Docs / Rooms

Drawing rooms.

A room is one canvas shared live by everyone in it. You see each other's cursors, strokes land in real time, and the result is a single collaborative piece. It's the closest thing the site has to hanging out.

§1

Joining a room

  • The rooms page lists public rooms, with the live ones up top. Click one and you're in. Rooms where people you follow are drawing get a little face pile, so you can find your friends.
  • Every room also has a share link. If a friend sends you one, that link is the door, even for rooms that aren't listed publicly.
  • Passworded roomsEnter the password once and the room remembers you. No re-typing every visit.
  • Knock to joinSome rooms make you knock: you request entry, and the host or a moderator lets you in from inside. Until then you wait at the door.

Rooms are young, so only a limited number can be live at once. If the list is full, check back a little later.

§2

Drawing together

Inside a room you get the same editor you use everywhere else: brushes, layers, fill, selections. Everyone draws on the same shared layers, live.

  • Your undo is yoursUndo only rewinds your own recent strokes, so a mistake doesn't nuke anyone else's work.
  • Layer locksLayers can be locked so nobody paints over the finished line art while shading happens elsewhere.
  • PresenceYou see everyone's cursor and current tool, each person in their own color.
  • ChatEvery room has a text chat alongside the canvas for coordinating (or heckling, lovingly).
  • Late joinersJoin mid-session and the canvas catches you up to the exact current state, history and all.
§3

Hosting your own

Anyone can create a room. You pick the canvas size, how many people fit, and how the door works:

Canvas size256 to 4096 px per side
Room size2 to 50 people
AccessOpen, password, or knock-to-join
ListingPublic, or link-only (a supporter perk)
  • ModeratorsPromote trusted folks to moderator so the room stays sane when you're mid-stroke. Mods can approve knocks and deal with troublemakers; only the owner can change room settings or promote and demote mods.
  • The bootOwners and moderators can kick someone out, or ban them so they stay out. Bans stick to the account, not the tab.
§4

Room lifecycle

  • The canvas persists. Everyone can leave and the drawing is still there when the room wakes back up.
  • Rooms quiet for a day drop off the main lobby list, but the share link keeps working, and drawing in one brings it right back.
  • Want to keep the result? Download it from the editor. Rooms don't auto-publish to the feed.
§5

Etiquette

The one rule

It's a shared canvas. Treat everyone's corner of it like it matters.

  • The host sets the theme. Draw with the room, not at it.
  • Don't draw over, erase, or transform someone else's work without asking.
  • Big destructive moves like filling a layer or clearing space? Ask first.
  • Everything in the community rules applies inside rooms too.
Drawing Rooms | bakatako.com