Collaboration

MTG Rack supports real-time collaborative deck editing, so you and your friends can build and tune decks together. Invite collaborators by username or email, edit simultaneously with live cursors and presence indicators, and track every change with a full version history. This page covers everything you need to know about sharing editing access, managing permissions, and working on decks as a team.

Sharing a Deck for Collaboration

To invite collaborators, open the deck you want to share and click the Share button in the toolbar, then select the Collaborators tab. Search for a user by their MTG Rack username or email address and click Invite. You can invite up to 10 collaborators per deck. Each collaborator receives a notification and an email with a link to accept or decline the invitation.

Collaboration is separate from public sharing. A deck can have collaborators while remaining private — only you and your invited collaborators can see and edit it. For public sharing options, see Sharing & Publishing.

Accepting and Declining Invitations

When someone invites you to collaborate on a deck, you receive both an in-app notification and an email. The notification includes the deck name, the inviter's username, and the permission level being granted. Click Accept to join the deck, and it appears in your sidebar under a Shared with Me section. Click Decline to reject the invitation — the inviter is not notified of declines.

Real-Time Collaborative Editing

When multiple collaborators are editing the same deck simultaneously, changes appear in real time. If one person adds a card, every other collaborator sees it appear in their editor instantly. If someone moves a card between sections or adjusts a quantity, the update propagates immediately. There is no need to refresh the page or pull updates manually — the editor stays in sync automatically via WebSocket.

Conflict resolution is handled automatically. If two people edit the same card at the same moment (e.g., both trying to change its quantity), the last change wins, and a brief notification informs both users of the conflict resolution. In practice, conflicts are rare because each person's changes apply instantly, so collaborators naturally see what others are doing and avoid stepping on each other's edits.

Presence Indicators

When collaborators are online and viewing the same deck, presence indicators show who is active. Each collaborator is represented by a colored avatar dot in the toolbar area. The dot is filled when the user is actively editing and outlined when they are viewing but not making changes. Hover over an avatar to see the user's name and what section of the deck they are currently looking at.

Remote cursors appear in the decklist to show where other collaborators are currently working. Each cursor is color-coded to match the collaborator's avatar, so you can tell at a glance who is editing which section. Cursors fade out after a few seconds of inactivity to keep the interface clean.

Real-Time Updates via WebSocket

All collaborative features are powered by WebSocket connections that maintain a persistent, low-latency link between collaborators. Changes propagate in under 100 milliseconds on typical connections. If a collaborator's connection drops, the editor queues their changes locally and syncs them when the connection is restored. A connection status indicator in the toolbar shows whether you are connected, reconnecting, or offline.

Version History and Changelog

Every change made by every collaborator is recorded in the deck's version history. Open the History panel to see a chronological list of changes, each annotated with the collaborator who made the change, a timestamp, and a description of what was modified (cards added, removed, moved, or quantities changed).

Diff View

Click any two versions in the history to see a diff view that highlights exactly what changed between them. Added cards are shown in green, removed cards in red, and moved or quantity-changed cards in yellow. This is invaluable for reviewing what a collaborator changed while you were away, or for understanding the evolution of a deck over time.

Reverting to a Previous Version

Any collaborator with Editor or Owner permissions can revert the deck to a previous version. Click a version in the history and select Revert to This Version. A confirmation dialog warns that this will overwrite the current state. Reverting creates a new version entry in the history, so the action is itself reversible. All collaborators are notified when a revert occurs.

Permission Management

The deck owner can assign one of three permission levels to each collaborator:

To change a collaborator's permission level, open the collaboration panel, click the role dropdown next to their name, and select the new level. To remove a collaborator entirely, click the remove button next to their entry. Removed collaborators lose access immediately and receive a notification.

Comments and Discussions

The deck's Comments tab provides a threaded discussion area where collaborators can leave feedback, suggest changes, and discuss strategy without modifying the deck itself. Comments support card name mentions — type [[Card Name]] to create an inline card reference that shows a hover preview. This is useful for discussions like "Should we replace [[Counterspell]] with [[Mana Drain]]?" where seeing the card instantly adds context.

Each comment shows the author, timestamp, and supports replies for threaded conversations. Collaborators are notified of new comments via in-app notifications. Comments persist in the deck's history and are visible to all collaborators.