Using the Canvas Workspace

Canvas is a visual workspace where you can organize ideas, plan projects, and think through problems using sticky notes. Add AI-powered analysis to spot patterns and generate new ideas from what you have laid out.

Creating sticky notes

Click anywhere on the canvas to create a new sticky note. Type your idea, observation, or task directly onto the note. Each sticky note can be assigned one of six colors:

Yellow -- General ideas and notes
Blue -- Questions or areas to explore
Green -- Decisions or things that are settled
Pink -- Concerns, risks, or blockers
Purple -- Insights or key takeaways
Orange -- Action items or next steps

Use colors consistently to create a visual language your team can read at a glance.

Resizing and positioning

Drag sticky notes anywhere on the canvas to arrange them spatially. Resize notes by dragging their edges -- make important ideas larger and supporting details smaller. Spatial arrangement matters: group related ideas together, create distance between unrelated concepts, and use position to imply priority or sequence.

Grouping stickies

Select multiple sticky notes and group them together to keep related ideas organized. Groups move as a unit and can be labeled with a title. Use groups to create clusters like "Must Have," "Nice to Have," and "Out of Scope," or to organize by theme, team, or timeline.

Pan and zoom controls

Navigate your canvas with pan and zoom:

Pan -- Click and drag on empty space to move around the canvas.
Zoom -- Use the zoom controls or scroll to zoom in and out. The zoom range goes from 0.25x (zoomed far out, good for seeing the big picture) to 3x (zoomed in, good for reading details).

On a large canvas, zoom out to see the full picture, then zoom in to work on a specific area.

AI features

Canvas includes three AI-powered capabilities that help you make sense of what you have created.

Analyze canvas

Click Analyze to have the AI examine your entire canvas and provide:

Themes -- Common threads and patterns across your sticky notes
Structure type -- How your canvas is organized (see below)
Insights -- Observations about gaps, connections, or emphasis in your layout
Suggested actions -- Recommended next steps based on what the AI sees

Generate canvas from a prompt

Start with an empty canvas and describe what you want. For example:

"Create a brainstorm about improving our onboarding flow."
"Map out our competitive landscape."
"Build a kanban board for our Q2 launch tasks."

The AI generates a set of sticky notes arranged in a logical structure, giving you a starting point to build on.

Chat with your canvas context

Open the chat panel while on your canvas to have a conversation that is aware of everything on your board. Ask questions like "What themes are emerging?" or "What am I missing?" and get answers that reference your actual sticky notes.

Structure types

When the AI analyzes your canvas, it identifies one of five structure types:

Brainstorm -- Loosely arranged ideas without strict organization, focused on generating possibilities
Kanban -- Columns representing stages or statuses (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Done)
Hierarchy -- A tree structure showing parent-child relationships between ideas
Matrix -- A 2x2 or grid layout organizing ideas along two dimensions (e.g., impact vs effort)
Freeform -- A mix of arrangements that does not fit neatly into another category

The AI uses the identified structure to tailor its analysis and suggestions.

Asking Questions with Chat -- Chat integrates with canvas context
Creating Artifacts -- Turn canvas insights into shareable deliverables
Planning Sprints -- Move from canvas ideation to structured sprint plans

Still need help?

Email us at hello@getupstream.ai -- we read every message.