The Canvas

The Canvas is an infinite board where your coding agents work side by side, each in its own terminal, next to notes, files, file trees, links and live browser previews. You tie nodes together with cords so agents can ask each other questions, pass messages or hand work over.

Where it is

• Canvas in the sidebar (the page at /world).
• The switch is in Settings › Integrations › Canvas: Show the canvas. It is on by default. With it off, the Canvas leaves the sidebar and nothing of it is loaded or run.

How to use it

1. Open Canvas from the sidebar. The left side lists your Workspaces; each workspace can have its own working directory.
2. Right-click an empty spot to open the Add menu, or press ⌘TCtrl+T to open it in the middle of the screen.
3. Pick the program to run in a new terminal: Terminal (a plain shell), Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, OpenCode, Ollama, or one of your agent presets.
4. Click the terminal to focus it and type. Press ⇧escShift+Esc to leave the terminal and go back to the canvas.
5. To connect two nodes, select both and press ⌘LCtrl+L, or pick the Connect tool and drag from one node to the other. Dropping a cord on an empty spot opens the Add menu and connects the new node.

Node types

Node	What it is	How to add it
Terminal	A shell on your computer, or on another environment set for the floor.	Terminal in the Add menu, or ⌘TCtrl+T. With nothing selected, T arms a new terminal that runs the program set in New terminal (⌘T) runs.
Agent	A terminal that runs a coding agent: Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode or Ollama. The header shows its state (Working, Needs you, Done, Failed and others), its role and the Maestro badge.	The agent’s name in the Add menu, or New Claude Code and the others in Batuta Search.
Note	A Markdown sticky note. Agents can read and write notes; Lock contents (agents cannot write) keeps them out. Notes open Formatted or Raw.	N on an empty canvas, ⇧⌘NCtrl+Shift+N, or Note in the Add menu.
Text	A free text label on the board, with its own size, weight and font.	L, a double-click on an empty spot, or Text in the Add menu.
File	A file from your disk, opened in an editor node.	Drag a file from a file tree onto the canvas, or paste a file.
File Tree	A folder browser with search, git status and diffs. It starts at the workspace folder.	F, or File Tree in the Add menu.
Link	A web address. Open in Portal turns it into a live page.	Paste a URL on the canvas.
Portal	A live web page inside the canvas, or a phone screen from an iOS Simulator or Android emulator. Agents can drive it; the header then says Agent is driving.	P, or Portal in the Add menu. New Portal has a Browser tab and a Devices tab.
Image	A picture on the board. Images pasted as links are saved into the workspace, up to 25 MB each, when Download images from the web is on.	Paste or drop an image, or drag an image file from a file tree.
Fichário	A stack that holds several notes as pages.	Select notes and run New Fichário in Batuta Search, or right-click a note and choose Place in Fichário.
Connector	A small chip that stands for a node on another floor or in another workspace. Go to the other end jumps there.	Created when you connect a node to one on another floor or workspace.
Image Generation	A prompt, a model and a list of Versions of generated images. Cord image nodes into it to use them as References. It needs the Higgsfield CLI and a budget you set; an agent’s request waits for Approve and generate.	Image Generation in the Add menu.

Besides nodes, the toolbar has drawing tools: Select (V), Hand (H), Pen (D), Eraser (E), Rectangle (B), Ellipse (O), Arrow (A) and Connect (C), plus Highlighter, Diamond, Line and Smart draw.

Cords

A cord ties two nodes. Select a cord to set its label: ask, message, handoff or spawn. With a handoff cord, the result of the agent at the start goes to the agent at the end when its turn finishes. Notes connect to terminals and notes, and portals connect to terminals and portals; a note cannot be tied to a portal.

Workspaces and floors

A workspace is one project, with a name, an icon, a color and a working directory. Each workspace starts with one floor, the Ground, and can have more floors, each a separate board. See Orchestrating agents on the Canvas.

Shortcuts

The full list is in Canvas shortcuts. The ones you use most:

Action	Keys
Add menu with a new terminal	⌘TCtrl+T
New sticky note	⇧⌘NCtrl+Shift+N
Command palette	⌘KCtrl+K
Next agent that needs you	⇧⌘ACtrl+Shift+A
Leave a focused terminal	⇧escShift+Esc

Common problems

The Canvas is not in the sidebar

Turn on Settings › Integrations › Canvas › Show the canvas.

The canvas flickers or stays blank

Turn on Draw the canvas without the graphics card in Canvas settings. It is slower, but it does not depend on the graphics card.

An image shows “Downloading images from the web is off in Settings”

Turn on Download images from the web in Settings › Integrations › Canvas, then use Try again on the image.

“These two can’t be connected”

Notes connect only to terminals and notes, and portals only to terminals and portals.