---
title: "Canvas"
description: "o8's spatial glass-space — work and media as draggable cards on one plane, with a navigator globe. Experimental."
canonical_url: https://o8.run/docs/canvas
md_url: https://o8.run/docs/canvas.md
last_updated: 2026-06-25
version: "0.1.431"
stability: experimental
---

# Canvas

> o8's spatial glass-space — work and media as draggable cards on one plane, with a navigator globe. Experimental.

The Canvas is o8's **spatial workspace** — an experimental "glass-space" where work and media live as draggable, resizable glass cards on one open plane, instead of the fixed panels of the Control Room. Nothing has to live in one spot: the orchestrator, terminals, files, diffs, browsers, and images all float freely.

It's **additive and dismissible** — it never replaces the Control Room. You open it, arrange things spatially, and exit back to the dashboard whenever you want.

> The Canvas is **experimental** and off by default — turn it on in Settings → Operator Defaults (see *Turning it on* at the end). The card types below ship today; voice and multi-agent control are direction, and marked as such.

## The glass

The Canvas re-skins the app as dark, tinted "Siri-style" clear glass — with the clearest material, your real desktop reads through the window. It's **tunable**: sliders for frost/blur, tint, ink brightness, and vibrance, with one-click presets (Clear / Siri / Frost). Behind the glass sits a deliberately minimal ambient backdrop you can pick — dots, paper, aurora, and a few others — kept subtle on purpose (big motion is hard on the eyes over a workday).

## What's on it

Everything is a card you can drag, resize, and arrange:

| Card | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Orchestrator** | A real conversation with the orchestrator — the same one that runs the dashboard — replies streaming into a side dock. |
| **Brain** | Ask a question about the scoped repo; get a streamed, cited answer with source pills. |
| **Terminal** | A real shell. |
| **File** | Open any file; markdown renders with a Read/Edit toggle and a save. |
| **Spec (o8.md)** | The repo's workspace spec at full parity with the dashboard — notes, talk-back, inline images, autosave. |
| **Browser** | A URL bar and page with tabs and an element picker; agents can open pages here. |
| **Diff + Review** | The governance surface as objects: a Review drawer lists live lanes, and picking one spawns a diff card with **Approve & merge** / **Request changes**. |
| **Image & video** | Drag-drop media anywhere; drag a few together and they fan into a stack. |

You arrange cards by dragging, zoom in steps, and switch between a free layout and a grid. New cards spawn into open space.

## The navigator globe

In the bottom-left corner sits the **navigator globe** — a small glass loupe showing a scaled minimap of everything on the canvas (image cards render real thumbnails). Drag the ball to pan the view; use its −/fit/+ controls to zoom. It auto-hides when you're idle and slides back when your cursor approaches the corner.

## Where it's headed: voice and the room

The Canvas is built to be driven by **voice across a fleet** — and this part is **direction, not shipped yet.** The intent: spawn several agents at once as cards, address one by name ("agent two, run the linter"), and **ask the room** — *"what's everyone working on?"*, *"which of these will conflict?"*, *"is this diff safe to merge?"* — answered out loud while the relevant cards light up.

The governance posture is the point: observe everything, spawn freely, and **gate only the irreversible few** — merges, pushes to main, deletes, migrations, and spend always raise a visual approval card, while read-only questions run instantly. Voice will come in two tracks: a free local default and an opt-in realtime mode. Treat this section as the roadmap, not today's feature set.

## Turning it on

The Canvas is **experimental and off by default.** Flip the **Experimental Canvas** toggle in **Settings → Operator Defaults** (where the glass-material sliders also live) and a **Canvas** button appears in the status bar. Click it to enter; an **Exit** control in the top dock returns you to the dashboard. It's desktop-only — there's no Canvas on mobile.