Guest vs Account

A core principle of livediagram is that the canvas always works without signing in. A first-time visitor can open a new document, build something real, share it, and collaborate, all as a guest. Signing in is never a wall in front of the editor; it simply unlocks a few things that need an account to make sense. This article explains the difference so you can choose what suits you.

What you get as a guest

As a guest you have the full editing experience. Your work is saved automatically against your browser, so it is there when you come back on the same device.

• The full canvas: every shape, arrow, drawing tool, theme, and template.
• Persistence for your documents, on this device (sign in to sync across devices).
• Your settings, saved against the same per-browser id. See Guest Identity.
• Sharing and collaboration: open share links as a viewer or editor, and mint your own share links so others can join.
• Real-time presence on any shared session.

The one trade-off: your guest identity lives in your current browser. Clearing your browser data, or switching to another device, means that guest library does not follow you.

What an account adds

Creating a free account (at /get-started, confirmed with a code we email you, or with Google where it is enabled; see Signing In) adds the things that only make sense once you have an identity:

• Cross-device sync. Your documents travel with your account, so they appear on every device you sign in to.
• A persistent identity. Your display name comes from your profile rather than being set per session.
• Teams. Join or create a team to work in a shared space with teammates.
• Email notifications when someone joins or comments on your documents, mentions you, assigns you an action, or answers a team invite, on deployments that send email.
• A profile picture on your avatar, cursor and comments, where collaborators see it.
• Google Drive, to keep a copy of your documents in your own Drive.
• Publishing to the Community, the public gallery of shared boards.
• API tokens for your own scripts and for AI tools connected over MCP.

Accounts are free like everything else in livediagram, there is no paid tier.

Moving from guest to account

You do not lose anything by signing up. When you create your account, or sign in to one, in the same browser, everything you built as a guest migrates into your account automatically: your documents and folders, favourites, settings, custom themes and images. The work you have already done carries over rather than being left behind.

The two paths also coexist forever: a signed-in user can hand a share link to a guest, who edits the same document with no account at all.