canvas

/canvas Skill

Create and edit Obsidian Canvas files (.canvas JSON format) for architecture visualization.

When to Use This Skill

Use when creating or editing .canvas files (Obsidian Canvas format):

• Create architecture context diagrams (C4 Level 1)
• Design system landscape maps
• Visualize data flow architectures
• Show AWS infrastructure layouts
• Compare scenarios side-by-side
• Map system dependencies

⚠️ CRITICAL: Linter Configuration Warning

The Obsidian linter will corrupt .canvas files if enabled. If you have a linter active (prettier, eslint, etc.):

1. DISABLE it for .canvas files
2. Or DISABLE it globally during canvas editing
3. Canvas files use a specific JSON format that lingers may reformat incorrectly

The linter will delete nodes with empty text fields and reduce complex diagrams to 2 nodes.

Canvas JSON Structure

Correct Format

Every node MUST use text property for content (NOT label):

{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "id": "unique-id",
      "type": "text",
      "x": 0,
      "y": 0,
      "width": 200,
      "height": 100,
      "color": "3",
      "text": "Node Content\nMultiline supported\nWith \\n character"
    }
  ],
  "edges": [
    {
      "id": "edge-id",
      "fromNode": "node-id-1",
      "toNode": "node-id-2",
      "fromSide": "right",
      "toSide": "left",
      "label": "Edge Label"
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "version": "1.0-1.0",
    "frontmatter": {}
  }
}

Property Reference

Node Properties:

Property	Required	Type	Values	Notes
id	✅	string	Any unique ID	Use kebab-case
type	✅	string	"text"	Currently only text type supported
x	✅	number	Any integer	Canvas X coordinate
y	✅	number	Any integer	Canvas Y coordinate
width	✅	number	Any positive int	Node width in pixels
height	✅	number	Any positive int	Node height in pixels
text	✅	string	Any text	USE THIS FOR NODE CONTENT (not label)
color	❌	string	"1"-"6"	Color: 1=red, 2=orange, 3=yellow, 4=purple, 5=cyan, 6=green