✦ OpenBoard

Local-first personal whiteboard workspace for developers and external AI agents.

🌐 Live Website & Docs • ⚡ Quickstart • 🤖 MCP Tools • 📦 npm Package

# Launch directly without installing:
npx openboard-app start

# Or install globally:
npm install -g openboard-app
openboard start

All whiteboards, documents, and canvas metadata reside locally in your SQLite database:
~/.openboard/openboard.db

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✦ Table of Contents

• Overview
• Key Features
• Quick Start
• Model Context Protocol (MCP) Integration
• AI Agent Quick Setup
• 13 Semantic MCP Tools
• Architecture & Guarantees
• Monorepo Structure
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• CLI Reference
• Contributing & Community
• License

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✦ Overview

OpenBoard is a modern, lightweight, local-first infinite whiteboard pairing an interactive tldraw canvas with a high-performance Model Context Protocol (MCP) server.

It is designed for developers who want a fast personal whiteboard and for autonomous AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, OpenAI Codex, OpenClaw, Hermes) to inspect, create, organize, and update software architecture diagrams, system topologies, database schemas, and workflows collaboratively.

  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                     EXTERNAL AI AGENT                     │
  │     (Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, Codex, Hermes...)     │
  └─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                                │ JSON-RPC 2.0 (stdio / SSE)
                                ▼
  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                   OPENBOARD MCP SERVER                    │
  │               (13 High-Level Semantic Tools)              │
  └──────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬──────────────┘
                 │                             │
                 ▼                             ▼
  ┌───────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────┐
  │   LOCAL SQLITE DATABASE   │ │   HEADLESS CANVAS ENGINE    │
  │ (~/.openboard/openboard.db│ │  (tldraw store + SVG vector)│
  └───────────────────────────┘ └──────────────┬──────────────┘
                                               │
                                               ▼ SSE Live Sync
                                ┌─────────────────────────────┐
                                │     BROWSER WHITEBOARD      │
                                │   (http://localhost:4747)   │
                                └─────────────────────────────┘

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✦ Key Features

• 🔒 Local-First & 100% Private: Zero cloud dependencies, zero telemetry, zero accounts. Everything lives in your local SQLite database (~/.openboard/openboard.db).
• 🤖 AI Agent Native: Built-in stdio & SSE Model Context Protocol server exposing 13 semantic tools for creating and mutating canvas elements.
• 🎨 Twenty-Inspired Dark Workspace: Elegant near-black surfaces (#0e0e11), electric blue accents (#2563eb), zero-dependency SVG iconography, and responsive design.
• 👁️ Headless Canvas Inspection & SVG Screenshots: Agents inspect semantic canvas hierarchies and render pixel-perfect vector SVG snapshots without needing a browser window.
• ⚡ Live Browser Projection (SSE): If a user is viewing a board in their browser, agent modifications stream seamlessly into the viewport in real time.
• ⌨️ Keyboard-First Productivity: Press N for new whiteboards, / to focus search, Esc to dismiss dialogs, and Enter to confirm.
• 🗃️ Complete Board Lifecycle: Multi-board dashboard, favorites, instant duplication, debounced autosave, soft delete (Trash), and permanent purging.

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✦ Quick Start

Option 1: Run with npx (No installation required)

npx openboard-app start

Option 2: Install globally via npm

npm install -g openboard-app
openboard start

Option 3: Connect to your AI Agent immediately

openboard mcp

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✦ Model Context Protocol (MCP) Integration

OpenBoard provides a universal Model Context Protocol server over stdio (and HTTP/SSE at http://localhost:4747/api/mcp).

