A branch is a copy of the file you can work in without disturbing the original. Open Branches from the ⋯ menu.
DESIGN
TOGETHER!
One file, one link, everybody in it. Cursors with names, comments pinned to the pixel, versions you can name and boards for the messy part. No exporting, no “final_v7_REAL.fig”, no waiting your turn.
A landing page in Design. C picks the comment tool and a click on the hero places a comment: “Can we try a shorter headline?” is posted. The Comments panel opens on the right and Reply opens under it, “Trying three words now” is sent, and the thread is resolved with the tick.
HEY!
THE POINT
The link is the file
Most design feedback still travels by screenshot. Somebody exports a PNG, pastes it in a chat, gets four replies about four different versions, and spends the afternoon working out which one the client meant. We think that is silly. In PopCraft a file’s URL is the file. Send it and the person on the other end lands on the same canvas you are looking at, live, with their cursor next to yours.
Everything on this page is built on that one idea. Comments live on the canvas, not in a thread somewhere else. Versions live in the file, not in a folder of copies. Boards live in the same file as the design, so a workshop turns into a layout without anyone exporting anything. And the people who are not designers get the same link, with a role that fits.
1
link, the same for everyone
3
roles: edit, comment, view
0
“resolve conflict” dialogs
C
is the comment key. That is it.
WHO GETS WHAT
Share it with a role
Click Share in the top bar. Invite people by email, or set link access so anyone with the URL can open it. Every invite carries a role, and the role decides what they can do.
EDITThe full file, live.
- ✓Change anything on the canvas
- ✓Save and restore versions
- ✓Comment, reply, resolve
- ✓Work in branches
COMMENTOpinions, not edits.
- ✓See every page and layer
- ✓Leave comments and replies
- ✓@mention teammates
- ✓Follow someone around
VIEWA window, not a pen.
- ✓Open the file from its link
- ✓Scroll and zoom around
- ✓Follow a presenter
- ✓Read the comments
TALK ON THE CANVAS
Comments that stay where they belong
Press C, click the thing you have an opinion about, type, and click Comment. The comment anchors to that spot on the canvas, or to a layer, so when the layer moves the comment goes with it. No more “the button, the other button, no, the blue one”.
Threads take replies, reactions and @mentions, and a mention reaches the person through their notifications. When it is dealt with, resolve it. The comments panel lists everything in the file, with search and filters for open and resolved, so nothing gets lost under a sticky.
A landing page in Design. C picks the comment tool and a click on the hero places a comment: “Can we try a shorter headline?” is posted. The Comments panel opens on the right and Reply opens under it, “Trying three words now” is sent, and the thread is resolved with the tick.
TIME MACHINE
Name the versions worth keeping
Every file keeps its history. Open Version history from the ⋯ menu and the right panel lists the automatic checkpoints PopCraft saves while you edit. Pick one to preview it read-only; restore it, or copy it out into a new file.
The trick is named versions. “Sent to client”. “v2 sign-off”. “Before the big rename.” Name the moment and you can find it in a second instead of squinting at timestamps. A restore is an ordinary edit, so it syncs to everyone and you can undo it. And while you are browsing history, editing is paused, so nothing shifts under you.
A landing page in Design. The ⋯ menu opens Version history, which takes the right panel. Save current version is clicked, the version is named “Sent to client”, and Save adds it to the saved versions, ready to preview or restore later.
WHO’S HERE
Presence, with manners
Everyone in the file appears as a cursor with a name, and their selection is outlined in their colour. Cursor positions are smoothed between updates, so people glide instead of teleporting. Then there are the extras.
FOLLOW
Click an avatar and ride that person’s viewport. Where they scroll, you scroll.
SPOTLIGHT
Flip it round: ask everyone to follow you. It is how you herd a workshop to the right corner.
EMOTES
A quick reaction pops over your cursor. For the feedback that does not need a sticky.
NINJA MODE
Hide your presence and look around without an audience. Nobody sees your cursor.
PRIVATE
On a board, private mode keeps new items hidden from everyone until you click Reveal.
HIGH FIVE
Raise a hand on a board next to someone who has raised theirs. Yes, it is a real button.
POPCORN
Boards for the messy part
PopCorn is the whiteboard mode. Same canvas, same file, same multiplayer. Make a Board file, or hit PopCorn in the top bar of any file. Press S for a sticky, W for washi tape, and slap on a stamp: Love, Star, Approve, No, +1, Fire and friends.
To run a session there is a timer everyone can see and voting: each person gets dots to spend, results tally as you go, and the file remembers the last result. Tidy up(Mod+Alt+T) turns a scatter of stickies into an even grid. When the shouting is over, switch back to Design: the board’s contents are still right there on the canvas.
A retro board in PopCorn, with stickies in three columns. Voting opens its panel and Start voting gives three votes. Three stickies are clicked, each gaining a vote badge, and End voting shows the results.
HOME BASE
Files live in teams, not on laptops
Files live in projects inside a team. Your personal space is a real team too, so every file belongs somewhere from the moment it is made. Folders keep projects in order, and permissions can be set at any level, from the team down to one file.
