How the collaborative editor works
Click Start a new session, copy the link and send it to the people you want to work with. Everyone who opens the link edits the same document at the same time and sees the others' cursors and selections, labelled with their names. Pick a language for syntax highlighting: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, HTML, CSS, SQL, C, C++, Java, C#, PHP, Ruby or plain text.
It is useful for pair programming, technical interviews, sharing a snippet with a colleague, teaching, or writing notes together during a call.
How your session is handled
- Live editing is peer-to-peer. Keystrokes travel directly between the participants' browsers over encrypted WebRTC connections, which keeps typing fast. Our server only relays short, encrypted connection messages so the browsers can find each other, and deletes them after two minutes.
- Sessions are saved. To keep the service safe from abuse and to help with support requests, a copy of the document, its language and the participants' display names is saved on our servers and kept for 30 days. Do not use the editor for passwords, keys or personal data.
- No accounts, no public pages. Sessions are not listed or indexed; only people with the link can open them.
Anyone who has the link can join, so share it only with people you trust, and start a new session for each new group.
Limits
- At least one participant must keep the page open for others to join later; the saved copy is not reopened in the editor. Use Download to keep the text.
- A document can hold up to 50,000 characters. Use Full screen (Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + F) for more room.
- Browsers connect directly to each other. On a few strict company or school networks this is blocked; if the status keeps saying "Connecting", try another network or a mobile hotspot.
- Works best for small groups (up to about 8 people) and documents up to a few hundred kilobytes.
Need to run the code too? Paste it into an online compiler, or tidy it with the JSON formatter and other developer tools.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an account?
No. Start a session and share the link. Names are only shown to the other participants and are kept in your browser.
Is my code saved on your servers?
Yes. A copy of each session is saved for 30 days for safety and support, then deleted automatically. It is not published or shared. Do not paste passwords, keys or personal data.
Is there a size limit?
Each document can hold up to 50,000 characters, which is roughly 1,000 lines of code.
How many people can edit together?
Every browser connects to every other browser, so it works best with up to about eight people at once.
Why does it stay on "Connecting"?
Direct browser-to-browser connections are blocked by some firewalls. Try a different network, turn off a VPN, or use a mobile hotspot.
Can I run the code here?
The editor is for writing together. To run code, copy it into one of our online compilers for Python, JavaScript, C, C++ and more.