> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cortex-foundation-add13747-droid-2a5c5e50-docs-ferndesk-pro.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Design canvases

> Boards you host from Chat or Code — frames, notes, options, and the host binding. Default title Untitled canvas; deleting hides it from the list.

A Design canvas starts life as **Untitled canvas**, created the moment Chat or Code writes to it. It belongs to your account, remembers which conversation or session hosted it, and is edited in the [Design desktop app](/design/desktop).

## What lives on the board

| On the canvas                                                            | Not this object                                      |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Frames** — screens, diagrams, layouts                                  | A Chat project                                       |
| **Notes** — annotations beside the frames                                | A Chat canvas (a document beside a conversation)     |
| **Options** — alternatives laid out side by side                         | A Code workspace file                                |
| **Host binding** — the Chat conversation or Code session that created it | A Bot's computer — Bot does not receive design tools |
| **Library drawer** — components, pages, tokens                           | Chat's file [Library](/chat/library)                 |

## Create and open

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sign in">
    Another account's canvases are not visible; a guest cannot create one.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Host a canvas from Chat or Code">
    The design tools create the board and write the first frames. The title is **Untitled canvas** until you rename it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the working UI on desktop">
    Edit frames, notes, and options in the [Design desktop app](/design/desktop).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Delete when done">
    Deleting a canvas hides it from the list.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Who can open one

A canvas is a member object. Sign in first: a guest has no design tools to host a board with, and another account's canvases are never listed. That is the same rule as the rest of Cortex — a session that cannot be signed back into to revoke something never gets to create it. See [Accounts](/getting-started/accounts).

## Renaming

Rename the board from the desktop app. The host binding stays, so the Chat conversation or Code session that created it still points at the same canvas.

## Chat canvases are a different thing

A Chat canvas is a document beside a conversation — see [Chat canvases](/chat/canvases). A Design canvas is a board of frames. Chat can host both; only the Design canvas opens in the desktop app.

## Related

* [Library](/design/library) — reusable components, pages, and tokens.
* [Design desktop](/design/desktop)
* [Design troubleshooting](/design/troubleshooting) — a board that is missing, or will not rename.