Canvas
Agents draw charts, diagrams and small dashboards right inside the conversation, in your theme.
Some answers are easier to see than to read: a sales chart, an architecture diagram, a timeline, a comparison table. With Vato Canvas, an agent can draw that visual directly inside the conversation instead of describing it.
Ask for a visual
Just ask in plain words. For example:
- "Show me a bar chart of this CSV's monthly revenue."
- "Draw a diagram of how the auth flow works in this repo."
- "Make a small dashboard comparing the three plans."
Agents also use a canvas on their own when a visual explains something better than text. It works with every agent that has Vato's tools (Claude, Codex, Cursor and the others), in every mode, including Plan: showing a canvas never changes your files.
Where it appears
While the agent builds the canvas, a card shows Building the canvas…. When it is ready:
- The canvas appears inside the agent's reply, just above its text, directly on the conversation background with no frame. It stays there after the turn ends, even when Worked for… is folded. While the agent is still working and hasn't answered yet, it shows under the work in progress.
- To give it more room, select Expand: the canvas opens in the side panel, next to the browser and Vato Design, in its own tab named after the canvas.
Hover over the canvas (or focus it with the keyboard) to show three buttons in its top-right corner:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hide | Folds the canvas into a small chip under the reply, next to its media. Select the chip to show the canvas again. |
| Copy HTML | Copies the page the agent wrote, so you can reuse it. |
| Expand | Opens the canvas in its own tab of the side panel. |
Canvases can be interactive: hover a chart, switch a tab, move a slider. Links open in your default browser.
It matches your design
The canvas uses Vato's current theme: background, text, borders, accent color, chart colors, corner radius and font. Switch between dark and light theme and every open canvas follows right away, without reloading.
Safety
A canvas runs in an isolated frame:
- It cannot reach the network, read your files, use the clipboard or see the rest of Vato.
- Scripts are allowed only inline or from a few public library sites (jsDelivr, unpkg, cdnjs, esm.sh), which is how charting libraries such as Chart.js, D3 or Mermaid load.
- Forms, pop-up dialogs and browser storage are disabled.
Before showing a canvas, Vato checks the page. If a script has a syntax error or loads code from a site that isn't allowed, the card says Canvas "…" was not shown with the reason, and the agent usually fixes it and tries again. If a script fails while the canvas is running, a warning line such as Canvas error: … appears under it.
Limits
- A canvas grows with its content up to 2,000 pixels tall.
- Canvases are shown in the desktop app, including conversations opened through Remote. The mobile app and the web companion list the step as a regular tool call: open the conversation on desktop to see the visual.