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What is TextWall?
TextWall is a browser-based, multiplayer text editor: instead of a document only you can see, it presents a shared "wall" where multiple people type at once, with live cursors, name tags, chat and typing indicators. It is built for casual, real-time collaboration and public creative writing rather than for private office documents.
What you actually get
- Shared walls: Each wall is a text canvas that several people can edit simultaneously. A global wall exists for anyone to drop into.
- Live presence: Options include showing other cursors, name tags, chat, anonymous IDs and display names, plus FPS and ping readouts.
- Visual styling: Colour options, decorations, rainbow text, custom themes, custom fonts and a legacy mode for text rendering.
- Wall controls: Owners can make a wall read-only, private, unlisted, registered-users-only, or hide cursors and chat. Walls can be marked NSFW, which triggers an acknowledgement prompt before entry.
- Accounts and administration: Registration and login, username and password changes, account deletion, member management, wall deletion, webhooks with an API key, and a report form for users or walls.
- Explore: A directory for finding public walls by search.
Who it suits
It fits groups who want a lightweight shared page for doodling in text, collaborative storytelling, live note-passing, or a public wall that strangers can join. It is a poor fit for confidential material, precise document formatting, or anything needing an audit trail, since the emphasis is on open, synchronous play.
A practical example
A small writing group opens a wall, sends the link to five people, sets the wall to registered-users-only and hides chat to cut noise. Each person picks a colour, and they draft a round-robin story while watching each other's cursors. Afterwards the host switches the wall to read-only so the result can be shared without further edits. If a wall is public and the content is adult, marking it NSFW makes visitors confirm before viewing.
Before you start
Decide whether the wall should be public, unlisted or registered-users-only, and whether chat and cursors help or distract. If you need a more conventional collaborative document with comments and version history, compare with Google Docs; for structured notes shared with a team, Notion is a common alternative.
How can I collaborate with others on a TextWall?
TextWall is a multiplayer text editor: many people can type on the same shared “wall” at the same time, and each participant appears as a cursor with a name tag, so collaboration happens in a single shared canvas rather than through separate documents. The page evidence shows walls can be configured as Read-only, Private, NSFW, Registered users only, or Unlisted, and that wall owners can add members, which is the main way access is controlled.
How a typical shared session works
- Create or open a wall.
- Share the wall with collaborators — either by making it public in Explore, by sending them the wall address, or by adding them as members if the wall is restricted.
- Everyone opens the same wall and types directly into it. Cursors, name tags, and typing indicators let you see who is active and where they are working.
- Use wall settings to keep the session manageable: Read-only prevents edits, Private keeps it out of public view, and Disable chat or Hide cursors reduces distraction.
For a small group writing together, the simplest route is a wall that is not read-only and not private, with the address shared to the people you trust. If the content is sensitive or unfinished, use Private or Registered users only and add members individually. If you want people to read but not alter the result, switch to Read-only once the draft is done.
Practical collaboration scenarios
- Group notes or brainstorming: several people type ideas in different areas of the wall; cursors make it obvious who is adding what.
- Live annotation or review: keep the wall editable and use chat or name tags to discuss changes as they happen.
- Shared reference page: use Read-only so visitors can read but not overwrite the content.
- Private project: use Private plus member additions so only invited people can reach the wall.
Trade-offs to weigh
- Open walls are easy to join and good for public or casual collaboration, but anyone with the address may be able to type or erase content.
- Member-only or private walls are safer for drafts and sensitive material, but require you to add each person and manage access.
- Read-only walls protect the final text, but collaborators cannot edit directly; they would need a separate editable wall or a copy.
- Chat and cursor visibility speed up coordination, but on a busy wall they can also clutter the view. The options to hide cursors, disable chat, or turn off anonymous IDs are useful when the wall gets noisy.
- NSFW-marked walls carry a warning that others must acknowledge before viewing, which is appropriate for content that should not appear unexpectedly at work or in shared spaces.
A useful next step
If you are starting a collaborative wall, decide first whether it should be public, private, or read-only, then add only the people who need edit access. For a public wall, keep a copy of important text elsewhere in case someone overwrites it. For a private or member-based wall, confirm that everyone can actually open the wall before the session begins, since restricted walls will not appear in Explore.
What are the privacy and safety settings for a TextWall?
TextWall is a shared, multiplayer text canvas: many people can type on the same "wall" at once, seeing each other's cursors and chat. Because the content is user-generated and public walls can be discovered through Explore, safety and privacy come down to two layers: what the wall owner configures, and what each visitor controls in their own options.
Wall-level controls (set by the owner)
The wall settings include several protective switches. A wall can be made read-only, so visitors can view but not type. It can be set to private, and separately unlisted, meaning it does not appear in Explore. Owners can restrict access to registered users only, so anonymous visitors cannot join. They can disable chat and disable cursors, which removes the social layer and makes the wall closer to a static page. There is also a hide cursors option and the ability to add members, suggesting a smaller trusted group can be given access while the wall stays closed to the general public.
Content warnings are handled explicitly. A wall can be flagged NSFW by its creator, which triggers a warning screen that visitors must acknowledge before viewing. Owners can also delete the wall, and there is a reporting path for users or walls that break the rules.
Visitor-level controls
Individual users have their own option panel, largely about visibility rather than access. You can toggle whether you see other cursors, name tags, chat, and anonymous IDs, or whether your display name and typing indicator appear to others. Chat can be cleared locally, and appearance settings cover themes, fonts, colors, rainbow text and zoom. These affect your own experience and how much you reveal, but they do not change who can enter the wall.
