Reverse engineering of Linear's sync engine

Summary

Important This is a pretty awesome (and correct) write-up of our sync engine. (link) ...probably the best documentation that exists - internally or externally. (link) -- Tuomas Artman (Co-founder and CTO of Linear) Important Disclaimer: This research is conducted solely for learning purposes. Readers should not use the findings to develop software that competes with Linear or attempt to use the information provided to disrupt or compromise Linear’s systems. If the Linear team requests, I will be more than happy to remove this repository. Important Check out the SUMMARY My friends found this too long, so I wrote a summary highlighting the key points—making it a 10-minute read. If you're only interested in the main ideas or want to skip the implementation details, just read the summary. Reverse Engineering Linear's Sync Engine: A Detailed Study Join in discussion. I work on collaborative softwares, focusing on rich text editors and spreadsheets. Collaboration engines, also known as data sync engines, play a pivotal role in enhancing user experience in these softwares. They enable real-time, simultaneous edits on the same file while offering features like offline availability and file history. Typically, engineers use Operational Transformation (OT) or Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) to build sync engines. While these technologies are effective for editors and spreadsheets, they may not be ideal for other types of applications. Here's why. OT is widely adopted but notorious for its complexity. This complexity stems from the need to account for diverse data models and operation sets across different applications, which requires significant effort to implement correct operations and transformation functions. While OT excels at synchronizing edits, preserving user intent, and handling conflicts, its complexity often makes it overkill for simpler use cases—such as managing user information or file metadata—where a straightforward last-writer-wins approach might...