Write, review, and share Markdown documents with agents in your Paseo workspace.
Keep plans, notes, and review discussions in one place. Ask an agent to write a document, edit it yourself, and send comments back for another pass. Other agents in the same workspace can read and update the same canvas, even in separate sessions.
Get started · Usage · Supported content · Troubleshooting
| Create a Canvas | Comment | Send to Agent | Agent gives feedback |
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- Share documents across sessions. Keep multiple canvases in a workspace, with changes appearing automatically.
- Write with an agent or on your own. Create, edit, preview, and delete Markdown documents directly in Paseo.
- Review in context. Comment on paragraphs, tables, diagrams, or several blocks together, then send selected discussions to an agent.
- Keep edits coordinated. See who is editing. Only one user or agent can edit a document at a time, while everyone else can keep reading.
- Keep your project directory clean. Saved canvases live on the Paseo daemon host and survive restarts.
- Paseo 0.12.0 or later on both the daemon host and the app, with plugins enabled on the host where your agents run.
- Node.js 22.22+ and npm 11+ installed on that host.
- For agent access, an agent provider that supports HTTP MCP, the connection used to expose Canvas tools to agents.
In Paseo, open Settings → Plugins on the target host and turn on Enable plugins if needed. Paste this source into Plugin source, then select Install plugin:
npm:paseo-canvas
Alternatively, install from a terminal on the daemon host:
paseo plugin install npm:paseo-canvasThis installs the latest release of the npm package. To follow the main branch instead, use the github:supermomonga/paseo-plugin-canvas source. Paseo releases before 0.12.0 refuse to load this version; update Paseo first.
Paseo installs dependencies automatically. Git installations also build the rendering assets on the host. Confirm that paseo-canvas is running in Settings → Plugins. See the Paseo plugin guide for installation details.
Important
Create a new agent after installing or enabling the plugin to give it Canvas access. Existing agents and imported sessions do not receive Canvas tools automatically. Agents created with Canvas enabled retain their access when resumed.
Choose Canvas in the sidebar to list the most recently updated canvases across the host's workspaces, then pick one to open it as a full page. You can reorder or hide this item in Settings → Sidebar.
Inside a workspace, choose Open Canvas from the Command Center (⌘K on macOS, Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux) to open the Canvas panel beside your agents. On iOS and Android, use the notebook icon in the workspace header. In the panel, Open in full screen shows the current canvas as a full page; its address keeps the canvas across reloads and back navigation.
Run this on the daemon host:
paseo plugin update paseo-canvasnpm installations update to the latest release. Git installations update to the latest main.
Warning
Upgrading from the earlier version 1 storage format requires manual conversion of canvas metadata. Back up Canvas storage before upgrading; there is no automatic migration. Old version 1 review comments are unsupported and are replaced when a new comment is saved.
Choose New canvas, enter a title and Markdown content, then press Save. Switch between Preview to read the document and Code to inspect or copy its Markdown.
You can also ask a Canvas-enabled agent:
Create a canvas named “Implementation plan” with the proposed changes and a verification checklist.
Then ask another agent in the same workspace:
Read the “Implementation plan” canvas and review it for missing steps.
Agent saves add a timeline notification with an Open canvas button. It opens the latest saved document, so you can return to the work directly from the conversation. You can turn these notifications off in the settings.
Choose Edit to start editing. Preview shows your unsaved draft, and Markdown returns to the input. Save commits your changes and releases the edit lock. Cancel leaves the saved document unchanged and asks for confirmation before discarding edits.
If someone else is editing, you can keep reading the latest saved version. Edit locks last five minutes and renew automatically while the editor is active. When an agent's session closes or is archived, Canvas releases that agent's locks right away.
Note
Drafts are kept in memory. Switching between preview and editing keeps them, but closing the app loses unsaved changes.
Delete asks you to confirm the canvas title before permanently removing the document and all its comments.
- Choose Comment mode and select one or more blocks in the document.
- Press Add comment, write your feedback, and save it. A single discussion covers all selected blocks.
- Press Send on a comment card. To send several discussions together, mark them with Select for sending, then press Send to agent.
- Choose an Agent session and press Send.
- Read the agent's questions or change reports in the discussion. Use Resolve when you are satisfied, or Reopen to continue.
Saving a comment does not send a prompt: you choose what to send and when. Sending to a running agent can interrupt its current work. If it has a pending permission request, handle that in Paseo first.
Use Comments to browse discussions and Go to target to return to the relevant passage. Comments follow document edits where their location remains clear. If a comment becomes Outdated, its original quote is preserved; use Reattach to select a new target.
