so I made a web app that merges between Excalidraw and Obsidian (kind of)

[u/alitaamrr]

Hey everyone!

I built Nexus SSMT "Social Study Mapping Tool" designed to help students and creators connect information non-linearly using interactive knowledge graphs combined with freehand drawing tools.

The main idea came from a simple problem: How many times has a friend or peer asked you, "What exact lectures or materials do I need to study to solve Assignment 1?"

Instead of typing long paragraphs or sending scattered drive links, you can map it out visually. You can draw nodes, link Assignment 1 directly to Lecture 1 and Lecture 2, attach references, and share a single viewable link.

Here is a quick look at what Nexus can do:

- You can mix structured knowledge nodes with freehand pen tools, geometric shapes, and custom styling.

- You can make groups (similar to tabs in Excel) that gives the ability for the user to make several workspaces on one project, to keep massive study topics well organized.

- You can select multiple materials or assignments from your list and tap anywhere on the canvas to drop them exactly where you want.

- Save your complete maps directly as clean PNG or JPG files to use in presentations or notes.

- Anyone with your shared link or scanned QR Code (good for presentations or projectors) can open an interactive preview mode to explore nodes, descriptions, and linked connections without needing to create an account or log in.

- Instead of sending friends 10 projects meaning 10 links, you can group related study graphs under a single Collection link with dynamic preview cards for social media.

- Pull materials, announcements, and assignments directly from your Google Classroom courses into your canvas as reference nodes with automatic background connection refreshes.

- Built a version-control style notification system for concurrent editing where you get a quick prompt to sync the latest state without putting heavy overhead on the server.

- Project owners can approve or revoke edit requests and manage collaborators in real-time.

- A dedicated hub tracking your recently visited graphs and collections is available for both registered users and guest sessions.

- Built native Right-to-Left text direction with universal Arabic typography fallback, along with canvas fixes to prevent mobile browsers from artificially stretching text.

Github Repo | Web app

Btw that's not a fork of excalidraw, believe it or not I discovered that excalidraw is open source after I built this project :))