Get started – Get started with Liveblocks, Monaco, Yjs, and JavaScript

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

Quickstart

  1. Install Liveblocks, Yjs, and Monaco

    Every Liveblocks package should use the same version.

    $npm install @liveblocks/client @liveblocks/yjs yjs monaco-editor y-monaco

  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 javascript

  3. Create an HTML element

    <div id="editor"></div>

  4. Set up your collaborative Monaco code editor

    app.js
    import { createClient } from "@liveblocks/client";import { LiveblocksYjsProvider } from "@liveblocks/yjs";import * as Y from "yjs";import * as monaco from "monaco-editor";import { MonacoBinding } from "y-monaco";
    // Set up Liveblocks clientconst client = createClient({  publicApiKey: "",});
    // Enter a multiplayer roomconst { room, leave } = client.enterRoom("my-room");
    // Set up Yjs document, shared text, and Liveblocks Yjs providerconst yDoc = new Y.Doc();const yText = yDoc.getText("monaco");const yProvider = new LiveblocksProvider(room, yDoc);
    // Set up the Monaco editorconst parent = document.querySelector("#editor");const editor = monaco.editor.create(parent, {  value: "",  language: "javascript"})
    // Attach Yjs to Monacoconst monacoBinding = new MonacoBinding(  yText,  editorRef.getModel(),  new Set([editor]),  yProvider.awareness);

  5. 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 Monaco code editor inside your JavaScript application.