Collaborative Text Editing for Shiny with Automerge • autoedit

Real-time collaborative editing for R and Shiny applications, built on Automerge CRDT.

Installation

pak::pak("shikokuchuo/autoedit")

Features

Component	Description	Sync Server
`editor()`	CodeMirror 6 code editor with cursor-preserving sync	Required
`kanban_ui()`	Collaborative kanban board with movable items	Not required
`textarea_ui()`	Basic synchronized textarea	Not required

The editor provides the best experience for collaborative text editing, with proper cursor preservation when remote changes arrive.

The kanban module works well without a sync server because its actions (add, toggle, delete, move) are discrete - there’s no cursor position to preserve.

The textarea syncs correctly but has UX limitations (cursor jumps on remote edits), making it suitable only for simple use cases.

Quick Start

Kanban Board (serverless)

library(shiny)
library(autoedit)

ui <- fluidPage(kanban_ui("board"))

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  kanban_server("board", initial_items = list(
    todo = c("Design feature", "Write tests"),
    in_progress = c("Code review"),
    done = c("Deploy v1.0")
  ))
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Editor (with sync server)

library(shiny)
library(autoedit)
library(autosync)
library(automerge)

sync_server <- amsync_server()
sync_server$start()

doc_id <- create_document(sync_server)
doc <- get_document(sync_server, doc_id)
am_put(doc, AM_ROOT, "text", am_text("Start typing..."))
am_commit(doc, "init")

ui <- fluidPage(editor_output("editor"))

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  output$editor <- editor_render(editor(sync_server$url, doc_id))
}

onStop(function() sync_server$close())
shinyApp(ui, server)

Open either app in multiple browser windows for real-time collaboration.

Vignettes

Collaborative Meeting Notes App - Using the CodeMirror editor with a sync server
Collaborative Kanban Board - Serverless task management

Development

To rebuild the bundled JavaScript widget:

cd inst/build
npm install
npm run build

automerge - R bindings for Automerge CRDT
autosync - R sync server for Automerge documents

autoedit