Get Started

Edit Locks

When two people open the same email or layout, Temway makes sure only one of them can edit at a time. This prevents the silent overwrites that happen when conflicting saves land on the same design. You don’t have to think about it — locks are claimed and released for you.

How edit locks work

The moment you open an email or layout in the editor, Temway claims an edit lock for the tab you’re working in. As long as you’re active, that lock stays yours — Temway quietly refreshes it in the background about every 30 seconds.

If a teammate opens the same email while you’re editing:

  • They see a yellow banner above the canvas letting them know the email is being edited by you.
  • Their canvas is frozen — they can scroll and read, but they can’t click or change anything, so nothing they do can overwrite your work.
  • The moment you close the tab or leave the editor, the lock is released and they can take over.

Locks also expire on their own after about 2 minutes of inactivity. If you step away or close your laptop without closing the tab, an abandoned editor never traps the document — your teammate can pick it up shortly after.

Taking over an email or layout

If you open something another teammate is editing, you have two options:

  1. Wait — once they close the editor or go idle for a couple of minutes, the lock frees up and the canvas becomes editable on its own.
  2. Take over — click Take over in the banner to force-release their lock and hand editing to you.

Taking over is intentional and symmetric. The other person will see the same banner on their screen (usually within about 30 seconds) and can take it right back if they weren’t actually done. Use it when you genuinely need to make an edit, not as a reflex.

Where locks apply

Edit locks protect both emails and layouts — opening either one in the editor claims a lock the same way.

Locks also extend to edits made through the API and the MCP server (the connection an AI assistant uses). A teammate and an AI assistant share the same lock system, so neither can silently overwrite the other’s work. If an AI is mid-edit on a design, you’ll see the same banner and can take over; if you’re editing, the AI will be told the design is locked.

Why this matters

  • No lost work — two people never edit the same design at once, so saves can’t silently clobber each other.
  • Safe to step away — locks auto-expire, so a closed laptop or abandoned tab never blocks your team.
  • Clear ownership — you always know who’s editing right now, and you can take over when you genuinely need to.

Temway is intentionally one-editor-at-a-time. It’s not real-time co-editing like a shared document — it’s a guardrail that keeps each person’s changes safe.

Next steps