One practical limitation: reporting requires you to be logged in. Anonymous visitors can read, and possibly type, but cannot submit a report.
How to choose settings
| Goal | Setting to use |
|---|---|
| Share a draft you don't want edited | Read-only |
| Work with a small group only | Private + add members |
| Keep it out of search but reachable by link | Unlisted |
| Stop anonymous drive-by edits | Registered users only |
| Remove the social layer entirely | Disable chat + disable cursors |
| Flag adult content responsibly | NSFW marking |
A useful next step: if you are opening a wall to strangers, combine registered users only with disable chat and unlisted. That keeps the writing collaborative while cutting off the two most common sources of abuse — anonymous entry and open chat. If the wall is for a class or team, private plus add members is the cleaner fit.
How do I use the API or webhooks to integrate with TextWall?
TextWall exposes an API key and a webhook endpoint for programmatic integration, but the interface itself points you to the documentation rather than describing the request format inline. The wall settings include an API Key field and an Enable webhook toggle, and the page tells you to "Warp to ~textwall/webhooks for usage instructions." That in-app page is the authoritative starting point: the key is generated per wall, and the webhook must be enabled on that wall before it will send anything.
What the settings imply
- API Key — a per-wall credential, so treat it like a password. Anyone holding it can act on that wall's behalf.
- Enable webhook — an on/off switch at the wall level, which suggests outgoing events rather than a polling API.
- Wall Settings — Read-only, Private, Registered users only, Disable chat, Disable color, Unlisted, and Add members all sit alongside these controls, so you can scope what an integration is allowed to touch.
A practical integration path
- Log in and open the wall you want to automate.
- In Wall Settings, enable the webhook and copy the API key.
- Open the
~textwall/webhookspage inside TextWall for the exact endpoint and payload instructions. - Point your receiver at that endpoint, verify a test event arrives, then add your logic.
For a concrete case: a small team using a wall as a shared notepad could have a bot post a message when a deploy finishes, or mirror new wall text into a chat channel. Because walls can be marked Private, Unlisted or Registered users only, decide early whether your integration writes to a public wall or a restricted one, since that changes who sees the output.
Trade-offs to weigh
A webhook is push-based, so it is efficient but depends on your receiver being reachable and idempotent — assume events can repeat or arrive out of order. An API key is simple but coarse: if it leaks, the fix is rotating it in the wall settings, and any script sharing that key shares that risk. Keep the key server-side rather than in browser code, and test against a throwaway wall before wiring anything into a real one.
If you want background on the general pattern rather than this product's specifics, MDN Web Docs covers webhook and HTTP fundamentals, and Webhook.site gives you a disposable URL to inspect incoming requests while you are still figuring out the payload shape.
What customization options are available for the text editor?
TextWall’s customization is mostly about how shared text looks and behaves for you, not about changing the editor’s underlying features. The page evidence lists display, cursor, chat, color, font, theme and wall-level settings.
Display and interaction
- Show or hide other cursors, name tags, anonymous IDs, display names, chat and typing feedback.
- Turn on smooth panning, smooth cursors, round cursors and fade-in animation for chat messages.
- See performance information such as FPS and ping.
- Adjust zoom and the number of chunks fetched.
Text and color
- Copy colors and copy decorations.
- Rainbow text with legacy or custom mode, a custom hue and adjustable speed.
- Rainbow tag animation.
- A dark chat option.
Fonts, themes and wall controls
- Choose a font, use a custom font name and set its size.
- Set a custom theme with primary and secondary colors, plus white text.
- On a wall’s settings: read-only, private, hide cursors, disable chat, NSFW, registered-users-only, disable color, disable braille, unlisted, webhook support and an API key.
- Add members or delete the wall.
A practical next step is to decide whether you are customizing your own view or the wall everyone joins. Display, cursor, chat, font and theme options are personal; wall settings such as read-only, private, registered-users-only and disable color change the shared space. If you run a wall for a class, for example, disable chat and hide cursors can reduce distraction, while a custom theme and larger font can improve readability. If you are joining someone else’s wall, expect your personal display settings to work but not the wall-level controls.
How can I explore and discover public walls on TextWall?
Use the Explore page at TextWall to browse public walls, or search for a specific wall or username to jump straight to one.
What Explore gives you
Explore is the discovery area for walls their creators have left public. You can scroll through what's listed or type a name into the search field to narrow things down. Walls marked Unlisted are deliberately excluded from Explore, so they will not appear in your results even if you know part of their name — only a direct link or invitation gets you there.
Practical scenario
Suppose you want a shared scratchpad for a study group. Open Explore, search a keyword like "notes" or "math", and skim the results. When you find a wall, check its settings panel before committing: a wall set to Read-only or Private will not work as a collaborative space, and Registered users only means everyone joining needs an account. Walls flagged NSFW show a warning first, which is worth respecting if you are sharing your screen or working in a public setting.
A few things to keep in mind
- You can browse Explore without logging in, but reporting a wall that breaks the rules requires an account.
- Some walls hide cursors or disable chat, so a busy-looking wall may still feel quiet once you enter.
- Search matches wall names and usernames, so if a search comes up empty, try the creator's handle instead.
Next step: pick one wall, open its settings, and confirm it is public, editable and not NSFW before you invite anyone else.
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