> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cortex-foundation-add13747-droid-2a5c5e50-docs-ferndesk-pro.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Chat canvases

> A document that sits beside the conversation. Draft it yourself or ask Cortex to — and keep editing after the chat moves on.

A Chat canvas is a document panel beside a conversation. Cortex can draft it, you can edit it, and it keeps your edits when you close it. It is the right place for a launch announcement, a spec, or anything you want to shape over several turns instead of scrolling back through replies.

<Frame caption="A new chat with a document canvas open on the right — “Start writing, or ask Cortex to draft this document.”">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/cortex-foundation-add13747-droid-2a5c5e50-docs-ferndesk-pro/MqnMpE_oEu2JSRan/images/product/chat-canvas-document.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=MqnMpE_oEu2JSRan&q=85&s=9dd975cc6e78f03b77e682892ffcf41c" alt="Chat with an Untitled document canvas open beside the conversation" width="1280" height="800" data-path="images/product/chat-canvas-document.png" />
</Frame>

## Open a canvas

* Choose the **Docs** card on Chat home — *Drafts that structure themselves*. It opens a new chat with an **Untitled document** beside it.
* Or ask in any thread: *Draft this as a document I can edit.*

## Work in a canvas

1. Ask Cortex to draft or revise — *tighten the intro*, *add a section on pricing*.
2. Edit directly in the panel. The conversation and the document stay in step.
3. **Close** the panel when you are done; your edits are kept with the conversation.

## What writes to it

Canvas tools are part of the tool set a Chat turn can receive, alongside the document readers. A turn reaches them the same way it reaches any other tool — the model asks, Chat runs it. See [How Chat works](/chat/how-it-works).

Two of those tools are for Design boards rather than documents: `design_write` and `design_read`. Chat can host a **Design** canvas through them, and that object opens in the Design desktop app. See [Design](/design).

## Canvas, plan, or Library?

| You want                                    | Use                                 |
| ------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| A document you shape over several turns     | A **canvas** — this page            |
| A task list you tick off                    | A [plan](/chat/plans)               |
| A file you attach or the assistant produced | [Library](/chat/library)            |
| A board of frames and notes                 | A [Design canvas](/design/canvases) |

## What it is not

| Object                            | What it is                                                                              |
| --------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Chat canvas**                   | A document beside one conversation                                                      |
| [Plan](/chat/plans)               | A task list linked to a conversation                                                    |
| Code file                         | A file inside a Code session's Cloud guest                                              |
| [Design canvas](/design/canvases) | A board of frames and notes, hosted from Chat or Code, edited in the Design desktop app |

There is no `/design` mode in the web app. Chat can host a **Design** canvas — the object is created from the conversation — but the working UI for it is the Design desktop app. See [Design](/design).

## Related

* [Projects](/chat/projects) — keep the chat and its document with the rest of the work.
* [Library](/chat/library) — attachments the draft can draw on.
* [Design canvases](/design/canvases) — the other object called a canvas.