Introduction
Welcome to DocuShark — a document hub where your writing, diagrams, and files live together in one place. It's offline-first, and it stays fast even when a document grows large and complex.
Most tools make you choose: a doc editor or a diagram editor. DocuShark is both at once. A single document holds rich prose, an infinite diagramming canvas, embedded files, and citations — side by side, always in sync. Write the explanation and draw its diagram right beside it, with no app-switching and no screenshots that go stale.
What DocuShark Is
- Write — a full rich-text editor (headings, tables, LaTeX math, code, callouts, citations) for real documentation, not just labels.
- Diagram — an infinite canvas with smart connectors and shape libraries (flowchart, UML, ERD, cloud) that stays smooth at thousands of shapes.
- Store — drop PDFs, spreadsheets, images, and datasets straight onto the canvas, pinned wherever you want them.
- Collaborate — connect a document to a workspace and edit live, with conflict-free syncing so you never lose work.
- Automate — connect any MCP-compatible AI agent to draft prose, diagrams, and references directly in your live document.
Whether you're sketching a quick flowchart, writing a design doc with an architecture diagram beside it, or documenting a database schema, DocuShark is built to stay out of your way and let you focus on your ideas.
What Makes DocuShark Different?
One Document, No Tool-Switching
Prose and an endless drawing canvas share the same document. A how-to and its diagram, a spec and its data model, notes and the sketch that explains them — together, not scattered across three apps. The workspace even reshapes itself around the task with layout modes: a calm reading column for writing, a full cockpit for diagramming, or a split of both.
It's Fast — Really Fast
Many browser-based tools start to struggle as a diagram grows. DocuShark uses Canvas 2D rendering with spatial indexing (R-tree) to stay smooth as your work gets large:
- Smooth pan and zoom no matter how complex your diagram gets
- Instant shape selection and manipulation
- No lag, no waiting, no frustration
Web & Desktop
DocuShark runs right in your browser — open it, install it as a PWA, and you always have the latest version. It also builds as a native desktop application (Windows, Linux, macOS) using Tauri, with native file-system access and fully offline, local-only documents. You get the same editor and the same features either way.
Real-time Collaboration
Work together in real time: connect a document to a workspace and everyone sees each other's changes live, with automatic conflict-free syncing — you'll never lose work to a conflict. Workspaces also give you cloud storage, sync across your devices, and integrations as they arrive. See Collaboration to get started.
Rich Shape Libraries
Create any kind of diagram with built-in libraries:
- Basic shapes — Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Text, Connector, Group
- Flowchart — Process, Decision, Terminator, Data, and more
- UML — Class diagrams, Sequence diagrams, Activity diagrams, Use Cases
- ERD — Entity-Relationship with Crow's Foot notation
- Cloud icons — AWS, Azure, GCP service icons for architecture diagrams
Plus, you can create and share your own custom shape libraries.
What You Can Do
| Feature | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Rich text editor | Write formatted documentation right alongside your diagrams |
| Multi-page documents | Organize complex projects across separate prose and canvas pages |
| Embedded files | Drag-and-drop PDFs, spreadsheets, and images onto the canvas |
| Collections | Group related documents into named, colour-coded sets |
| Smart connectors | Connectors auto-route and follow shapes when you move them |
| Auto-layout | Tidy up connected shapes with one command |
| Citations | Cite sources inline, paste a DOI, generate a bibliography |
| Document fields | Reusable {{values}} that update everywhere at once |
| Layout modes | Reshape the workspace for writing, diagramming, or both |
| Appearance | Themes, style profiles, and window chrome you can make your own |
| Import | Bring in Excalidraw, draw.io, and Mermaid diagrams |
| AI agents (MCP) | Let an AI assistant draft documents and diagrams for you |
| Whiteboard | Quick sticky-note brainstorming with Ctrl+I |
| Version history | Automatic restore points you can preview and roll back to |
| Full undo/redo | Snapshot-based history — never worry about mistakes |
| Export anywhere | PNG, SVG, PDF, JSON, and .docushark archives |
| Offline-first | Works without internet, syncs when you reconnect |
What's Next?
This documentation is organized to help you get productive quickly:
- Installation — Run DocuShark in your browser, or build it
- Quick Start — Create your first document in under five minutes
- Interface Tour — Learn what every part of the screen does
New to how it all fits together? Read How DocuShark Is Organized for the mental model — documents, pages, prose, canvas, and workspaces. After that, explore the Guides to go deeper into any feature.