How to Self-Host Excalidraw Whiteboard Tool

What Is Excalidraw?

Excalidraw is an open-source virtual whiteboard tool for sketching hand-drawn-style diagrams. It is ideal for brainstorming, wireframing, and quick visual collaboration. The self-hosted version gives you full control over your data and supports real-time collaboration.

Prerequisites

• A Breeze running Ubuntu 22.04 or later
• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• A domain name pointed to your Breeze (optional but recommended)

Docker Compose Setup

mkdir -p ~/excalidraw && cd ~/excalidraw

version: "3.8"
services:
  excalidraw:
    image: excalidraw/excalidraw:latest
    container_name: excalidraw
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:80"
    environment:
      - REACT_APP_BACKEND_V2_GET_URL=https://your-storage-backend
      - REACT_APP_BACKEND_V2_POST_URL=https://your-storage-backend

Launch and Access

docker compose up -d

Open http://your-breeze-ip:3000 in your browser. The whiteboard is immediately available with drawing tools, shapes, text, and image embedding. Diagrams can be exported as PNG, SVG, or the native .excalidraw format.

Adding Collaboration Support

For real-time multiplayer collaboration, deploy the Excalidraw room server alongside the main app:

  excalidraw-room:
    image: excalidraw/excalidraw-room:latest
    container_name: excalidraw-room
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3002:80"

Best Practices

• Place behind a reverse proxy with SSL for secure access
• Use Excalidraw libraries to share reusable component sets across your team
• Back up exported diagrams to your preferred storage solution