I researched P5LIVE, a collaborative live coding platform for p5.js that runs in the browser. Live coding is an art practice where the process is the performance. You write and change code in real time, and the visuals update immediately, often with the code visible too. P5LIVE was created by Ted Davis, a media artist and educator in Basel, originally for a Processing Community Day event where people wanted to live code visuals during a DJ party.

What I like about P5LIVE is that it treats live coding as a social activity. It lowers friction by running in the browser, and it makes collaboration feel natural through links and shared rooms. It is not just an editor. It is a space where teaching, performance, and experimentation overlap. Instead of coding being private and finished, P5LIVE encourages coding as something collective and ongoing.

P5LIVE’s key feature is COCODING, which works like Google Docs for code. You create a room link, others join, and everyone edits the same sketch together in real time while the visuals run locally for each person. It also includes classroom and performance features like lockdown mode, chat, and SyncData, which lets people share live inputs like MIDI or mouse data with the group. In my demo, I will show the instant feedback loop and a basic COCODING session.