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 flow 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.

Toolbar

Located at the top of your Canvas when opening a flow, the toolbar provides a host of options while you assemble or maintain an application's workflow:

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 nodes or infinite loops

  • Hand tool: Click and pan around the Canvas

  • Magic layout: 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

  • Flow: Swap between flows attached to the current application set

  • Pages: Add pages and swap between them to contain branches of the current flow

  • Analyze: View traffic data from deployed applications

  • Validation (Show issues): 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

  • Test: Enable the test widget to converse with the application from the existing flow

Analyze, Validation, and Test view

View modes from the Canvas toolbar

Activate one or more modes simultaneously from your Canvas toolbar:

  • 📊 Analyze: Enable to view traffic data from flows in production or filter to specific conversation sessions and troubleshoot the user's path

  • 🎯 Validation (Show issues): Displays detected logic or UX errors within your flow. Select the warning icon that appears above any node to read the validation error from the node's side panel

  • ▶️ Test: To access the Test widget and test from the start of the current conversation flow

You can continue to modify and build with your flow while these modes are activated. Simplify select the Canvas to adjust the flow and save changes.

De-select Analytics or Validation from the toolbar to disable these views. Re-select Test and refresh the chat widget to experience changes while actively editing your flow.

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.

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 flow and adds Redirect nodes for moving between pages

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