Whiteboards
Whiteboards use an embedded, freeform Excalidraw canvas for diagrams, sketches, and visual notes. Each whiteboard is a .excalidraw file that autosaves as you draw, so you can keep it in a project alongside your code. Excalidraw runs locally and works without an account or internet connection.
Create a whiteboard
- Click the pencil-and-scribble button in the toolbar (next to VibeCast and Todos).
- The new whiteboard opens on the canvas immediately.
CrispyVibe creates Untitled Whiteboard.excalidraw as a draft in your Shelf. Additional drafts use Untitled Whiteboard 2, Untitled Whiteboard 3, and so on.
Draw and autosave
Use the Excalidraw tools to add shapes, arrows, text, and freehand drawing. A moment after you stop drawing, CrispyVibe automatically writes your edits to the file. The interface has no Save button.
The canvas follows the app’s light/dark theme automatically.
Move a whiteboard into a project
A new whiteboard remains in the Shelf (a staging area) until you move it into a project:
- Open the Files sidebar so you can see the Shelf and your project’s file tree.
- Drag the whiteboard’s row from the Shelf onto a folder in the project’s file tree.
The file moves into that folder, the open tab follows it, and it leaves the Shelf.
The drop target must be a folder inside an open project. Drops outside a project are ignored.
⚠️ Note: If the target folder already contains a file with the same name, the existing file remains and the whiteboard receives a numbered name.
Open an existing whiteboard
Open any .excalidraw file from the file explorer or the Shelf, and it renders on the canvas, ready to edit.
Keyboard shortcuts
Drawing shortcuts are Excalidraw’s own and are shown in the canvas tools:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Select | V |
| Rectangle | R |
| Ellipse | O |
| Arrow | A |
| Text | T |
| Undo / Redo | Cmd+Z / Shift+Cmd+Z |
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Dragging the Shelf row doesn’t move it | Drop it onto a folder inside an open project. Drops elsewhere are ignored. Make sure the Files sidebar shows the project’s tree. |
| ”The whiteboard runtime is unavailable” | The app build is missing its bundled assets. Reinstall or rebuild the app. |
| A brief flicker when moving into a project | The canvas reloads at its new location. Your drawing is preserved. |
Known limitations
- Whiteboards are local, single-user, offline files and do not support real-time collaboration.
- Whiteboards do not have a command-line interface.
- Opening the same whiteboard in two panes at once causes each pane to reload and maintain its canvas independently.