Half the architecture sketches on the internet trace back to Excalidraw - the MIT-licensed virtual whiteboard whose hand-drawn aesthetic made technical diagramming feel approachable, at roughly 85,000 GitHub stars. The infinite canvas offers rectangles, ellipses, diamonds, arrows with smart binding and labels, free-draw, text, images, and an eraser, with full undo/redo, zoom, dark mode, and keyboard-first ergonomics. Community shape libraries add thousands of pre-built elements - AWS architecture icons, flowchart stencils, UI wireframe kits - and everything exports to PNG, SVG, the clipboard, or the open .excalidraw JSON format that keeps drawings diffable and portable. Live collaboration works on a share-a-link model with live cursors and a laser pointer for presenting, and it is end-to-end encrypted by design: the room key travels in the URL hash, which never reaches the server, so the WebSocket relay only ever sees ciphertext. The architecture is remarkably light - the app is a static bundle served by Nginx, drawings persist locally in the browser, and the stateless excalidraw-room relay handles multiplayer - so a self-hosted deployment gives unlimited boards and collaborators with near-zero resource cost, replacing per-editor whiteboard subscriptions.

ExcaliDash adds persistent storage, access control, version history, and real-time collaboration to Excalidraw, transforming ephemeral whiteboarding sessions into a managed drawing library your team can rely on. The Node.js/Express backend with React/TypeScript frontend deploys via Docker Compose on port 6767, using Prisma ORM on SQLite for all drawings, users, and metadata. WebSocket-powered collaboration lets multiple users edit the same canvas simultaneously with live cursor presence. Drawing snapshots preserve every revision with visual preview and one-click restore to any previous state. Three authentication modes handle different deployment needs: local email/password for personal use, hybrid mode mixing native credentials with OIDC for gradual enterprise adoption, and enforced OIDC-only for organizations requiring SSO through providers like Authentik or Keycloak. Scoped sharing controls determine whether drawings stay private, shared internally with team members, or accessible via external links without authentication. Collections organize drawings through drag-and-drop grouping, full-text search locates any diagram instantly, and exports use the non-proprietary .excalidraw format ensuring complete data portability. 1,350+ stars since November 2025. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. AGPL-3.0 licensed.

The drawing surface inside WebRTC conference tools like Meetzi and the LAMS online-learning platform is Whiteboard (by cracker0dks) - a lightweight Node.js collaborative sketchboard built to be embedded and customized, which also slots into Nextcloud via the External Sites app. Everyone opening the same whiteboardid URL parameter draws on the same board, with remote user cursors visible live, per-user undo/redo, and an indicator showing the smallest participating screen so nobody draws outside a colleague's view. Content handling goes beyond pen strokes: drag-and-drop or paste images and PDFs from any PC or browser, then resize, rotate, and draw over them on canvas or background; add text and sticky notes; hold Shift for angle-snapped lines and perfect squares. Every function has a keybinding - deliberately friendly to pen displays like Wacom and XP-Pen whose hardware buttons map to shortcuts. Boards save to image or JSON (with reload), export directly to Nextcloud via WebDAV, and persist across restarts with the file-database option. A REST API with bundled interactive docs allows full programmatic control, an optional access token locks down uploads, and YAML configuration tunes behavior and performance. MIT-licensed and reverse-proxy friendly.

A Node.js server, a large shared canvas, and a URL - WBO (Whiteboard Ophir) is collaborative whiteboarding reduced to its essence. There are no accounts and no setup - to collaborate, you send someone the board's link, and every stroke appears for all connected users in real time over WebSockets, with cursor positions shared so you can see where collaborators are working. Board state persists automatically and continuously, so a diagram drawn in today's lesson is still there next week at the same URL. Boards come in three flavors: a public free-for-all, private boards with random unguessable names, and named boards with custom URLs shared by anyone who knows the name. The tools cover teaching and brainstorming needs - pencil, straight lines, rectangles, ellipses, text annotations, eraser, a full color palette with brush sizes - and boards export as SVG or PNG. Despite the simplicity, the server is production-minded: JWT authentication gates board access with granular capabilities (open, edit, and clear as separate permissions), rate limiting caps per-client message volume, reverse-proxy and subpath deployment are supported, and OpenTelemetry provides metrics, logs, and traces. It works on tablets and touch devices, speaks multiple languages, and consumes minimal resources. AGPL-licensed.

