Install and make a first edit

Install the package that matches your runtime, then verify the shared Core with one small edit.

JavaScript

pnpm add colla-ot

colla-ot is ESM-only and supports Node.js 22+, Vite 5+, and Rollup 4+. Browser and Node entry points initialize the same WebAssembly core synchronously; no public Wasm initialization function or bundler plugin is required.

Rust

[dependencies]
colla = "0.3"

The crate supports Rust 1.81 or newer. It is the reference implementation for the data model, OT algebra, and canonical body codec.

Verify JavaScript

import { Document, text } from 'colla-ot'

const document = Document.fromJS(text('hello'))
document.transact(tx => {
  tx.text([], t => t.retain(5).insert(' world'))
})

console.log(document.get([]))
// { type: 'text', value: 'hello world' }

If the value prints correctly, the package root is ready to use. Continue to Document synchronization for a complete application flow, or see the Rust examples.

Verify Rust

use colla::{apply, Change, TextChange, TextOp, Value};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let before = Value::text("hello");
    let change: Change = TextChange::from_ops([
        TextOp::Retain(5),
        TextOp::Insert(" world".into()),
    ])?.into();
    assert_eq!(apply(&before, &change)?, Value::text("hello world"));
    Ok(())
}

Troubleshooting the first run

• Use text() when you need character-level editing. A normal string is atomic.
• Keep imports on the documented package exports; do not import generated Wasm files directly.
• If input is untrusted, configure structured-input limits and handle stable CollaError codes.
• Snapshot and Update bytes are versioned envelopes; raw Value and Change bytes are the corresponding body formats.