Build in Canvas

Canvas is not only a whiteboard. It is a visual workspace where you can pin live terminals, organize notes, open GitHub widgets, and ask agents to draw or arrange context while several tasks are moving at once.

Boards are named local documents under ~/.atmos/canvas/. See Canvas for the document model.

Overview

Open Canvas from the left sidebar Management Center → Canvas.

Core capabilities

• Local documents — save, name, and switch boards from the Documents toolbar control.
• Pin terminals — live terminal panes from any workspace as cards on the board.
• Pages — separate board pages for different threads of work inside one document.
• Frames — group related cards, notes, and diagrams.
• Widgets — workspace surfaces and GitHub PR / Actions cards when you need source next to the board.
• Agent on Canvas — let agents create notes, move items, and organize the board.
• Copy shapes to agent context — select graphics and paste content into agent prompts (as context chips when the composer supports them).

1. Save and switch documents

1. Open Canvas.
2. Open Documents in the top-right toolbar.
3. New starts an empty board; Save / Save As writes ~/.atmos/canvas/<name>.atmos.tldr.
4. Pick another document from the list to replace the current view. Unsaved changes prompt you to save, discard, or cancel.
5. Autosave runs in the background for the active document path.

2. Pin a terminal to Canvas

1. In a workspace, open the Terminal tab and focus a pane with a live session.
2. On the pane toolbar, click Pin to Canvas, or use the context menu.
3. Toast: Pinned to Canvas — the shape is saved on your default board.
4. Open Canvas — the board loads; the last pin is auto-focused.
5. On the card: Source jumps back to that terminal pane; Unpin removes the shape.

Repeat for terminals in other workspaces to work on multiple agents in parallel on one surface. Side chats started from a Canvas terminal stay inside that card — see Terminal Side Chat.

3. Organize pages, frames, and widgets

Pages

• Terminal pins belong to the current page.
• Switch pages from the page menu when the board has more than one page.

Frames

1. Expand the top-right toolbar if collapsed.
2. Click Frame to drop a named frame at the viewport center.
3. Resize and rename it; group related cards and diagrams inside frames.

Widgets

• Add or open widgets for files, diffs, review, and GitHub PR / Actions so the board stays next to the work.
• Use follow controls and screenshot previews when an agent is drawing on the board.

4. Parallel Code Agents on Canvas

Typical pattern:

1. Pin workspace A’s agent terminal (feature branch).
2. Pin workspace B’s agent terminal (hotfix).
3. Add sticky notes for goals and risks.
4. Watch both panes without leaving Canvas.

Jump to Source when you need the full workspace UI (editor, Review, Run / Preview).

5. Let agents work on Canvas

1. Open the Canvas agent controls in the top-right corner.
2. Enable agent access to the board.
3. Copy the instructions shown there into your coding agent when needed (they paste as a Canvas context chip in the composer when supported).
4. While the agent works:
   • Bridge icon pulses; shapes may show transient highlights.
   • Canvas agent activity island (bottom-right) lists actions.
   • Last change · Jump pans to the latest edit.

Ask agents to draw architecture diagrams, sequence flows, or organize notes. Interactive boards can also use document scripts when a document defines them.

Related

• Canvas — feature overview
• General Build Process
• Project & Workspace Manager