draw.io is a free, browser-based diagramming editor for flowcharts, network maps, UML models, and org charts, with nothing to install. An infinite canvas takes shapes from extensive libraries, connectors reroute automatically as shapes move, and ready-made templates replace the blank page. Tables, swimlanes, layers, and tags keep large diagrams tidy, and shape metadata and placeholders attach tooltips, links, and translations. Auto-layout straightens flowcharts and trees. Math typesetting, a simple whiteboard layout, and adaptive dark mode are built in, and custom shape libraries carry your own in-house icon sets. Export to PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, HTML, or PDF, embed the diagram data inside PNG and SVG files so they stay editable, or save the full diagram as a .drawio file. Your server stores no diagrams: files go to the user's device, the browser, or Google Drive, OneDrive, and GitLab once you register your own OAuth app. Optional AI diagram generation uses your own provider key, and environment variables set the interface language, fonts, and security policy. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. Apache-2.0 licensed.

Draw it, write it as code, or hand it to your AI agent: OpenFlowKit is an open-source diagram canvas where the picture and the text behind it are always the same diagram. Drag shapes on the canvas or type a few forgiving lines, and each side regenerates the other as a single undo step. Ten diagram types share that one language: architecture with C4 views and cloud icons, sequence, flowchart, entity-relationship, state, class, mind maps, git graphs, charts, and wireframes. Paste Mermaid, Structurizr, or D2 and it converts into editable shapes, and Copy as Mermaid sends a flowchart or sequence back out for your README. Paste a GitHub repository instead and Map mode draws its architecture for you, with every arrow citing the exact file and line behind it, and a CLI that maps a local checkout for private repos. Connect Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP client and the agent draws on your live canvas, restyles what is there, and screenshots its own work to check it. A built-in assistant works with your own key from Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Groq, Mistral, OpenRouter, or a local Ollama, and exports cover PNG, SVG, PDF, JSON, and animated SVG, GIF, MP4, or WebM you can drop into documentation. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. MIT licensed.

Scattered browser tabs, buried wiki folders, and disconnected issue trackers fragment engineering context across too many tools, which is why Ideon unifies your repositories, notes, and tasks on a shared infinite canvas. Rather than forcing projects into rigid folder hierarchies, you arrange interactive blocks spatially on a two-dimensional map where related documents, checklists, calendar schedules, and code references sit right beside one another. Teams can embed live repository cards and open issue streams directly from GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, and Forgejo onto the workspace, keeping code status visible alongside architecture documentation. Rich content blocks render Markdown notes with threaded comments, Mermaid flowcharts, uploaded files, images, and bookmarked links on the same board. Real-time multiplayer collaboration lets teammates edit blocks simultaneously, follow live cursors across the canvas, and map system designs together without edit conflicts. Built-in Time Travel snapshots capture historical states of the workspace so you can scrub backward to review how a project evolved or trace past design decisions. You can even synchronize an entire project canvas directly to a Git repository, storing notes and spatial block layouts as versioned files. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. AGPL-3.0 licensed.

Technical teams frequently struggle to keep software architecture diagrams synchronized with evolving codebases and documentation repositories. Atlantis Diagrams delivers a unified self-hosted workspace that couples code-driven Mermaid.js diagramming with structured Markdown knowledge bases in a responsive web interface. Engineers can compose flowcharts, sequence diagrams, state machines, entity-relationship models, and Gantt schedules using split-view CodeMirror editors with real-time SVG rendering. An integrated version history tracker automatically captures revision checkpoints across the last 15 document states, letting authors compare modifications and restore previous iterations without data loss. The linked notes environment supports rich Markdown editing, LaTeX mathematical formulas, interactive task checklists, tag indexing, and full-text keyword searches across personal documentation libraries. Canvas controls allow users to pan, zoom, inspect individual nodes, and export finalized graphics directly into vector SVG, high-resolution PNG, or printable PDF documents. Storage engines adapt to deployment scale, running on zero-configuration SQLite databases out of the box with optional PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis caching layers for high-concurrency environments. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. MIT licensed.

