If you asked someone to design the future of computing, they’d probably picture a sleek brain-computer interface or a 3D spatial reality headset. They probably wouldn’t picture a whiteboard.
But tldraw—the team behind the beloved open-source infinite canvas—has been quietly building one of the most radical reimaginings of how we interact with software. It’s called tldraw computer, and it turns the infinite canvas into a messy, collaborative, living operating system powered by natural language.
Here is why tldraw’s “computer” is the most interesting experiment in UI design right now.
What is tldraw computer?
At its simplest, tldraw computer is a visual programming environment that lives on a whiteboard.
In a traditional computer, you have rigid apps: a calculator calculates, a text editor writes. In tldraw’s computer, you have ingredients. You place “nodes” on a canvas—a text box, an image, a prompt—and connect them with arrows.
When you hit “run,” the computer doesn’t compile binary code; it “reads” your diagram using a Large Language Model (LLM). It looks at what is connected to what, interprets your intent, and flows data through your messy, hand-drawn pipelines.
Programming with “Vibes” instead of Syntax
The magic of tldraw computer is that it replaces rigid syntax with natural language.
If you want to build a “story generator,” you don’t write Python. You:
- Create a text box with a prompt: “Write a villain based on this image.”
- Draw an arrow pointing from an image of a cat to that text box.
- Draw another arrow from that text box to a “Speech” node.
The “Computer” sees the cat, reads your request, writes a villain backstory, and then speaks it out loud. You just programmed a workflow by drawing three boxes and two lines.
This is “fuzzy computing.” It allows for non-deterministic software. If you run the workflow again, the villain might change. It’s software that feels more like a jam session than a spreadsheet.
The “Make Real” Phenomenon
You can’t talk about tldraw’s computer without mentioning its viral sibling, Make Real.
Make Real took the internet by storm with a simple premise: Draw a UI, and the AI writes the code to make it work. You could sketch a breakout game with a marker tool, click “Make Real,” and suddenly the ball would start bouncing. You could draw a functioning clock, a calculator, or a weird synthesizer.
While “Make Real” creates standard web code (HTML/CSS/JS), tldraw computer goes a step further by keeping the logic on the canvas. The “code” is the diagram. The interface is the backend.
Why This Matters
We are currently drowning in “AI Chatbots.” Every tool is adding a sidebar where you chat with a bot.
tldraw is proposing a different future: Spatial AI.
- It creates context instantly: Instead of pasting three files into ChatGPT, you just drag an arrow from your “Project Notes” box to your “Summary” box. The arrow is the context.
- It’s multiplayer: Because it’s built on tldraw’s whiteboard engine, you can build these computers with your friends in real-time.
- It lowers the floor: You don’t need to know how APIs work to chain a “Translation” node to an “Email” node.
The Verdict
tldraw computer isn’t trying to replace your MacBook or your IDE (Integrated Development Environment). It’s trying to verify a hypothesis: that the best interface for AI isn’t a chat window, but a map.
It turns the computer from a black box into a playground. And in an era where software feels increasingly closed off and magical, being able to draw your own computer feels like a superpower.