How to install Excalidraw on a VPS

Important: This guide deploys the Excalidraw editor as a single-user app. The official Docker image serves a static SPA: there is no WebSocket server, no sync backend, and no real-time collaboration. Features like shareable links, presence cursors, and end-to-end encryption (available on excalidraw.com) require you to bring your own Firebase project or subscribe to Excalidraw+. This guide covers only the editor itself.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 VPS with SSH access and a public IP
• A domain name (e.g. whiteboard.example.com) pointing to your VPS
• Docker installed (covered in Step 2)
• Basic familiarity with the command line

The editor itself is lightweight. A 1 GB RAM / 1 vCPU instance is plenty for personal use.

Step 1, Connect and prepare the server

ssh root@SERVER_IP
apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install -y ca-certificates curl

Step 2, Install Docker

Install Docker Engine from the official repository:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
systemctl enable --now docker
docker --version

Step 3, Run Excalidraw with Docker

The official Excalidraw image is excalidraw/excalidraw:latest. Run it bound to a local port so it is not directly exposed to the internet:

docker run -d \
  --name excalidraw \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 \
  excalidraw/excalidraw:latest

This pulls the image and starts the editor on port 8080 of the loopback interface. The container serves the static editor only: no database, no WebSocket, no collaboration.

To verify the container is running:

docker ps --filter name=excalidraw

Step 4, Configure the reverse proxy

Route your domain to the local container with Nginx or Caddy and obtain a TLS certificate. Unlike chat applications or collaborative tools, no WebSocket upgrade headers are needed: Excalidraw's collaboration channel connects directly to Firebase (or your configured backend), not through your server.

Example Nginx snippet:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name whiteboard.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/whiteboard.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/whiteboard.example.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

If you use Caddy, a single line in your Caddyfile is enough:

whiteboard.example.com {
    reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8080
}

Caddy handles TLS automatically.

Step 5, First access

Open https://whiteboard.example.com in your browser. You should see the Excalidraw editor.

Draw something, then reload the page. The drawing is gone. This is expected: the editor stores data in your browser's local storage. Closing the tab or clearing browser data loses unsaved work. Always export important drawings:

• Use the Export button to save as .excalidraw (reopenable) or as PNG/SVG.
• Use the Save to disk option to keep a local copy.

If you need persistent storage, consider configuring a Firebase project (bring your own) or using Excalidraw+.

Maintenance

Pin the image tag to a specific version instead of latest to avoid unexpected breaking changes:

docker pull excalidraw/excalidraw:latest
docker inspect excalidraw/excalidraw:latest | grep -i "org.opencontainers.image.version"

Once you identify a working version, update the container:

docker stop excalidraw
docker rm excalidraw
docker run -d \
  --name excalidraw \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 \
  excalidraw/excalidraw:TAGGED_VERSION

Monitor the container logs for startup errors:

docker logs excalidraw