The infinite canvas: nodes, panning, and zoom

Navigating the Canvas

Panning

• Trackpad: Two-finger scroll to pan in any direction.

• Mouse: Scroll to pan vertically; hold Shift + scroll for horizontal.

Zooming

• Trackpad: Pinch to zoom. Zoom is anchored to your cursor position.

• Keyboard shortcuts:

  • ⌘+ — Zoom in

  • ⌘- — Zoom out

  • ⌘0 — Reset to actual size (100%)

  • ⇧⌘0 — Fit all content in view

Minimap

A small overview appears in the bottom-right corner of the canvas. It shows a bird's-eye view of all your nodes and a rectangle representing your current viewport. Click anywhere on the minimap to jump to that area of the canvas.

Origin Crosshair

A subtle crosshair marks the canvas origin (0, 0). Useful as a spatial reference point when your workspace grows large.

Node Types

Nodes are the building blocks of your canvas. Each node is a live, interactive panel. You can add nodes via the Command Palette (⌘K) or voice commands.

Working with Nodes

• Move: Click and drag a node's title bar to reposition it.

• Resize: Drag the edges or corners of a node.

• Delete: Select a node and press Delete, or use the Command Palette.

• Select multiple: Use the Select tool from the left toolbar, then rubber-band drag to select multiple nodes.

• Paste images: Press ⌘V to paste an image from your clipboard directly onto the canvas.

Drawing and Shapes

Genie includes a drawing toolkit for annotating your canvas — sketch diagrams, draw arrows between nodes, or add labels.

Shape Types

Eight shape types are available from the left toolbar:

• Rectangle

• Ellipse

• Diamond

• Arrow

• Line

• Freehand

• Text

• Image

How to Draw

1. Select a shape tool from the left toolbar.

2. Click and drag on the canvas to draw. A live preview shows while dragging.

3. Release to commit the shape.

Shapes render behind nodes, so they won't obstruct your terminals or browsers.

Styling with the Shape Inspector

Select a shape to open the Shape Inspector panel on the right side:

• Sloppiness: Choose a drawing style —

  • Architect — Clean, precise lines

  • Artist — Slight organic wobble

  • Cartoonist — Exaggerated, playful wobble

• Edge Style: Sharp corners or rounded corners

• Colors: Full color picker for stroke and fill

• Fonts: Three font families for text shapes

Canvas Themes

Genie ships with two animated background themes:

• Night (default) — A pixel-art aesthetic with a dark grid

• Outrun — A synthwave-inspired theme

Switch themes via voice command: say "switch to outrun" or "switch to night."

Multi-Canvas Support

You're not limited to one canvas. Create separate workspaces for different projects:

• New Canvas: Press ⌘⇧N or use the Command Palette

• Switch Canvas: Click the workspace switcher at the top center, or say "switch to [canvas name]"

• Per-canvas state: Each canvas has its own nodes, zoom/pan position, and tool selections

Auto-Layout and Organization

When your canvas gets crowded:

• Say "organize" or use the Command Palette → Organize to auto-layout all nodes in a tidy grid.

• Use Fleet View from the Command Palette to arrange all terminal nodes in a grid view for quick scanning.

Tips

• ⌘K is your friend. Almost everything — spawning nodes, organizing, focusing — is available from the Command Palette.

• Minimap for orientation. When you lose track of where your nodes are, glance at the minimap or press ⇧⌘0 to fit everything in view.

• Drag files from Finder directly onto the canvas to create File nodes.

• Shapes as visual guides. Use arrows to show data flow between agents, or rectangles to group related nodes.