The Canvas

Learn to build powerful AI conversations using the Canvas in your NLX workspace

What's the Canvas?

The Canvas is a visual and interactive design tool for building your conversation flows. Each conversation workflow has its own Canvas to build all steps and possible paths. Every Canvas begins with a non-editable Start node from which your conversation will progress.

---

Build, Test, Analyze modes

Swap between modes on the bottom of your flow's Canvas:

Mode toggles on the Canvas

• Build: To map out the workflow or adjust flow settings

• Test: To access the Test widget and test the conversation flow

• Analyze: Swap to view traffic data from flows in production

---

Canvas controls

• Zoom in/out: Press Ctrl/Cmd key while scrolling mouse wheel or moving two fingers up/down on a trackpad

• Move: Pan the Canvas by sliding two fingers along the trackpad or press + hold Spacebar while using your mouse to click and drag

Explore keyboard shortcuts and additional options via the shortcut menus.

---

Toolbar

Located at the top of your Canvas when opening a flow, the toolbar provides a host of options:

The Canvas toolbar

• Add node: Select a node to add to the Canvas

• Bookmark: Right-click on a node to add a highlight and keep it bookmarked or use the Analyze option in the Canvas shortcut menu to bookmark isolated or infinite loop nodes

• Hand tool: Click and pan around the Canvas

• Magic wand: Adjust flow nodes into a level, aligned display

• Undo/redo: Undo or redo the last action on the Canvas

• Search: Scan content, trigger quick commands, and deliver generative prompts

• Application: Swap between applications where the flow is attached during test mode

• New page: Add pages and swap between them to contain branches of your flow

• Validator: Check for missing error handling, infinite loops, or other issues in the flow

• Settings: Set up intent training data, attach slots, manage translations, restore versions, and enable additional configurations

• Save: Commit all changes made while in the Canvas

---

Search commands

• General search: Enter desired keyword(s) to quickly query all node elements and messaging across your flow:

• Quick commands: Enter a forward slash (/) to invoke a menu of commands (e.g., add a new action, context variable, etc.) without needing to exit the Canvas

• Generative Canvas: While developing a conversation flow, you can use generative AI to populate node structures and flow logic. Enter single space in Search to launch Generative Canvas mode > Type prompt and preview generated UI pattern > Press Enter to apply the pattern

Sample Generative Canvas prompts:

• Query a knowledge base

• Ask the user for X

• User input must be X numeric digits long

• User can retry attempt X times

---

Shortcut menus

Right-click the Canvas or a node to activate the shortcut menu for additional options:

Canvas shortcut menu

• Paste, Undo/Redo

• New node: Select a node to add to the Canvas

• Zoom controls

• Analyze: Easily identify cycles (great for detecting if any unintentional infinite loops exist) or disconnected nodes

• Search: Trigger search bar

Node shortcut menu

• Copy, Cut, Duplicate, Delete

• Change color: Recolor node header for visual labeling

• Zoom selection: Magnifies on selected node

• Highlight selected: Add to bookmark in Canvas toolbar

• Extract to new page: Moves selected node(s) to a new page within the intent flow and adds Redirect nodes for moving between pages