Obsidian's new "Canvas" feature - oh my!

Obsidian’s new “Canvas” feature turns a note vault into a visual workspace where cards can be arranged, connected, and resized—making it easier to build research structures without leaving the app. Access is currently limited to an “Insider’s build,” with the creator describing VIP status as the route to early access. Once enabled, Canvas appears as a dedicated interface inside an Obsidian vault, letting users drag in content, snap elements into alignment, and create relationships between ideas using arrows.

The workflow starts from Obsidian’s command palette: users can create a new canvas, then add cards either by dragging from the vault or by double-clicking to spawn a card. The interface supports practical layout controls such as grid snapping (to keep cards neatly aligned), card resizing (to fit more or less text), and card color (including a purple theme for emphasis). Connections between cards are created by dragging a dot/handle from one card to another, producing arrows that can also be color-coded—useful for distinguishing types of relationships.

Canvas also supports multiple ways to bring existing knowledge into the workspace. Users can drag entire notes onto the canvas, where the note becomes a scrollable, editable card. For more lightweight referencing, a user can create a card that contains a link to a note using Obsidian’s double-bracket syntax (e.g., [[note]]), so the canvas holds a navigable reference rather than duplicating the whole note. The feature extends beyond vault content too: users can paste a URL onto the canvas to embed a web page that can be scrolled directly alongside their notes, enabling side-by-side research without switching contexts.

The transcript highlights a real-world use case: the creator’s “claim pages,” described as backups of Zettelkasten-style idea cards, can be dragged onto the canvas and edited in place. The URL embedding is compared to functionality seen in Cosmic’s web browser app (Cosmic), while the creator notes using Arc as their browser and pasting the copied page link into Canvas for in-canvas reading.

Finally, the discussion shifts to market impact. Some users are concerned that Canvas could reduce demand for standalone visual knowledge apps such as Scrintal and Heptabase, which are designed for ready-made research workflows. The creator argues that those apps may still appeal to people who want a simpler, out-of-the-box experience, while Obsidian’s flexibility may require a learning curve. The open question: whether Canvas makes Obsidian a direct substitute for these tools, or whether both categories can coexist—depending on how much structure users want immediately versus how much customization they’re willing to learn.