Turning chaotic group brainstorming sessions into structured visual diagrams, TeamMapper provides a real-time collaborative mind mapping workspace that teams and classrooms can join instantly without creating user accounts. Workshop facilitators, teachers, and product squads start from a central root topic and branch outward into hierarchical radial trees, using keyboard shortcuts and full undo-redo history to capture ideas at the speed of conversation. Every node can be styled with custom branch and background colors, adjustable font weights and sizes, external reference links, uploaded raster images, and visual pictograms from the ARASAAC library to reinforce memory and visual association. Sharing a live session takes a single click: hosts distribute either a view-only link, a full modification invite URL, or a scannable QR code so remote colleagues and students in the same room can edit branches simultaneously. When enabled by the administrator, an integrated AI assistant can automatically generate initial mind map branches and subtopics from a text prompt to jump-start planning sessions. Completed maps export cleanly to JSON, Mermaid diagram syntax, scalable SVG vectors, high-resolution PNG images, or printable PDF documents, and existing JSON maps can be re-imported at any time for follow-up workshops. Built-in privacy controls automatically purge inactive mind maps and orphaned image attachments after a configurable retention window, simplifying GDPR compliance for schools and enterprises. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. MIT licensed.

OpenPencil is the open-source design editor that reads and writes native Figma .fig files using the same Kiwi binary format — enabling bidirectional copy-paste between Figma and OpenPencil without data loss. The built-in AI assistant provides 90+ design tools through a chat interface, creating and modifying shapes, fills, strokes, auto-layout, components, variables, and boolean operations from natural language prompts, with BYOK support for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI, OpenRouter, Z.ai, MiniMax, and compatible endpoints. A Skia CanvasKit WASM renderer paired with Yoga WASM layout engine delivers Figma-parity rendering with flex and CSS Grid support including gap, padding, and alignment. The headless CLI inspects node trees via XPath queries, lints naming and accessibility, converts between document formats, analyzes color and typography patterns, extracts design tokens, and exports to PNG, SVG, JSX/Tailwind, and HTML. An MCP server exposes all design operations over stdio and HTTP, connecting Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Gemini CLI for AI-assisted design automation. Real-time P2P collaboration via WebRTC with Yjs CRDT synchronization requires no server and no account. The Vue SDK provides headless components for embedding the editor into custom applications. Ships as a 7 MB Tauri v2 desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux, or runs in any browser as a PWA. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. MIT licensed.

Instead of juggling a chat window, a folder of reference images, and a notebook of half-remembered prompts, Infinite Canvas puts the whole image-making process on one zoomable board. Drop in text, image, video, and generation-settings nodes, then wire them together so every result stays connected to the prompt and references behind it. Add one or several OpenAI-compatible endpoints, choose default text, image, and video models, and set image count, aspect ratio, quality, and transparent backgrounds per node. Batch results arrive as linked nodes that remember their prompt, model, and dimensions, so any of them can be retried later with the same settings. A prompt library searches seven built-in sources plus your own JSON sources and inserts the winner straight onto the board. An asset shelf keeps reusable images, clips, and audio within reach. Projects can be duplicated, exported, and synced between devices over WebDAV. Want a helper? A local Canvas Agent lets Codex read the active board and edit it through MCP, with approvals and permissions shown in a side panel. Plugins add node types, inspectors, and toolbar actions. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. MIT licensed.

Poznote serves as an all-in-one personal knowledge base and digital workspace designed to bridge unstructured thinking and structured documentation. The platform pairs a responsive Markdown editor with live side-by-side rendering, KaTeX mathematical notation, and interactive Mermaid diagram compilation. Creative thinkers can switch instantly to an embedded Excalidraw infinite canvas to sketch system architectures, design mind maps, and create interface wireframes alongside their written notes. Every directory within the workspace can be toggled into an agile Kanban board where nested folders become customizable workflow columns and notes transform into draggable task cards. Task management views aggregate checklists across documents into unified priority queues with due date reminders and completion filters. An integrated bi-directional Git synchronization engine connects user workspaces directly to personal GitHub or Forgejo repositories, versioning edits automatically on save. The software also provides an integrated Model Context Protocol server that enables AI coding assistants to search notes, create documents, and query knowledge repositories securely. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. MIT licensed.

