How do I approach System Design interview questions?

System Design questions require understanding of core concepts and practice. PracHub provides solutions with explanations to help you master system design interviews.

What difficulty level is this interview question?

This is a medium difficulty System Design question, commonly asked during Technical Screen rounds at Grammarly.

What role is this question designed for?

This question is commonly asked for Software Engineer candidates at Grammarly during technical interviews.

Design a Figma-like collaborative editor | Grammarly Interview Question

Quick Overview

This question evaluates a candidate's ability in designing real-time collaborative systems, covering concurrency control (OT/CRDT trade-offs), low-latency messaging, data modeling, persistence, client-server synchronization, and fault tolerance for unreliable networks.

System Design: Collaborative design editor (Figma/Google Docs style)

Design the backend (and key client interactions) for a real-time collaborative design editor similar to Figma (or a Google-Docs-like document, but for canvas objects).

Core features

Users can create/open a file (design document) containing a canvas with objects (e.g., frames, shapes, text).
Multiple users edit concurrently and see updates in near real time.
Basic collaboration UX:
- Presence (who is online in the file)
- Cursor/selection indicators (optional)
- Comments (optional)
Persistence: changes must be saved and the file can be reopened later.

Non-functional requirements

Low latency for edits (target p50 < 200ms end-to-end for active collaborators).
Supports many files; a “hot” file may have many concurrent editors.
Network failures happen frequently (mobile/Wi‑Fi). Explain how the system behaves when:
- a client temporarily disconnects and reconnects
- packets are duplicated/out of order
- the client edits while offline and later comes back online

Scope / assumptions

You do not need to draw diagrams; explain in text.
You may choose an algorithm for concurrent editing (e.g., OT or CRDT) and justify it.
Define key APIs, data model, and major components (real-time messaging, storage, auth).

Quick Overview

System Design: Collaborative design editor (Figma/Google Docs style)

Design the backend (and key client interactions) for a real-time collaborative design editor similar to Figma (or a Google-Docs-like document, but for canvas objects).

Core features

Users can create/open a file (design document) containing a canvas with objects (e.g., frames, shapes, text).

Multiple users edit concurrently and see updates in near real time.

Basic collaboration UX:

Presence (who is online in the file)
Cursor/selection indicators (optional)
Comments (optional)

Persistence: changes must be saved and the file can be reopened later.

Non-functional requirements

Low latency for edits (target p50 < 200ms end-to-end for active collaborators).

Supports many files; a “hot” file may have many concurrent editors.

Network failures happen frequently (mobile/Wi‑Fi). Explain how the system behaves when:

a client temporarily disconnects and reconnects
packets are duplicated/out of order
the client edits while offline and later comes back online

Scope / assumptions

You do not need to draw diagrams; explain in text.

You may choose an algorithm for concurrent editing (e.g., OT or CRDT) and justify it.

Define key APIs, data model, and major components (real-time messaging, storage, auth).

Design a Figma-like collaborative editor

Quick Overview

System Design: Collaborative design editor (Figma/Google Docs style)

Core features

Non-functional requirements

Scope / assumptions

Solution

Submit Your Answer to Earn 20XP

Design a Figma-like collaborative editor

Quick Overview

System Design: Collaborative design editor (Figma/Google Docs style)

Core features

Non-functional requirements

Scope / assumptions

Solution

Submit Your Answer to Earn 20XP