Create and navigate
Choose New → Blank Canvas. A canvas lives beside calculation documents, follows the same folder, search, archive, and backup rules, and opens in an immersive workspace. Drag the background to pan, use the wheel or compact controls to zoom, and use Fit or the minimap to recover your bearings. Controls, gestures, fit-to-view, and the minimap support a 10% overview for large boards.
The canvas saves its viewport and structure locally. On a small screen you can pan, zoom, select, inspect, and edit content; precise layout and connection tools remain on desktop.
Add technical content
Use the floating add dock to open Basics, Shapes, Decisions, or Structure. Drag any tool to an exact location without opening its inspector. A shape-accurate, colored hologram shows the snapped destination before release. A deliberate tool click enters placement mode instead: move the hologram to the desired location and click the canvas to place and edit it. Press Escape to cancel either interaction.
The Shapes gallery contains rectangle, rounded rectangle, circle, diamond, triangle, hexagon, database cylinder, service cube, cloud, and sticky note. Each is a real resizable content container with readable title and Markdown, theme-aware color, and connection points placed on its actual silhouette—for example, three triangle vertices, four diamond vertices, and six hexagon vertices. Changing Geometry in the inspector updates the rendered shape and moves existing relationships to the nearest valid point without discarding content.
Click one node without moving it to open the floating inspector. Dragging a node closes the inspector and leaves the drawing area unobstructed; background clicks and Escape close it too. Choose from the semantic color palette to distinguish roles without sacrificing light- or dark-theme contrast. Titles edit directly; longer content stays as Markdown source with a safe rendered preview. Mermaid source remains canonical, so a syntax error never destroys what you wrote.
Explore Mermaid graphs
Choose Graphs in the Canvas header to open the Mermaid Graph Explorer. It treats every Mermaid node in the current Canvas as a persistent logical model: search the collection, switch between graphs, edit canonical source beside the rendered model, and zoom without changing the stored diagram.
Start with a flowchart, sequence, state, class, or entity-relationship template, or load the included Continuum architecture sample. New graphs appear as native resizable Mermaid nodes on the Canvas, participate in undo and backups, and remain editable when rendering reports a syntax error.
The local stdio MCP server exposes a Mermaid guide and architecture sample, validates Mermaid syntax, lists and reads saved graphs, and stages new graph nodes. Read operations do not alter the workspace. A staged graph uses the existing Blueprint proposal flow and still requires explicit approval inside the running desktop app.
Connect and group
Drag from a node’s source handle—or click it, then click a target—to create a relationship. A curved glowing trail follows the pointer, the arrow landing is previewed, and the nearest target becomes magnetic. Valid targets glow green; invalid Branchpoint targets glow red and cannot create an edge. In Select mode, click a connection and press Delete or Backspace to remove it. Freeform canvases permit directed relationships, alternatives, feedback loops, and cycles.
Switch the interaction toolbar between Hand (H) to pan, Select (V) to move or Shift-select several nodes, and Paint (P) to drag a chosen semantic color across multiple items. These shortcuts stay inactive while you type in a field. Select two or more top-level nodes and choose Group. Groups move their children together, may contain subgroups, and collapse like a drawer. Collapsing hides descendants without deleting their data.
Arrange and edit
Manual placement is authoritative. While moving an existing node, the landing outline follows the snapped destination beneath it. Choose Arrange → for a left-to-right technical flow or Arrange ↓ for a top-to-bottom hierarchy. Arrange updates positions once and remains one undoable action; it does not continuously fight later dragging.
Use Undo and Redo for structural work. Cmd/Ctrl + Z undoes, Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Z redoes, and Ctrl + Y also redoes on non-macOS platforms. Focused inputs, textareas, selects, and editable labels retain their native text history. Each Canvas history action is announced accessibly. Grid snapping keeps manually positioned shapes aligned. Image nodes accept PNG, JPEG, WebP, or GIF files up to 10 MiB and keep them in Continuum’s local asset store.
Map an idea with Blueprint
When Continuum Blueprint is enabled, choose Blueprint in the Canvas header. Describe sends a prompt to your configured provider, Source accepts declarative YAML or JSON, and Preview renders the resulting native graph before anything changes.
Prompt-only is the privacy default. Selected nodes or the whole Canvas leave the device only after you choose that context explicitly. A valid preview can create a new Canvas, merge beside existing nodes without moving them, or replace the current Canvas after confirmation. Blueprint cannot embed local image bytes or invent workspace references; use a .continuum backup for portable assets.
The packaged macOS and Windows apps can also receive staged proposals through the local stdio MCP server. MCP proposals never apply directly: Continuum identifies the originating client, shows the requested action and graph preview, and waits for Approve or Reject.
Mobile, motion, and safety
The Canvas animations setting is on by default and controls node entry, group expansion, and traversal movement. Turn it off for instant transitions. The operating system’s reduced-motion preference always takes priority.
If a canvas renderer fails, Continuum keeps navigation available and offers Retry, Disable animations, and Back up workspace. Backups include graph metadata and referenced image assets in a .continuum bundle.