canvas-template: Template Browser & Instantiation
Operations
List Templates (/canvas template list)
Run the template script to list available archetypes:
python3 scripts/canvas_template.py --list
Present the results as a formatted table:
| Archetype | Layout | Description |
|---|---|---|
| presentation | linear-vertical | Slide deck for Advanced Canvas (1200x675 slides) |
| flowchart | linear-vertical → auto dagre | Process flow with connected step nodes |
| mind-map | grid → auto radial | Radial expansion from central topic |
| gallery | grid | Image placeholder grid with title zone |
| dashboard | grid | Metric cards + status zones |
| storyboard | linear-horizontal | Scene cards for video planning |
| knowledge-graph | grid → auto force | Entity nodes for relationship mapping |
| mood-board | grid | Asymmetric image grid for creative direction |
| timeline | linear-horizontal | Horizontal event sequence |
| comparison | grid | Side-by-side columns for option analysis |
| kanban | grid | Todo/Doing/Done column board |
| project-brief | linear-vertical | Stacked zones for project kickoff |
Instantiate Template (/canvas template use [name])
- Validate the template name against the 12 archetypes.
- Ask for required parameters:
- title (all templates): What's the canvas title?
- Template-specific params (slide_count, step_count, image_count, etc.)
- Determine output path (canvas directory detection from orchestrator).
- Run instantiation:
python3 scripts/canvas_template.py [template] [output_path] --param title="[title]" --param [key]=[value]
- Validate the output:
python3 scripts/canvas_validate.py [output_path]
- MANDATORY: Content Quality Gate — Read the orchestrator's Quality Standards section. Before reporting:
- Replace ALL placeholder text in every node with real content relevant to the title
- Verify no "Describe this", "YYYY-MM-DD", "Value: 0", or "Content goes here" strings remain
- Run
python3 scripts/canvas_validate.pyand confirm 0 errors, 0 overlap warnings - If the template has
post_layout(mind-map→radial, knowledge-graph→force, flowchart→dagre), confirm the layout was applied
- Report: "Created [name] canvas at [path] with [N] nodes, [E] edges, [G] groups."
Template Parameters
Each template has defaults that can be overridden:
| Template | Key Parameters | Defaults |
|---|---|---|
| presentation | slide_count | 6 |
| flowchart | step_count | 5 |
| mind-map | branch_count | 5 |
| gallery | image_count, columns | 9, 3 |
| dashboard | metric_count | 4 |
| storyboard | scene_count | 6 |
| knowledge-graph | entity_count | 8 |
| mood-board | image_count | 8 |
| timeline | event_count | 6 |
| comparison | criteria_count | 4 |
| kanban | cards_per_column | 3 |
| project-brief | objective_count | 3 |
All templates accept color_title, color_body, color_accent to override the color scheme (values: "1"-"6").
Post-Instantiation
After creating a template canvas, suggest next steps based on the archetype:
- presentation: "Add content to each slide. Use
/canvas add bananafor hero images." - gallery/mood-board: "Replace placeholder slots with
/canvas add imageor/canvas add banana." - flowchart: "Edit step text. Run
/canvas layout dagreto re-flow after changes." - mind-map: "Edit branches. Run
/canvas layout radialfor proper expansion." - knowledge-graph: "Add entities and edges. Run
/canvas layout forceto visualize relationships." - kanban: "Add task cards with
/canvas add text. Move between columns manually in Obsidian."
Source: AgriciDaniel/claude-canvas — distributed by TomeVault.