Only Canvas-enabled sessions in the same workspace appear as recipients. Refresh the Agent session picker to pick up session changes.
Open Settings → Plugins → paseo-canvas, or choose Canvas settings from the Command Center. Settings are stored on the daemon host and apply to every client of that host.
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Canvas notifications | Adds a timeline row with an Open canvas button when an agent creates or updates a canvas. On by default. |
| Open web links in | Workspace browser opens document links in a browser tab of the workspace in the desktop app; other clients use the system browser. System browser always opens them externally. Mail links always use the system handler. |
| Content | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Markdown | Headings, lists, quotes, links, tables, strikethrough, code blocks, and read-only task lists. |
| GitHub-style extras | Note and warning alerts, footnotes, emoji shortcodes, and heading links. |
| Images | HTTP/HTTPS images and workspace-relative PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, and SVG files. Local images must be at most 5 MB; symlinks and paths outside the workspace are rejected. |
| SVG | Workspace and HTTP/HTTPS .svg images, and SVG written in a ```svg code block, on desktop and mobile. |
| Mathematics | Inline and block TeX formulas. |
| Mermaid diagrams | A subset of flowcharts and sequence diagrams, with zoom, pan, and expanded views. |
| Embedded HTML | Collapsible details/summary, line breaks, subscript, and superscript. Other raw HTML appears as text; scripts do not run. |
Full Mermaid syntax is not supported. Use one declaration or connection per line. Subgraphs, styling directives, and sequence blocks such as loop and alt are unsupported. If a diagram cannot render, Canvas shows its source and an explanation; agent saves also return feedback to help correct it.
SVG is shown as a static picture. Apart from external SVGs that the desktop app can draw itself, the daemon host converts SVG to an image, so it does not stay sharp when enlarged. Scripts, animation, foreignObject, and files the SVG references are ignored. Text uses the bundled Noto Sans JP font whatever font the SVG names. Transparent areas show the Canvas background, so dark lines can be hard to see in a dark theme. An SVG that takes more than 10 seconds to draw is not shown.
Standalone HTML documents and syntax highlighting in Code view are not supported. External images load from their original hosts when viewed. When the viewing device cannot draw an external image, it downloads the file once more and, if it is an SVG, sends it to the daemon host to be converted.
Canvases and reviews are stored on the machine running the Paseo daemon, outside your project:
| Host OS | Storage location |
|---|---|
| macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/paseo-canvas |
| Linux | $XDG_DATA_HOME/paseo-canvas when set to an absolute path; otherwise ~/.local/share/paseo-canvas |
| Windows | %LOCALAPPDATA%\paseo-canvas |
Data is separated by Paseo home and workspace. Saved documents survive restarts and workspace archival. Back up this storage directory to preserve your canvases and reviews. Moving PASEO_HOME also requires moving its associated Canvas data and connection state. Network shares and editing stored files externally while the plugin runs are unsupported.
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Canvas does not appear | Check Settings → Plugins on the correct host and confirm that the plugin is enabled and running. Show the Canvas sidebar item in Settings → Sidebar. On mobile, use the workspace header's notebook icon. |
| An agent cannot find Canvas tools | Create a new agent after installation. Confirm that its provider supports HTTP MCP; custom providers must forward Paseo's MCP configuration. |
| An agent is missing from the recipient list | Use a Canvas-enabled session in the same workspace and refresh the Agent session picker. |
| Editing is locked | Wait for the current editor to save or cancel, or for its five-minute lock to expire. An agent's locks are released as soon as its session closes. |
| Your edit lock was lost | Try Reacquire lock. If the saved document has changed, copy your draft before cancelling and reviewing the latest version. |
| A save or send has an uncertain outcome | Check the saved document or recipient session before retrying. The operation may already have succeeded; retrying can create duplicates. |
| A diagram will not display | Read the explanation and simplify it to the supported Mermaid subset. |
| The plugin fails to start | Inspect its Logs in Settings → Plugins, or run paseo plugin logs paseo-canvas. Check storage permissions and whether its saved MCP port is occupied. |
| A timeline notification is missing | Check that Canvas notifications is on in the settings, and keep a Paseo client active for delivery. Paseo does not retain delivered plugin rows across daemon restarts; open the document from Canvas instead. |
Note
Physical iOS/Android keyboard and gesture behavior, Claude/OpenCode connections, and Linux/Windows storage durability remain unverified. Windows environments without directory synchronization support cannot use this storage implementation.
Canvas uses paseo-plugin-helper for shared UI components and utilities, and adapts diagram rendering from paseo-plugin-mermaid. See the Mermaid attribution and bundled font attribution.