Universal MCP JSON Configuration

Add this to your MCP configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openboard": {
      "command": "openboard",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

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✦ AI Agent Quick Setup

AI Client	Setup Path or Command	Format
Claude Code	claude mcp add openboard --command="openboard" --args="mcp"	CLI / ~/.claude.json
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json	JSON (mcpServers)
OpenCode	~/.config/opencode/opencode.jsonc	JSONC (mcp.openboard)
OpenAI Codex	~/.codex/config.toml	TOML (mcp_servers.openboard)
OpenClaw	~/.openclaw/config.json	JSON (mcpServers)
Hermes Agent	~/.hermes/config.yaml	YAML (mcp_servers)
Generic MCP	Any client supporting stdio MCP JSON-RPC 2.0	openboard mcp

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✦ 13 Semantic MCP Tools

OpenBoard equips AI agents with 13 semantic tools structured for developer tasks:

Board Organization & Management

1. list_boards: Search and filter whiteboards (all, recent, favorites, trash).
2. create_board: Create a new whiteboard with title and optional description.
3. get_board: Retrieve board metadata, document summary, and timestamps.
4. rename_board: Rename an existing whiteboard.
5. duplicate_board: Clone a board and its complete canvas document.
6. favorite_board: Bookmark or toggle favorite status.
7. delete_board: Move a whiteboard to Trash (soft delete).
8. restore_board: Recover a deleted whiteboard from Trash.

Canvas Inspection & Manipulation

9. get_canvas_state: Retrieve structured shapes, bounds, text, and arrow bindings.
10. get_canvas_screenshot: Render a headless vector SVG visual screenshot.
11. create_shapes: Create shapes (rectangles, ellipses, notes, text, frames, arrows).
12. update_shapes: Modify positions, dimensions, text, colors, or arrow bindings.
13. delete_shapes: Remove shapes and automatically clean up associated connections.

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✦ Architecture & Guarantees

1. MCP does not connect directly to SQLite: All operations flow through domain-validated BoardService and CanvasService.
2. MCP does not connect directly to React: Canvas operations execute against a headless tldraw store engine.
3. Browser Optional for AI Agents: Agents can create, query, and modify boards whether the web UI is open or closed.
4. Explicit board_id targeting: Every canvas operation explicitly references the target board ID.
5. Live Projection: If a user opens the board in a browser, changes made by external agents project into the active view instantly via SSE.

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✦ Monorepo Structure

openboard/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/               # React 18 + Vite frontend (tldraw canvas, Twenty dark UI, Docs)
│   └── server/            # Express + SQLite API server + SSE live projection
├── packages/
│   ├── shared/            # TypeScript interfaces, DTOs, schemas & shape contracts
│   ├── storage/           # SQLiteBoardRepository with ACID migrations & memory fallback
│   ├── core/              # BoardService, CanvasService, HeadlessSvgRenderer
│   └── mcp/               # OpenBoardMcpServer (stdio / SSE JSON-RPC 2.0 transport)
├── cli/                   # openboard-app CLI binary with embedded web assets
├── docs/                  # Architectural guides & AI agent integration tutorials
└── .github/               # CI workflows and issue / PR templates

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✦ Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
N	Open New Whiteboard modal
/	Focus dashboard search bar
Esc	Clear search input / Dismiss modal or context menu
Enter	Submit modal form / Open selected board

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✦ CLI Reference

openboard start      # Start local workspace server & open web dashboard (default port: 4747)
openboard mcp        # Start Model Context Protocol server on stdio for AI agents
openboard info       # Display local configuration, database path, and agent MCP details
openboard -v         # Display installed version
openboard --help     # Display CLI help

Options for openboard start

• -p, --port <number>: Port to listen on (default: 4747)
• -h, --host <host>: Host address to bind to (default: localhost)
• --db <path>: Custom SQLite database path (default: ~/.openboard/openboard.db)
• --no-open: Do not automatically open browser on startup

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✦ Contributing & Community

Contributions are warmly welcome! Whether you are reporting an issue, proposing an MCP feature, or improving developer documentation:

1. Read our Contributing Guidelines.
2. Check our Code of Conduct.
3. Report security disclosures privately per our Security Policy.

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/atpaawej/openboard.git
cd openboard

# Install dependencies & build
npm install
npm run typecheck
npm run test
npm run build

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✦ License

OpenBoard is open-source software licensed under the MIT License.
Copyright © 2026 OpenBoard Contributors.