Before your first prompt

On the Canvas home screen, choose a base in the base picker under the prompt. Canvas reads that base's tables and fields and shapes everything it builds around your data. The picker only lists bases you can build in.

2 optional choices sit in the prompt box:

1. Design system: Attach one so your first result uses your brand's colors and type. See Using design systems in Canvas.

2. Template: Pick a template format if you want a report or slides instead of an app. The default is an app. You can't change the type later.

Start without a base

You don't need an existing base, but results are better with one.

1. Open the base picker under the prompt.

2. Choose Create a new base.

3. Pick the workspace the base should live in. Only workspaces where you can create bases are listed.

4. Write your prompt and send it.

Canvas creates a base named after your canvas in that workspace and connects it to the canvas. The new base starts with a single Placeholder Table. Canvas proposes the real tables in its plan and adds nothing until you approve them.

Write your first prompt

A sentence is enough to start, such as "Make me a system for our support specialists to take and track tickets." For a better first result, include:

• Who will use it: "For our field techs" leads somewhere different from "for the ops lead."

• What they need to do: Read data, update it, work through a queue, or present it. This shapes the result more than anything else you say.

• Which data matters: Naming the tables, or just the kind of record, helps Canvas match your intent.

You don't need to describe the layout. Canvas proposes one, and changing how something looks is quick.

If your prompt leaves something open that would change what gets built, Canvas asks a question before it starts. You need to answer before you can continue.

Review and approve the plan

Before building anything, Canvas proposes a plan covering the overview, layout, interactions, data, and style. The plan opens in the preview pane, and a Plan card appears in the chat.

1. Read the plan. This is where you catch a misunderstanding before it costs time.

2. Reply in the chat if something's wrong or missing, and Canvas revises the plan.

3. If the plan adds tables or fields to your base, approve those separately on the Confirm base changes card. See Working with your base data in Canvas.

4. Click Build it in the plan or on the Plan card.

You can't turn planning off. For very small edits to something already built, Canvas may skip the plan and make the change directly.

Refine the result

Most canvases take several rounds to get right. There are 2 ways to change things:

1. Ask in the chat for structural changes, such as different data, another screen, or new behavior. Select an element in the preview before you type, and Canvas knows exactly which part you mean.

2. Edit in the preview for small fixes. Click Edit in the top bar, then click an element to change its color, spacing, font, or text.

Every round is saved:

• To undo the last thing Canvas built, click Undo on that result in the chat.

• To throw away design edits you haven't saved, click Discard on the Pending edits card. Click Save to keep them.

• To go back further, open History from the chat header and restore an earlier version.

Publish the canvas

Nothing you build is visible to anyone else until you publish it. When you're ready, click Publish in the top bar. See Publishing and sharing canvases.

FAQs