Canvas

Canvas TUI Toolkit

Start here when using terminal canvases. This skill covers the overall workflow, canvas types, and IPC communication.

Example Prompts

Try asking things like:

Calendar:

• "Schedule a meeting with the team next week"
• "Find a time when Alice and Bob are both free"

Document:

• "Draft an email to the sales team about the new feature"
• "Help me edit this document - let me select what to change"

Flight:

• "Find flights from SFO to Denver next Friday"
• "Book me a window seat on the morning flight"

Overview

Canvas provides interactive terminal displays (TUIs) that can be spawned and controlled via OpenCode tools. Each canvas type supports multiple scenarios for different interaction modes.

Available Canvas Types

OpenCode Tools

Low-Level Tools (Full Control)

High-Level Tools (Convenience)

Quick Start

Check environment first:

Use canvas_env to verify tmux is available

Spawn a canvas:

Use canvas_spawn with kind="calendar", scenario="meeting-picker"

Or use high-level tools:

Use canvas_display_document with content="# Hello\n\nMarkdown here."

IPC Communication

Interactive canvases communicate via Unix domain sockets.

Canvas -> Controller:

{ type: "ready", scenario }        // Canvas is ready
{ type: "selected", data }         // User made a selection
{ type: "cancelled", reason? }     // User cancelled
{ type: "error", message }         // Error occurred

Controller -> Canvas:

{ type: "update", config }  // Update canvas configuration
{ type: "close" }           // Request canvas to close
{ type: "ping" }            // Health check

Requirements

• tmux: Canvas spawning requires a tmux session
• Terminal with mouse support: For click-based interactions
• Bun: Runtime for executing canvas commands

CLI Usage (Standalone)

The canvas CLI is also available for standalone use:

# Run canvas in current terminal
bun run src/cli.ts show calendar

# Spawn canvas in new tmux split
bun run src/cli.ts spawn calendar --scenario meeting-picker --config '{...}'

Skills Reference