Real-time Presence

Live indicators that show exactly who is active in your workspace, what they are viewing, and when they were last seen.

Online indicators

Every workspace member has a presence indicator next to their avatar: a green dot means they are currently active in that workspace, an amber dot means they were active in the last 15 minutes, and a grey dot means they have been offline for more than 15 minutes. Clicking an avatar shows their last active timestamp.

Cursor presence on shared documents

When two or more people are viewing the same task card or document at the same time, you can see each other named cursors and text selections in real time. This prevents the situation where two people are editing the same section without knowing it, avoiding conflicting changes.

Typing indicators

In the comment threads on task cards, a typing indicator appears (similar to WhatsApp) when another team member is composing a reply. This reduces the awkward situation of two people posting duplicate responses because neither knew the other was already typing.

Focus mode and do not disturb

You can set yourself to Focus mode from the status menu in the top bar. While in Focus mode, your presence shows as a purple dot and notifications are muted. Your teammates can still see you are online but will not send you disruptive pings. Focus mode can be set to automatically turn off after 30, 60, or 90 minutes.

How it is built

Presence is powered by Firebase Realtime Database (separate from Firestore), which is optimised for high-frequency small writes. Each connected client writes a heartbeat every 30 seconds. If the client disconnects, Firebase automatically removes the presence record using the onDisconnect() handler, which fires even if the user just closes their laptop.

ELI12: The Simple Explanation