Building Document Management System: PART 1

Are you sick of tutorials that promise real-time features but deliver real-world headaches? You watch a video and get hyped about building the next big thing, but when you try to make it work in your project, you just get bugs, errors, and frustration.

Those days are gone. In this course, you'll build and deploy Live Docs—an improved version of Google Docs that manages millions of collaborators in real-time.

Features 🤩

It includes a secure authentication flow, a full markdown editor, complete document management (create, edit, save, and delete documents), real-time nested comments with tagging, emojis, and complete CRUD functionalities for engaging discussions.

You’ll also implement floating comments, live cursors that show exactly what collaborators are working on, instant notifications to keep everyone in the loop, flexible sharing options (invite editors and viewers or revoke their access), and a native-like, fully responsive design that works flawlessly on any device.

Tech Stack 👩‍💻

And you'll achieve all of this while learning:

• Next.js for server-side rendering, nested layouts, server actions, and revalidation

• TypeScript for type-safe code

• Lexical (a powerful editor developed by Meta)

• Tailwind CSS for a modern, completely mobile-responsive UI

• Clerk for hassle-free authentication, turning weeks of building your own system into minutes of integration

• Sentry for monitoring performance to ensure your app is enterprise-ready

Resources 📁

You'll have access to:

• An open-source codebase to reference if you get stuck.

• A custom Figma design so you know exactly what you’re building.

• A Discord server for bug resolution.

All of these resources are free. Grab the links below while I continue telling you more about the app.

This isn’t just your average tutorial. You'll build a real-world, real-time web app and gain confidence to create any kind of truly dynamic, responsive, and collaborative experience.

With Live Blocks, adding real-time features into your app becomes easy. What typically takes months to build from scratch, you'll implement in hours. It's so robust that even Vercel, the platform powering Next.js, chose it for their live streams to improve engagement through live reactions.

All the software used in this course—Live Blocks, Lexical, Tailwind CSS, Clerk, and more—is completely free, with no credit card required. A basic to medium understanding of React or Next.js is recommended. If you’re not there yet, check out my Next.js crash course and come right back.

Here’s a demo to show you what you’ll build:

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By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have built a real-world solution to a problem and gained valuable skills to showcase to recruiters and hiring managers.

Let’s dive into the code and start building something amazing!

Quick Navigation 🚀

Use this table to easily navigate through the tutorial series and topics:

Check out the Read More section for detailed build processes, live websites, and complete source code for each project!