Efficient workflows and solid core team leadership power this popular virtual whiteboard tool
Introduction
Excalidraw is an open-source virtual whiteboard tool that lets you easily sketch diagrams with a hand-drawn feel. Since its launch, this collaborative drawing platform has captured the attention of developers, designers, and teams worldwide with its intuitive interface and powerful features. With over 103,000 GitHub stars, 10.2k forks, and contributions from 335 developers, Excalidraw has established itself as the go-to solution for collaborative diagramming and brainstorming.
The platform offers real-time collaboration, end-to-end encryption, and a unique hand-drawn aesthetic that makes technical diagrams feel more approachable. From wireframes to system architecture diagrams, Excalidraw has become an essential tool for visual communication in software development.
We researched Excalidraw on collab.dev and discovered collaboration patterns that reflect the project's focus on quality and efficient development workflows.
Key Highlights
- Efficient Review Process: With 71% of PRs receiving reviews before merging, Excalidraw maintains solid quality standards while allowing for streamlined workflows. Their contributing guidelines front-load quality control through issue discussion and automated testing, reducing the need for extensive manual reviews.
- Minimal Wait Times: Contributors experience just 4 minutes and 30 seconds overall wait time, enabling rapid development cycles without unnecessary delays. This efficiency stems from clear semantic commit prefixes and a well-defined roadmap that helps contributors focus on valuable work.
- Strong Core Team Leadership: 78% of PRs come from core team members, demonstrating active maintainer involvement and focused development direction. This high percentage reflects their structured approach where contributors must comment on roadmap issues to get assigned by maintainers, creating a natural funnel for community contributions.
- Balanced Automation: 15.1% bot activity provides helpful automation while keeping the development process primarily human-driven. Their automated testing pipeline and translation system through Crowdin handle routine tasks while preserving human judgment for design decisions.
Excalidraw's Collaboration Model
Excalidraw demonstrates a focused approach to open source development that balances efficiency with quality control. The project's metrics reveal several interesting patterns:
Quality-Focused Approach: While not every PR receives formal review (71% coverage), the project maintains high standards through other quality gates and strong contributor guidelines.
Responsive Development: The remarkably low wait times (4m 30s overall) suggest efficient processes and responsive maintainers who can quickly evaluate and merge contributions.
Core Team Driven: With 78% of contributions coming from core team members, Excalidraw follows a maintainer-led model that ensures consistent vision and technical direction.
Efficient Workflows: The 8 hour 44 minute median merge time shows that once changes are ready, they move through the system efficiently without getting stuck in lengthy approval cycles.
This approach appears well-suited for a project that needs to maintain a cohesive user experience and technical architecture while still welcoming community contributions.
Looking at the Numbers
Excalidraw's collaboration metrics paint a picture of a well-run project with clear processes and engaged maintainers. The combination of reasonable review coverage (71%), minimal wait times, and efficient merge processes creates an environment where both core team members and external contributors can be productive.
The project's success with over 103,000 stars and active community engagement suggests that this focused, maintainer-led approach can be highly effective for certain types of open source projects.
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