Doca puts rich text, Markdown, spreadsheets, slides, and an infinite canvas under one login and one permission model, giving individuals and small teams a self-hosted workspace for writing together. Every format supports real-time co-editing with presence, comments, saved history, and manual snapshots, and rich text and Markdown documents can be restored to an earlier version. Documents live in knowledge libraries with tree navigation, invitations, inherited permissions, share links, and trash, while personal files and shared folders sit on local disk or S3-compatible storage. Knowledge books go further: they subscribe to sources, run an editable workflow, keep source evidence, and route results through human review. A personal AI assistant, powered by whichever model you configure, searches authorized documents, reads PDF and Office attachments, edits images, and prepares browser drafts. MCP services let external AI clients such as Codex use those tools under your permissions. Sign in with a password, OIDC, Google, GitHub, WeChat, or QQ, review registrations before they go live, and send webhooks to other systems. A plugin SDK and marketplace add business modules, and a browser extension clips pages into documents. The interface ships in Chinese and English. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. MIT licensed.

Design posters, social posts, presentations, invitations, resumes, thumbnails, and business cards in your browser with Doory, a self-hosted design editor that keeps your files, fonts, and brand assets on your own server. Start from one of ten starter templates or a blank canvas, then place text, shapes, lines, arrows, emoji, stickers, QR codes, and roughly 27,500 built-in icons anywhere on the page. Photo tools cover cropping, masks, filters, in-browser background removal, and 2x to 4x image upscaling, with stock photo search through Unsplash or Pexels. Layers can be renamed, locked, hidden, grouped, and reordered, while guides, snapping, rulers, per-page sizes, and format resizing keep multi-page designs tidy. Animations add 27 enter and exit effects, 12 emphasis motions, and 16 page transitions, plus Creative Commons music loops and sound effects, so decks can be presented live with speaker notes or exported as MP4, WebM, or GIF. Share links grant view, comment, or edit access with an optional password, and collaborators can pin comments, co-edit in real time, and roll back through version history. Brand kits store your colors, fonts, and logos so recurring posts stay on-brand, and exports cover PNG, JPG, SVG, and print-ready PDF with bleed and crop marks. An optional MCP server lets AI assistants create and fill designs from prompts, including bulk template filling from spreadsheet-style rows. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. Attribution Assurance License licensed.

With over 84,000 GitHub stars since its April 2026 launch, Open Design has emerged as the definitive open-source alternative to Anthropic's Claude Design. Rather than shipping its own language model, Open Design acts as an agent-agnostic design orchestration layer that auto-detects 25+ coding CLI executables on your PATH — including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Qwen, GitHub Copilot CLI, Hermes, and Kimi — or connects to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint via its built-in BYOK proxy at /api/proxy/stream. The platform introduces a file-based protocol where SKILL.md files define composable design workflows and DESIGN.md files establish version-controlled brand systems, currently shipping 31 first-party skills and 72 brand-grade design systems. Output spans web and mobile prototypes, live dashboards, presentation decks, raster images, video, and HyperFrames motion graphics, with export pipelines for HTML, PDF, PPTX, MP4, and ZIP. The daemon architecture uses SQLite for project state and serves a sandboxed iframe preview renderer with vendored React and Babel for JSX artifacts. Deployment options include the native desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux, local daemon mode via pnpm tools-dev, a single-container Docker Compose path serving both API and Next.js frontend on port 7456, and Vercel deployment for the web layer. On RepoCloud, deploy Open Design on a dedicated VPS with full root SSH access, persistent storage for your design systems and generated artifacts, and complete control over which AI providers and agent CLIs your instance connects to, all under the Apache-2.0 license.