navigation and shortcuts
move around a big board, find anything with the command palette, use right-click menus and shortcuts, and link straight to a node.
A canvas can hold hundreds of nodes. These are the ways around it: the mouse, the minimap, the palette, right-click menus, keys and links.
move and zoom
- Pan by dragging empty canvas with the left or middle mouse button.
- Zoom with scroll or pinch, from 5% to 250%. Opening a canvas fits everything in view.
- Select by clicking a node, or <kbd>Shift</kbd>-dragging a box on empty canvas. A box touching a node selects it. <kbd>⌘</kbd>-click or <kbd>Shift</kbd>-click adds and removes.
- Bottom left holds a minimap you can drag and zoom, and a row of zoom buttons. When the canvas has zones the row also has a frame button with their count that flies you to any of them; see notes, text and zones.
- At low zoom, pictures switch to small thumbnails so a large board stays smooth.
the top bar
From left to right:
- the way back to the dashboard, the canvas name (click the pencil to rename) and a used in N button when the canvas is referenced elsewhere. A breadcrumb shows the path when you've opened a nested canvas.
- Undo and Redo
- Search (<kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>K</kbd>)
- the xixi button: ask xixi
- the pixie inbox, which collects questions and approvals from your pixies
- the canvas menu (three dots)
- your account menu
the canvas menu
Share… (owners and admins), Version history, Set cover image… or Change cover image… (plus Remove cover when one is set), Export bundle, Import bundle… and Help & docs.
the dock
The dock at the bottom has two buttons: + to add nodes, models and assets (see nodes and wires), and the pixie button, which lists the pixies on this canvas, shows an unread dot when one has news and starts a chat with the one you pick. The dock is where the chat with a pixie lives; see chat.
the command palette
Press <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>K</kbd> (or <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> <kbd>K</kbd>) on the dashboard or a canvas, or the Search button.
Type to find projects, assets, tools, sandboxes, designs and models you can open. Matching is forgiving: brnd finds brand guide. Results are ranked by name match, then starred items, then recent ones, then your own, then how often others reuse them.
- The pills All, Projects, Assets, Tools, Sandboxes, Designs and Models narrow the list.
- On a canvas, picking a library item inserts it as a reference, and picking a model adds it as a node. On the dashboard, picking an item opens it.
- Commands appear above the results: Add text node, Add image node, Add Op (model), Add Pixie, Add Sandbox (code), Add 3D model, Version history, Share canvas, Export bundle, Import bundle and Go to dashboard.
- <kbd>↑</kbd> <kbd>↓</kbd> move, <kbd>Enter</kbd> opens, the star pins an item to the top, <kbd>Esc</kbd> closes.
right-click menus
On empty canvas: Add Text, Add Image, Add Model, Add Sandbox, Add 3D model, Add Asset, Add Sticky Note, Add Zone, Add Pixie, and Auto layout, which tidies the selected nodes (or all of them) into rows.
On a node:
| item | when |
|---|---|
| Duplicate, Delete | always |
| Group into nested canvas, Group as tool, Group as asset | with a selection; see nested canvases |
| Mark as input / Unmark as input | to expose it on a canvas used as a tool |
| Add to chat | while a pixie chat is open |
| Swap model | on a model node |
| Copy process ID | on a process node |
| Crop / Rotate, Edit in composer, Set as cover | on an image node |
| Trim video, Extract frame, First frame, Last frame | on a video node |
| Move to project | on a zone |
keyboard shortcuts
On Windows and Linux use <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> in place of <kbd>⌘</kbd>.
| keys | does |
|---|---|
| <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>K</kbd> | open the palette |
| <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>Z</kbd> | undo |
| <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>⇧</kbd> <kbd>Z</kbd>, <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>Y</kbd> | redo |
| <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>C</kbd>, <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>V</kbd> | copy and paste the selection; paste also takes an image, PDF or text from the clipboard |
| <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>D</kbd> | duplicate the selection |
| <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>A</kbd> | select all |
| <kbd>Esc</kbd> | clear the selection, cancel zone drawing, close a window |
| <kbd>Backspace</kbd>, <kbd>Delete</kbd> | delete the selection |
| <kbd>S</kbd>, <kbd>Space</kbd> | split and play in the video trimmer |
Typing in a field never triggers a shortcut. And while a full-window editor (3D model, image composer, animation studio) is open, its own keys take over from the canvas's.
deep links
Every canvas has an address you can share with a person who has access.
| address | opens |
|---|---|
/project/<id> | a project |
/process/<id> | a process |
/run/<id> | one run of a process |
/pipeline/<id> | a pipeline |
/g/<id> | any of them; ixi switches to the right form |
Add to it:
?node=<node id>centres the view on that node and selects it.?open=<node id>opens that node's full-window editor (3D model editor, image composer). The address updates as you open and close editors, so copying it shares the exact view.?trail=records the nested path you came in by, so the breadcrumb shows it.- on a pipeline,
?session=<id>opens a session and?view=chatits chat.
open instantly
A canvas you've visited before appears at once from a copy kept in your browser (the last 40 canvases, up to 8 MB each) while the live version connects. Until it connects, the canvas is read-only for a moment. Hover a card on the dashboard and ixi starts connecting before you click.
limits & good to know
- The palette lists at most 50 matches.
- Large boards load pictures as small copies and boot live sandbox frames only when you look at them, so opening isn't slowed by what is out of view.
related
checked against the product · 2026-10-23