pmx-canvas

PMX Canvas is a shared board where you and your AI agents collect and present the data and evidence behind your work. Curate that material into context for your agent's next step, then bring the results back onto the board to review and build on. You both add and edit material on the same board, in real time.

Collect evidence. Curate context. Move work forward.

Real work needs evidence: research, files, data, charts, diagrams, decisions. When that's scattered across chats and files, you keep re-explaining the background and your agent works from whatever it happens to see.

On a PMX board, you and your agent put that material in one place, side by side. Then you curate it:

• Pin cards and boards to choose the material you want your agent to use.
• Link conclusions to their sources, so evidence stays connected.
• See what the agent has read, what changed since, and what it added or edited.

Ask your agent to put its findings back on the board as new material to review, present, and build on. Boards save locally and link to one another, so the evidence for your work keeps building up across sessions.

Harbor, the dark theme.

Daylight, the light theme. Both screenshots show the working app with fictional content and data.

A moldable canvas

Put notes, files, web pages, images, charts, code diffs, and diagrams side by side on an infinite canvas. Ask your agent to build a dashboard, comparison, or interactive view on the board as you work. You can open a rich view in its own tab when you need more space.

• Organize your work. Move and group cards, draw annotations, and connect ideas with labeled links. Use folders, search, and the board map to find earlier work.
• Work with agents. Ask one or several agents to add material, track tasks, and update the board. Review their changes and send instructions from the canvas when your agent connection supports it.
• Keep knowledge useful. Link conclusions to evidence, set review dates, and see which dependent cards need checking when a source changes.
• Save and share. Use undo, snapshots, and backups. Present a board as a tour or export it as a self-contained HTML file.

Install and start

With your agent (recommended)

Install Node.js (LTS), which includes npm and npx. Then install the PMX Canvas skill and choose your agent if prompted:

npx skills add pskoett/pmx-canvas/skills/pmx-canvas

Then ask your agent:

Use the pmx-canvas skill to install and set up PMX Canvas for this project. Start the canvas, check that you can connect to it, and give me the link to open it.

The skill gives your agent instructions for installing PMX Canvas, connecting to it, and working on boards. It doesn't install the app by itself; your agent walks you through setup and any permissions it needs. No repository clone is needed.

Run it yourself

Install Bun 1.4.4 or newer, then run this command from the folder where you want to keep your boards:

bunx pmx-canvas

The command starts the canvas and opens it in your browser. To explore a sample board first, run bunx pmx-canvas --demo in an empty folder.

For a permanent installation:

bun add -g pmx-canvas
pmx-canvas

Connect your agent

PMX Canvas works with Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Amp, and other agents through MCP, the protocol agents use to call tools. If your agent handled setup above, you're ready to make your first board. Otherwise, use a plugin or configure MCP directly. You don't need both for the same agent.

Plugins

The PMX Canvas plugin follows the open Agent Plugins 1.0 standard. Use it in any client that supports the standard's MCP stdio connections. Bun must be installed; a global PMX Canvas installation isn't required.

In GitHub Copilot, you can install directly from GitHub:

copilot plugin install pskoett/pmx-canvas:plugins/pmx-canvas

Copilot currently accepts this command, but warns that direct GitHub installs are deprecated and a future release will require a marketplace. If your version no longer accepts it, use the MCP setup below.

Enable it, start a new project session, and open PMX Canvas. Copilot also gets a native canvas panel; that panel is not part of the portable standard.

Other apps have their own plugin install commands or UI. See the PMX plugin guide. There is no single install command for every client.

MCP setup

Without a plugin, add a server to your agent's MCP settings with command bunx and arguments pmx-canvas, --mcp. Clients that use an mcpServers configuration accept:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canvas": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["pmx-canvas", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Start your agent in the same project folder as the canvas, then enable or approve the connection in your agent app. The MCP server can also start the canvas on its first tool call.

Settings differ by app. Follow the setup guide for your client, including Amp and orbs.

Make your first board

Ask your connected agent:

Create a PMX Canvas board with an overview of the recent projects and threads we've been working on together. Group related work, summarize the decisions and open questions, and link back to the threads and files you can access. Show what's in progress and what we could pick up next. Tell me if you're missing context rather than guessing.

Open the board, move related cards together, and pin the ones you want the agent to use. Then ask it to read the pinned cards and help you continue the work. You can also add notes and files yourself. Press ? on the board for keyboard shortcuts.

Boards auto-save in .pmx-canvas/canvas.db inside your project folder. Use the same folder when you return. Autosave isn't a backup; see the backup commands to keep a separate copy.

PMX Canvas runs locally and has no built-in multi-user accounts. Connected agents share the same open board. Content you ask an agent to read goes through that agent's tools and model provider; web content and hosted apps also use their external services.

Documentation and development

• Setup guide and plugin guide
• Cards and views
• CLI, MCP, HTTP API, and Bun SDK
• Environment settings and changelog

To run from source:

git clone https://github.com/pskoett/pmx-canvas.git
cd pmx-canvas
bun install
bun run build
bun run dev

See AGENTS.md for contributor guidance. Report bugs or suggest features in GitHub issues, or use Bug and feedback in the canvas toolbar.

MIT license.