Canvas User Guide

Getting started

Open the canvas at /app. No account is needed: maps are saved in your browser automatically. Sign in to save them to your workspace and open them on any device — maps already in your browser are copied up when you create an account.

A new visitor starts with the Brainstorming Session template. Use Templates in the sidebar to start from one of the starter maps or one you saved yourself, and sort the list by featured, name, size or recently saved.

Moving around

• Drag the empty canvas to pan; scroll or pinch to zoom.
• Click an idea to select it and open its details on the right.
• Arrow keys move to the nearest idea in that direction, following the left and right sides of the map.
• Press Alt+O for the Outline view: the whole map as a list you can read and edit with the keyboard or a screen reader.

Building ideas

• Tab adds a child idea; Enter adds a sibling. New ideas open ready for typing.
• F2 renames the selected idea; Space collapses or expands its branch; Delete removes it with its children.
• Drag an idea onto another to move it underneath; drop it between siblings to reorder; drop onto the central topic to promote it.
• The Move under list in the details panel does the same without dragging.
• Drag the corner of an idea to make its bubble larger; long titles wrap.
• Dotted connectors are free links between related ideas. They do not change the hierarchy.

Details, notes and images

Each idea has a description, notes, status, priority and colour in the details panel. Ideas with notes show a badge — click it to read everything in a larger window. Hover any idea for a quick peek. The central topic can also carry an image.

The details panel can be resized by dragging its edge and hidden with the button in its top-right corner; reopen it from the same corner.

AI assistance

Three buttons sit in the details panel for the selected idea:

• Suggest child ideas — new branches based on the idea, its path and its existing children.
• Suggest based on map — the same, but aware of the whole map (for example your shortlisted destinations).
• Get the results — actual answers, not more ideas. They are added to the idea's notes as a Results block.

Suggestions are tuned to the template the map started from.

AI requests are limited: visitors who are not signed in get 3 free tries in total, and members get 30 requests a month. A counter under the buttons shows what you have used, for example "16 of 30 used this month" — and for guests, a link to sign up for the larger monthly allowance. Admins are unlimited.

Styles and backgrounds

Pick a map style (Classic, Bubble, Card or Sketch) and a background tone and pattern from the sidebar. Each map remembers its own look.

Saving, templates and export

• Undo and redo with Ctrl/Cmd+Z and Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z.
• Save as template keeps the current map as a reusable starting point.
• Export the whole map, or just the selected branch, as an image or Markdown. JSON export and import move whole maps between browsers.

Accessibility

Every action works from the keyboard and the canvas meets WCAG 2.2 AA. See the accessibility statement for the full list of features and standards.