Excalidraw

Install the Excalidraw whiteboard from the App Store, understand where drawings are stored, protect the board with a password and keep it up to date.

Updated Oct 9, 2026 · 4 min read

Excalidraw is a virtual whiteboard for diagrams, flowcharts, wireframes and sketches with a hand-drawn look. The App Store version serves the Excalidraw web app from your own domain; drawings are kept in each user's browser, not on the server. Choose it for workshops, teaching or quick diagrams when you want the board on your own domain.

Requirements

Item	Value
Image	`excalidraw/excalidraw:latest`
Memory limit	256 MB, 1 CPU
Free disk to install	About 1.2 GB on the Docker disk (the image plus 1 GB kept free for the server)
Data on the server	None: the container has no data folder

The website counts toward the account's website limit. As a customer, your package must allow Docker apps and have 256 MB of RAM (MB) free.

How Excalidraw stores drawings

Understand this before you rely on the app:

Drawings stay in the browser. Excalidraw saves the current scene automatically in the browser's local storage. Another browser, another device or a private window starts with an empty canvas. Clearing site data in the browser deletes the drawing.
Files are your backup. Use the main menu's Save to… to download a .excalidraw file, Export image… for PNG or SVG, and Open to load a file on another device.
Live collaboration and share links use Excalidraw's public servers. The official image is built with the same settings as excalidraw.com: live sessions go through oss-collab.excalidraw.com and shareable links are stored at json.excalidraw.com. Excalidraw encrypts the scene in the browser before sending it, and the key stays in the link. These features depend on Excalidraw's services being available; your server only delivers the app. If nothing may leave your own infrastructure, use Save to… and share files instead.
The library browser and AI features also call Excalidraw's online services.

Install Excalidraw

Point the domain's A record (for example draw.example.com) to the server.
Open App Store and click Install on the Excalidraw card. Customers find App Store in their own menu; the card at the top shows the package's app and memory quota.
Fill in the fields and click Install.

Field	What to enter
Domain	The domain or subdomain for the board, without `http://`.
Owner	Administrators only: the hosting account that owns the app.
Free SSL (Let's Encrypt)	Leave on. Browsers only allow the clipboard and some file features on `https://`.

Excalidraw has no extra fields and no administrator account.

No setup lock. Other apps are locked to their owner until set up, because their first visitor creates the administrator. Excalidraw has no accounts, so it is open to everyone as soon as it starts. The Docker tab shows no setup card.

Use it

Open https://<domain>. The canvas is ready immediately.
Draw, then use Save to… regularly to keep a file.
To work together, open Live collaboration…, start a session and send the link. Everyone with the link can edit while the session is open.

Limit who can open the board

Anyone who knows the address can use the app. Nothing is stored on the server, but you may still want to keep it private:

Open the website and go to the Tools tab.
In Password-protected directories, click Protect a directory.
Enter / as the Directory to protect the whole site, add one or more users, then Save.

Visitors then sign in with HTTP basic authentication before the app loads. Collaboration links still need that login to open the app. See Website tools.

Data and backups

ZoPanel creates no data folder for Excalidraw, so there is nothing on the server to back up: the Backups card on the Docker tab has nothing to save for Excalidraw, and Back up now reports "this app has no data folder". The container can be deleted and installed again at any time without losing drawings, because drawings are in browsers and in the files people saved. Back up the .excalidraw files you keep.

What	Where
Current drawing	The browser's local storage for `https://<domain>`
Saved drawings	`.excalidraw` files wherever the user saved them
Container name	`zp-app-<instance>`, where `<instance>` is the domain with dots replaced by hyphens

Note: Local storage belongs to the exact address. Moving the board to another domain starts with empty canvases; open saved files there.

Update Excalidraw

Administrators click Update to latest on the Docker tab. ZoPanel pulls excalidraw/excalidraw:latest again and recreates the container. Drawings in browsers are not affected; users may need to reload the page to get the new version. Customers ask their provider to update.

Network limits

App containers cannot reach the server's internal network (private address ranges, loopback, the cloud metadata address) or the panel, database and Redis ports. Excalidraw's container only serves the web app, so this has no effect on it. Collaboration, share links and the library are reached by each user's browser directly, not by the container.

Troubleshooting

Symptom or message	What to do
A drawing disappeared	It was in another browser, a private window, or the browser's site data was cleared. Open the last `.excalidraw` file you saved.
Live collaboration does not connect	The browser cannot reach `oss-collab.excalidraw.com` (blocked network, firewall or browser extension), or the service is unavailable. Save a file and share it instead.
A share link opens an empty board	The link must be complete, including the part after `#`, which holds the key.
"This website is very busy right now"	The container is starting or restarting. The page reloads by itself.
"not enough disk space: this app needs about 1.2 GB free…"	Free disk space on the server, then install again.
"your plan allows N application(s)"	The package's Docker apps limit is reached.

← Ghost Nextcloud →