Real‑time Sync Challenges

I'm building a collaborative document editor that relies on real‑time synchronization across multiple devices. While the basic sync works, I'm facing several challenges:

• Handling network interruptions without data loss.
• Resolving edit conflicts when two users modify the same portion simultaneously.
• Minimizing latency for a seamless user experience.

Has anyone implemented a robust solution for these issues? I'd appreciate architectural patterns, libraries, or even sample code snippets.

For real‑time collaboration, I recommend looking into Operational Transformation (OT) or Conflict‑free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs). Both handle concurrent edits gracefully.

OT is used by Google Docs; it transforms operations based on their order. CRDT approaches (like Yjs or Automerge) let each client apply changes locally and reconcile automatically.

Regarding network drops, implement a local write‑ahead log and replay unsent operations when the connection is restored.

Here’s a minimal Yjs example:

import * as Y from 'yjs';
import { WebsocketProvider } from 'y-websocket';

const ydoc = new Y.Doc();
const provider = new WebsocketProvider('wss://my-sync-server', 'my-room', ydoc);
const ytext = ydoc.getText('shared');

ytext.observe(event => {
  // apply remote changes to the editor
});

This handles latency and conflict resolution out of the box.

Add a debounce on local updates before sending them to the server; this reduces network chatter and improves perceived latency.

Also, use exponential backoff for reconnection attempts to avoid hammering the server during outages.