Lucidspark
Collaborative whiteboards for brainstorming, planning, and workshops
The visible whiteboarding loop is buildable, but a credible replacement needs more than the first screen. Lucidspark earns its keep through interaction polish, collaboration, so expect a weekend or multi-day build and a narrower personal scope.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- high-fidelity import and export
- presentation and enterprise controls
- multiplayer cursors and comments
- large template libraries
Why people still pay
Lucidspark: The shapes are easy; customers pay for low-friction editing, reliable exports, collaboration, and a canvas that never fights them.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- Runtime and tools: TypeScript, React, SVG or Canvas and IndexedDB with a versioned JSON project format.
- Before starting: A browser with IndexedDB, licensed example assets and fonts, and an agreed output size.
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Project rule — domain: Store Board, Sticky, Group, VoteRound and Ballot; votes are scoped to a closed/open round and moving or merging notes preserves their vote provenance.
Project rule — scope and recovery: Start single-user or facilitator-entered voting rather than pretend multiplayer. Canvas changes need undo, keyboard equivalents and JSON backup; anonymous voting requires a deliberate identity model.
Project rule — acceptance: Allocate three votes, merge two similar notes and close the round; totals remain explainable and no participant can spend a fourth vote in the shared mode.
Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.
Recommended skill: vercel-composition-patterns — separate document tools, property inspectors and export controls into explicit reusable React components. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Recommended skill: web-design-guidelines — review keyboard access, focus, validation, error recovery and the readable work/review interface or HTML report. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Pin the working slice and create its example input: Run a local brainstorming board with sticky notes, connectors, grouping and a timed dot-voting round for a small facilitated session. Confirm setup: A browser with IndexedDB, licensed example assets and fonts, and an agreed output size.
Phase 2
Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store Board, Sticky, Group, VoteRound and Ballot; votes are scoped to a closed/open round and moving or merging notes preserves their vote provenance.
Phase 3
Connect the working view to real saved state. Maintain one document model for preview, undo and export. Use stable element IDs; save after completed gestures, handle storage quota errors and provide explicit file backups.
Phase 4
Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Start single-user or facilitator-entered voting rather than pretend multiplayer. Canvas changes need undo, keyboard equivalents and JSON backup; anonymous voting requires a deliberate identity model.
Phase 5
Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Allocate three votes, merge two similar notes and close the round; totals remain explainable and no participant can spend a fourth vote in the shared mode. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.
Build the following focused alternative to Lucidspark. This is a deliberately limited personal or small-team substitute, not parity with the paid service. WORKING SLICE Run a local brainstorming board with sticky notes, connectors, grouping and a timed dot-voting round for a small facilitated session. SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE Use TypeScript, React, SVG or Canvas and IndexedDB with a versioned JSON project format. Prerequisites: A browser with IndexedDB, licensed example assets and fonts, and an agreed output size. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success. DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS Store Board, Sticky, Group, VoteRound and Ballot; votes are scoped to a closed/open round and moving or merging notes preserves their vote provenance. IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT Maintain one document model for preview, undo and export. Use stable element IDs; save after completed gestures, handle storage quota errors and provide explicit file backups. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content. APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY Start single-user or facilitator-entered voting rather than pretend multiplayer. Canvas changes need undo, keyboard equivalents and JSON backup; anonymous voting requires a deliberate identity model. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO Allocate three votes, merge two similar notes and close the round; totals remain explainable and no participant can spend a fourth vote in the shared mode. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested. DELIVERY Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product. PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md
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Alternatives to building your own
all 5 free alternatives to Lucidspark →· no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Lucidspark pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0/user | $0/user | 3 editable Lucidspark boards, unlimited shapes, 25 MB total Lucid storage, Lucid AI and basic Visual Activities |
| individual | $9/user | — | Unlimited editable Lucidspark boards; 1 GB storage; premium Visual ActivitiesThe official current guide publishes $9 but not an unambiguous annual effective rate. |
| team | $10/user | — | Unlimited editable boards; 1 GB storage per user; guest contributors, developer platform, custom templates and advanced collaborationThe official current guide publishes $10 per user but not an unambiguous annual effective rate. |
| enterprise | — | — | Lucid Visual Collaboration Suite, 5 GB storage per user, SAML/SCIM, central administration, security and governanceCustom quote; Enterprise bundles Lucidspark with Lucidchart. |
free tier3 editable Lucidspark boards, unlimited shapes and 25 MB total storage; basic Visual Activities and Lucid AI
billingfree + recurring Individual/Team subscriptions and custom Enterprise; accessible first-party pages published $9 and $10 monthly figures but not verifiable annual equivalents
hidden costsA Lucidspark-only Team license does not let the user create or edit Lucidchart documents; both products require separate Team licenses unless buying the Enterprise Suite; Accelerators and other enterprise add-ons are separate
pricing sources checked 2026-08-14 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Lucidspark
Can you build your own Lucidspark with AI?
Partly. The visible whiteboarding loop is buildable, but a credible replacement needs more than the first screen. Lucidspark earns its keep through interaction polish, collaboration, so expect a weekend or multi-day build and a narrower personal scope.
What does the Lucidspark build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Run a local brainstorming board with sticky notes, connectors, grouping and a timed dot-voting round for a small facilitated session. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: high-fidelity import and export; presentation and enterprise controls; multiplayer cursors and comments. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Lucidspark prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Lucidspark project take?
The catalogue estimate is multi-day for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Lucidspark?
high-fidelity import and export; presentation and enterprise controls; multiplayer cursors and comments; large template libraries. Lucidspark: The shapes are easy; customers pay for low-friction editing, reliable exports, collaboration, and a canvas that never fights them.
What can I use instead of building Lucidspark?
Excalidraw: Fast multiplayer whiteboards, libraries, links, exports, and workshop-friendly sketching; fewer facilitation widgets, much less account bureaucracy. AFFiNE: Collaborative whiteboards tied to docs, databases, and planning views; broader than Lucidspark, more infrastructure if self-hosted. CryptPad: Persistent encrypted whiteboards inside a shared drive with permissions and team folders; visually plain, operationally serious. Compare all listed options at https://howtovibecodeit.dev/lucidspark/alternatives. Check each option's license, hosting needs and feature limits.