Visual Canvas Guide¶

Learn how to use the Obsidian Canvas Project Manager plugin for visual project management.

Canvas Layout¶

The plugin organizes entities on a canvas using a hierarchical, workstream-based layout.

graph TD
    subgraph "Engineering Lane"
        M1[M-001: MVP]
        S1[S-001: Auth]
        S2[S-002: API]
        T1[T-001: JWT]
        T2[T-002: OAuth]
    end

    subgraph "Design Lane"
        M2[M-002: UI/UX]
        S3[S-003: Components]
        T3[T-003: Button]
    end

    M1 --> S1
    M1 --> S2
    S1 --> T1
    S1 --> T2
    M2 --> S3
    S3 --> T3

    style M1 fill:#e3f2fd
    style M2 fill:#e3f2fd
    style S1 fill:#fff9c4
    style S2 fill:#fff9c4
    style S3 fill:#fff9c4

Plugin Commands¶

Populate from Vault¶

Reads all entities from vault and adds them to canvas.

Usage: Ctrl/Cmd+P → "Project Canvas: Populate from vault"

Reposition Nodes¶

Automatically arranges nodes in hierarchical layout.

Usage: Ctrl/Cmd+P → "Project Canvas: Reposition nodes"

Refresh Canvas¶

Reloads entities and updates display.

Usage: Ctrl/Cmd+P → "Project Canvas: Refresh"

Visual Features¶

• Color Coding - Different colors for entity types
• Status Indicators - Visual status badges
• Relationship Lines - Arrows show dependencies
• Workstream Lanes - Horizontal lanes by workstream
• Hierarchical Layout - Parent-child positioning

Best Practices¶

See User Guide Overview for complete documentation.