocksProvider publicApiKey={""}>      <RoomProvider id="my-room">        <ClientSideSuspense fallback={<div>Loading…</div>}>          <Editor />        </ClientSideSuspense>      </RoomProvider>    </LiveblocksProvider>  );}

  5. Set up the collaborative Lexical text editor

    Now that we set up Liveblocks, we can start integrating Lexical and Liveblocks in the Editor.tsx file. To make the editor collaborative, we can use LiveblocksPlugin from @liveblocks/lexical-react. FloatingComposer is optional and adds Comments to your text editor.

    Editor.tsx
    "use client";
    import { LexicalComposer } from "@lexical/react/LexicalComposer";import { RichTextPlugin } from "@lexical/react/LexicalRichTextPlugin";import { ContentEditable } from "@lexical/react/LexicalContentEditable";import { LexicalErrorBoundary } from "@lexical/react/LexicalErrorBoundary";import {  liveblocksConfig,  LiveblocksPlugin,  FloatingComposer,} from "@liveblocks/react-lexical";import { Toolbar } from "./Toolbar";import { Threads } from "./Threads";
    export function Editor() {  // Wrap your Lexical config with `liveblocksConfig`  const initialConfig = liveblocksConfig({    namespace: "Demo",    onError: (error: unknown) => {      console.error(error);      throw error;    },  });
      return (    <LexicalComposer initialConfig={initialConfig}>      <Toolbar />      <div className="wrapper">        <div className="editor">          <RichTextPlugin            contentEditable={<ContentEditable />}            placeholder={<div className="placeholder">Start typing here…</div>}            ErrorBoundary={LexicalErrorBoundary}          />        </div>        <Threads />      </div>      <LiveblocksPlugin>        <FloatingComposer className="floating-composer" />      </LiveblocksPlugin>    </LexicalComposer>  );}

  6. Create a toolbar

    To create annotations and post comments, we need to create a button for triggers the action. Create a toolbar in Toolbar.tsx that enables this.

    Toolbar.tsx
    "use client";
    import { useLexicalComposerContext } from "@lexical/react/LexicalComposerContext";import { OPEN_FLOATING_COMPOSER_COMMAND } from "@liveblocks/react-lexical";
    export function Toolbar() {  const [editor] = useLexicalComposerContext();
      return (    <div className="toolbar">      <button        className="add-comment"        onClick={() =>          editor.dispatchCommand(OPEN_FLOATING_COMPOSER_COMMAND, undefined)        }      >        💬 New comment      </button>    </div>  );}

  7. Render threads

    When each thread and comment is created, we need to render it to the page. Create a Threads.tsx file that lists each thread.

    Threads.tsx
    "use client";
    import { useThreads } from "@liveblocks/react/suspense";import { Thread } from "@liveblocks/react-ui";
    export function Threads() {  const { threads } = useThreads();
      return (    <div className="threads">      {threads.map((thread) => (        <Thread key={thread.id} thread={thread} className="thread" />      ))}    </div>  );}

  8. Style your editor

    Lexical text editor is unstyled by default, so we can create some custom styles for it in a globals.css file. Import globals.css, alongside the default Liveblocks styles. You can import them into the root layout of your app or directly into a CSS file with @import.

    import "@liveblocks/react-ui/styles.css";import "@liveblocks/react-lexical/styles.css";import "./globals.css";

  9. Next: authenticate and add your users

    Text Editor is set up and working now, but each user is anonymous—the next step is to authenticate each user as they connect, and attach their name, color, and avatar, to their cursors and mentions.

    Add your users to Text Editor

  10. Optional: add more features

    Lexical is a highly extensible text editor and it's possible to create complex rich-text applications. A great example is in the Lexical playground which enables features such as tables, text highlights, embedded images, and more. This is all supported using Liveblocks.

    Learn more about Lexical

What to read next

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

Examples using Lexical