Collaboration

What you'll learn

• How presence indicators show who else is in the project and on which tab
• How simultaneous draft co-editing works (and what its limits are)
• How to leave, resolve, and reply to comments on a diagram
• How to share specific diagrams, versions, harnesses, and whole projects via links
• How to branch parallel drafts so two engineers can work without stepping on each other

Prerequisites

• Complete Tutorial 2: App Overview so you know the layout and where Properties and the left pane live.
• Complete Tutorial 7: Versioning so you understand drafts, snapshots, and releases.
• You need at least one teammate in the same organization to try the multi-user flows for real.

Steps

1See who else is in the project

Two presence indicators run side by side.

• Top-right project avatars — colored circles with 2-letter initials next to your profile avatar. Up to 5 are shown; additional users appear as +N. Click any avatar to open a popover that lists each user's email and their currently active tab (diagram, harness, library item, or version history). Click a row to open that same tab in your own workspace.
• Tab-level "same view" indicator — every editor tab shows a small user icon with a count (e.g. 👤 2) when other teammates are looking at exactly the same view. Hover to see their emails. Diagram tabs and harness tabs count separately even when they share an underlying version.

There are no live cursors and no remote selection highlights — presence tells you who is around, not what they are touching.

Screenshot

2Co-edit a draft in real time

Two Editors (or an Editor and an Administrator) can edit the same draft version of a diagram at the same time. Changes are debounced and synced about once a second through the cloud.

• Your edits show Syncing Changes... then All Changes Synced in the sidebar footer.
• Conflicting edits are merged where possible; rejected edits snap back automatically.
• A small white dot appears on tabs with unsynced local changes.

Important constraints:

• Snapshots, releases, and cancelled versions are read-only for everyone. Viewer-role users are read-only on drafts too. Anyone on a read-only view sees the Read Only banner; only Editors and Administrators get the Create Draft button to branch off and edit.
• Read-only users can still leave comments. Non-comment edits on read-only views are reverted.
• This is polling-based sync, not push — there is no live keystroke-by-keystroke broadcast.

3Leave a pin comment on the canvas

Comments are version-scoped pins anchored to a point on the diagram.

1. Right-click empty canvas (or right-click an item) where you want the pin → Add Comment.
2. Type into the placeholder Enter your comment....
3. Click Comment to post, or Cancel to discard.

A pin appears on the canvas with optional arrow pointers to related items. Comments are stored on the current diagram version (and, in the harness editor, on the current harness too). Branching a new draft copies existing comments forward with new IDs.

Screenshot

4Browse comments in the left pane

For a project-wide view of comments on the active version, use the comments pane.

1. Open the editor's left pane and click the Comments tab, or press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C.
2. The header reads Comments (N Unresolved) when there's open work.
3. Click any comment row to highlight it on the canvas.
4. Use the eye icon to toggle Show comments on canvas / Hide comments on canvas (this preference is per-user and remembered between sessions).
5. The empty state reads No comments yet / Right-click the canvas to add a comment.

5Resolve and reply to comments

Each comment supports a thread, resolve/unresolve, and editing your own text.

• Resolve — click the purple checkbox circle on the pin or in the Comments pane. Tooltip: Unresolved — click to resolve / Resolved — click to unresolve. Resolved comments auto-collapse and show a Resolved label.
• Reply — select a saved comment so the right pane title changes to Comments. Use the Reply... textarea and click Reply to post (or Cancel to discard).
• Edit your own text — click the pencil icon next to your message; Save or Cancel the change.
• Viewers can resolve their own comments but cannot resolve other people's threads — they'll see a Blocked Action toast if they try.

There are currently no @mentions and no in-app notification bell — teammates discover new comments by opening the version and checking the Comments pane.

Screenshot

6Copy shareable links

Anyone in your organization who has a link can open the same view. Links are org-scoped — they will not work for people outside your organization.

Recipients who open the link while logged in are auto-routed to the right project, diagram/version, or harness. If the link points to a project + diagram without a specific version, they land on the Version History tab and can pick a version themselves.

Screenshot

7Understand the project sharing model

Project membership is organization-wide — there is no per-project invite UI. All Viewer-or-higher members of your organization can see every project in that org.

• New teammates are added by an Administrator in Admin Controls (covered in Tutorial 14: Admin Options).
• Sharing a project with a coworker really means sending them the project link via Copy Project Link and assuming they already have org access.
• If they don't have org access, they land on the Access Pending page after signing in.

8Branch a parallel draft

When two engineers need to make non-overlapping changes, branching keeps their work isolated.

1. Open the diagram → Properties → click the orange GitBranch icon (Version history), or right-click the diagram in the Diagrams sidebar → Open Version History.
2. In the Version History tab, right-click the version both of you want to branch from (typically a snapshot or release) → Branch a New Draft.
3. The new draft is named Draft from {parent name} and enters inline rename mode — give it a meaningful name (e.g. Power Loom Rework).
4. Each teammate can branch their own draft from the same parent and work in parallel.
5. There is no merge UI — once one draft is approved, branch a fresh draft from the surviving version and re-apply the other engineer's changes manually.

Administrators have one extra option from snapshot or release context menus: Restore to Draft (marked with a red Admin badge) converts an existing snapshot/release into a draft in place rather than branching a copy.

9Use read-only views for review

Snapshots and releases are the natural "comment-only" review surfaces.

1. Open a snapshot or release version (Version History → click the version name).
2. The canvas shows the Read Only banner.
3. Editors/Admins can either click Create Draft to branch off and propose changes, or stay on the read-only view and add comments for the author to address.
4. Viewer-role teammates only get the read-only view + comments — they can still pin questions and resolve their own threads.

10Use the Artifact Agent (if enabled)

If your organization has the Artifact Agent (Copilot) enabled, an Open Artifact Agent button appears in the top-right next to your profile avatar.

• The Agent is a single-user AI assistant, not a multi-user chat. Each user has their own threads stored locally.
• The Agent can perform tools on your behalf (search the library, propose library item changes, etc.) but its work doesn't show up in teammates' presence.
• Use the New chat menu item to start a fresh thread.

Treat the Agent as your personal pair-programmer, not a shared channel. For a full walkthrough of capabilities, chat management, and library/diagram edits, see Tutorial 15: Using the Copilot.

Summary

You can see who is in your project and on which tabs, co-edit drafts with teammates in near-real-time, leave pin comments with threads and resolution, share specific diagrams or versions through org-scoped links, and branch parallel drafts for non-overlapping work. Presence is passive (no live cursors), comments are version-scoped (no @mentions or notifications), and project access is organization-wide rather than per-project.

What's next

• → Tutorial 14: Admin Options — if you're an organization administrator, learn how to invite teammates, assign roles, and manage org-wide API access.
• → Tutorial 7: Versioning — branching, snapshots, and releases are the core of the collaboration model.