The canvas view works similarly to Figma or Miro. You can lay out text, images, and other elements freely, then organize them by grouping or nesting them inside specific Shells. Or, you can take the opposite approach — start by outlining your structure with Shells first. Let’s take a closer look!

Canvas Tools

Select (V)

When you want to move multiple Shells or Block Groups—whether you're dragging them into a Shell or taking them out—you'll need to use the Select mode.

Press the V key or click the arrow icon in the select panel at the bottom center of the screen to enter Select mode.

Text (T)

To write a paragraph, use a Text Block. You can enter Text Mode by pressing the T key or clicking the text icon at the bottom center of the canvas. Just click on the canvas, and a new Text Block will appear.

While writing in a Text Block, press the / key to open the Slash Command menu. It works the same way on the canvas, too.

If a Text Block is left empty, it will be automatically removed.

While writing, press Command + Enter to split a block group into two. (If you're on Windows, use Ctrl + Enter.)

Shell (S)

If you want to create a new Shell, press the S key or click the Shell icon in the Select panel at the bottom center of the screen to enter Shell Mode. Once you're in Shell Mode, simply click on the canvas to create a new Shell.

Drag & Drop

You can drag and move Shells or Block Groups to rearrange their position, or nest them inside another Shell to build a hierarchy.

Nesting Shells

Let’s say you have multiple Shells at the same level. If you drag one Shell into another, it becomes nested — forming a new parent-child hierarchy. For example, two Shells originally at level S1 will now become a parent Shell (S1) and a nested Shell (S2).

Adding Blocks into a Shell

You can drag and drop Block Groups into a specific Shell. Doing so wraps the Blocks inside that Shell.

Use your mouse or trackpad to place them exactly where you want inside the Shell.

When multiple Shells are nested, a border highlight will indicate which Shell the Blocks will be inserted into.

Wrap with Shell

You can combine multiple Shells and block groups into a new Shell. When you select multiple elements, a floating button will appear. Click Wrap with Shell, and the selected elements will be wrapped into a single new Shell.

The shortcut is Command + Option + Enter (or Ctrl + Alt + Enter for Windows users).

Shell Focusing

You can focus on a specific Shell to work exclusively within its content. For example, if your project was called “Document View,” you could enter a Shell named “Shell Focusing” and work only on what’s inside — like a focused writing mode. This is called Shell Focusing.

When you first create a Project, it's considered the Root Shell — and by default, you're working inside that Root Shell.

For example, say your project is called Marketing Strategy. Inside it, you might create Shells like:

• Social Campaigns

• Ad Budget Planning

• Customer Segmentation

If you want to concentrate specifically on Customer Segmentation — whether to structure your thoughts or to guide the AI’s attention — you can focus into that Shell and start writing directly within it.

On the canvas, hold Command (or Ctrl for Windows users) and click a Shell to focus on it.

You can also focus on a Shell by clicking it from the Outline tab in the left sidebar.

To jump back to the very top view, you can use the navigation path at the top, or just click the project name button in the Outline tab.

❓What happens when you focus on a Shell?

• The AI narrows its focus to the selected Shell, rather than pulling in ideas from the entire document like it usually does.

• The canvas filters out everything else and shows only the contents of that Shell. This gives you a cleaner space to explore, ideate, and refine ideas around the topic without distractions.