# canvas

Generates Nimbalyst .canvas boards with live workspace file editors, sticky notes, and connecting edges. Useful for mapping user flows and arranging project files spatially.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · ★ 1979
- Author: nimbalyst
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/nimbalyst/nimbalyst/tree/HEAD/packages/extensions/canvas/claude-plugin/skills/canvas/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-25
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/canvas

## What it does

This skill teaches the agent to author `.canvas` files based on a JSON Canvas 1.0 superset. Cards on these infinite boards act as live editors mounted directly onto repository files, such as `.mockup.html` designs or `.csv` spreadsheets. They display active working files rather than static previews.

No dedicated MCP server is used. The model builds the canvas by outputting structured JSON through the standard file writing tool. Layer order strictly follows array position in `nodes`, which means frames must appear before the cards placed inside them. Pointing a card to a missing file path leaves an unresolved placeholder on the board.

Card geometry snaps to a 20px grid. The layout keeps a gutter of 60 to 100 pixels between cards so toolbars and comment badges do not overlap.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill canvas -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/canvas/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/canvas/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill canvas -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/canvas/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill canvas -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/canvas/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install nimbalyst/nimbalyst canvas
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/canvas/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill canvas -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/nimbalyst/nimbalyst --path packages/extensions/canvas/claude-plugin/skills/canvas
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/canvas/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add nimbalyst/nimbalyst --skill canvas -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/nimbalyst/nimbalyst/tree/HEAD/packages/extensions/canvas/claude-plugin/skills/canvas/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- map screen flows spatially using live mockup files
- group workspace documents and sticky notes inside titled frames
- connect related project files with labeled directional edges
- generate visual project overview boards in `.canvas` format

## Example prompts
- Create a `.canvas` board for the onboarding flow using mockups from `design/mockups/`
- Arrange our architecture docs spatially on a canvas with connecting arrows
- Build a project review board combining `.csv` data, markdown notes, and sticky notes

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: e56e5ed00e009ccd.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE e56e5ed00e009ccd
````text
---
name: canvas
description: Author Nimbalyst Project Canvas boards (.canvas files) — an infinite canvas whose cards are live editors for real workspace files and shared documents, arranged spatially and wired with edges. Use when the user asks for a canvas, a board, a spatial layout of documents or mockups, a flow of screens, or a workspace overview.
---

# Project Canvas

A `.canvas` file is a board: an infinite canvas whose cards can be sticky notes, text, images, frames, or **live editors mounted on real workspace files and shared documents**. A mockup card renders the mockup. A spreadsheet card renders the grid. A mindmap card renders the mindmap.

The editor is built into Nimbalyst, so any workspace can open a `.canvas` file you write. Write the JSON directly with the Write tool; there is no MCP tool for boards.

## When to use a canvas

- Laying out several existing files spatially — screens of a flow, docs in a workstream, a review board
- A workspace or project overview that mixes documents, mockups, data, and notes
- Anything where the point is the *arrangement* of real artifacts, not a drawing

Use Excalidraw for freeform drawings and architecture sketches. Use MockupLM for a single UI screen. A canvas is the thing that holds several of those at once.

## File format

JSON Canvas 1.0 superset. Every spec field keeps its spec meaning, Nimbalyst data lives under `x-nimbalyst`, and unknown keys at any level are preserved verbatim so a board written by another tool survives a round-trip.

```json
{
  "nodes": [],
  "edges": [],
  "x-nimbalyst": {
    "version": 1,
    "meta": {
      "name": "Onboarding flow",
      "description": "Sign-up through first document",
      "viewport": { "x": 0, "y": 0, "zoom": 1 }
    }
  }
}
```

`meta.viewport` is the board's deliberate **home view** — where a reader lands on open. Each user's own scroll position is stored separately, so setting this is a choice about the board, not about you. Omit it and the board opens fit-to-content.

### Nodes

Every node needs `id` (unique, non-empty), `type`, and `x` / `y` / `width` / `height`. Geometry is written as integers; the editor rounds on save either way.

| `type` | Required payload | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `text` | `text` | Plain text, **not** markdown |
| `file` | `file` | Workspace-relative path |
| `link` | `url` | Also carries shared-document URIs |
| `group` | — | Optional `label`, `background`, `backgroundStyle` |

`color` is optional on nodes and edges: the presets `"1"` red, `"2"` orange, `"3"` yellow, `"4"` green, `"5"` cyan, `"6"` purple, or any `#rrggbb`. Anything else is ignored.

**Array order is z-order.** The last node in `nodes` paints on top — put a frame *before* the cards that sit inside it. Do not invent a z-index or rank field; the editor derives ordering from array position and never writes one to the file.

### Serialization is canonical, not preserved
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE e56e5ed00e009ccd

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the e56e5ed00e009ccd tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

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---
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