Pick the team on Home and you see the files it holds. Make a new file there and it is born in the team, with the team’s plan and its people. Nobody has to remember to “move it to the shared drive”.
Home, signed in. Brightside Studio is picked in the sidebar and its files show: the Spring launch post, the Q3 pitch deck and the Product trailer. Personal shows the files in the personal space instead.
IN MOTION
More of the team stuff
Short clips of the real editor. Each one loops while you watch it.
A landing page in Design. C picks the comment tool; a click on the hero heading places a comment there and “Can we try a shorter headline?” is typed and posted with Comment. A pin marks the spot.
A brainstorm board in PopCorn. S picks the sticky tool; a click drops a sticky note, and “Launch in spring” is typed on it. A second sticky goes beside it.
Home, signed in. Brightside Studio is picked in the sidebar, then New and File open the gallery, whose owner picker says the file will be made in Brightside Studio. Social is picked in the rail, showing its sizes and templates; whatever is used next is made in the team.
A comic page with the Panel Checklist widget installed. Its Insert checklist command places the widget in the middle of the view: a checklist of pencils, inks, colours and letters. Clicking an item ticks it off; the widget redraws and saves its state in the file, for every collaborator.
CAFÉ WI-FI
When the connection drops
Our founder tests multiplayer at a café with famously bad Wi-Fi (he wrote about it). Under the hood each file is a CRDT: a structure that lets any number of people edit at once and always merges to the same result. Here is what a dropout looks like from your chair.
- 09:41Wi-Fi drops
You keep working. The file you have open stays editable, and your changes are kept on your device.
- 09:42Still editing
Move, recolour, type. Nothing pops up asking you to wait for the network.
- 09:44Back online
PopCraft reconnects and swaps only the changes each side is missing, not the whole file.
- 09:44Merged
Your edits and your teammate’s meet. Different layers just combine. No “resolve conflict” dialog.
TRY IT AT LUNCH
Your first shared file in six moves
- 1
Put the file in a team
Make it in your team from Home, so it lives in a project everyone on the team can reach. - 2
Click Share
Invite people by email with a role (edit, comment or view), or set link access so anyone with the URL can open it. - 3
Send the link
The URL is the file. Whoever opens it lands on the same canvas you are looking at. - 4
Work, together
Cursors with names, coloured selections, follow and spotlight. Edits merge as you make them. - 5
Talk on the canvas
Press C and pin a comment to a spot or a layer. Reply, react, @mention and resolve. - 6
Name the moment
Save a named version such as “Sent to client” so you can find it, preview it or restore it later.
BRANCHES
Try a wild idea without a hostage situation
GO WILD
WHEE!New layout, new palette, new everything. The main file keeps working and nobody’s review link changes under them.
MERGE OR BIN
PLOP!Liked it? Merge it back. Did not? Throw it away. Either way the original never had to hold its breath.
THE OLD WAY
Screenshots in a chat thread vs. one live file
| THE OLD WAY | IN POPCRAFT |
|---|---|
| Export a PNG, paste it in chat, lose the thread | Send the link. Comment on the actual layer. |
| “Which version is this?” | There is one file. Named versions mark the moments. |
| Duplicate the file to try an idea | Branch it, then merge it back or throw it away |
| Whiteboard app, then rebuild it in the design tool | The board is in the same file. Switch to Design. |
| Give the client edit access and pray | Share with the comment or view role |
| Wait for the Wi-Fi to come back | Keep working. It merges when you reconnect. |
ROBOTS WELCOME
Your scripts are collaborators too
A change made through the REST API, or with popcraft run cloud:<key> from a terminal, merges into the open file as if a teammate made it, and the API writes a version before its first edit in half an hour. Private board layers are never part of what it reads or writes. The agents and API page has the whole story.
ASKED & ANSWERED
Questions, answered
What does everyone else see when I join?
Everyone who opens the link joins the same live file. Each person gets a named cursor and a selection outline in their colour, and edits merge rather than overwrite.
What happens if two people edit the same thing?
Each file is a CRDT, a structure that merges concurrent edits to the same result in any order. People working on different layers simply combine. Two people changing the very same property converge on one value without a conflict dialog, and the history keeps both steps.
Does it work offline?
The file you have open keeps working without a network: changes are kept on your device and merge back when you reconnect, and the app itself loads offline. Making a new file while signed in needs a connection, because files are created in the cloud first.
Can a client comment without editing?
Yes. Share with the comment role and they can read every page, leave comments and replies and @mention people, but not change the design. The view role is read-only.
Is version history a backup?
It is a record of the file. Automatic checkpoints are kept while you edit, and you can save named versions. Preview any of them read-only, restore one (an undoable edit that syncs to everyone) or copy it into a new file.
Do scripts and the API show up in a live file?
Yes. Changes made through the REST API or `popcraft run cloud:<key>` merge in for the people editing at the time, as if a collaborator made them. Private board layers are never part of what the API reads or writes.
THE MANUAL, FOR THE DETAILS
HEY! YOUR TURN.
Cursors, comments, boards and history, live. Free to start, in your browser or on your Mac.