{"slug": "github-copilot-app-for-beginners-how-to-build-custom-workflows-with-canvases", "title": "GitHub Copilot app for Beginners: How to build custom workflows with canvases", "summary": "GitHub documented a new capability in the GitHub Copilot app that lets users build custom interfaces, called canvases or canvas extensions, by describing the desired workflow in plain English after entering the /create-canvas skill in an agent session. The bidirectional canvases can be kanban boards, issue triage boards, release checklists, dashboards, forms, or spreadsheets, and both the user and the agent can update the shared state immediately without a separate send or sync step. Canvases are saved as extensions that can be shared with a project team or kept as personal extensions, and ready-made canvas extensions are available through Awesome Copilot.", "body_md": "# GitHub Copilot app for Beginners: How to build custom workflows with canvases\n\nDescribe the interface you need in plain English, then let the agent build a live surface you can both use and update—so you spend less time adapting to tools and more time getting work done.\n\nMost tools give you a fixed set of screens and ask you to fit your work into them. But what if you could start with the workflow you want instead and have the interface take shape around it?\n\nThat’s the idea behind [canvases in the GitHub Copilot app](https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/github-copilot-app/working-with-canvas-extensions). A canvas, also called a canvas extension, is a customizable interface that you and the agent share. It can be a kanban board, an issue triage board, a release checklist, a dashboard, a form, or even a spreadsheet: a UI shaped to how you work.\n\nBecause the canvas is bidirectional, the agent can update it as it works, and you can use buttons, cards, filters, and other controls to make changes too. Just like using a live shared whiteboard.\n\nLet’s create one.\n\n## Creating a canvas with /create-canvas\n\nTo create a canvas, you don’t have to do any coding or design by hand. Just open an agent session, enter the `/create-canvas` [skill](https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/github-copilot-app-reference/built-in-skills), and describe what you want in plain English.\n\nMake sure your prompt covers three things:\n\n- The workflow the canvas should support.\n- What you should be able to do in the interface.\n- What the agent should be able to do.\n\nFor example, you could enter:\n\n```\n/create-canvas Create a release notes canvas for tracking new feature work completed across GitHub Copilot app sessions. Include controls for reviewing and organizing entries and allow the agent to add and update them.\n```\n\nThen, the agent will build the interface and open it in the right-side panel without you having to write files or mess with the layout. One description becomes a custom tool that’s ready to use.\n\n## Shaping the canvas around your workflow\n\nBecause the interface is generated from your description, your first version is just a starting point, and you can keep refining until you’re happy.\n\nYou could ask the agent to add a column or filter, pull in your open pull requests, or turn the entire canvas into a checklist for your day. The agent will revise the canvas to match. While there isn’t a fixed menu of layouts, if you can describe a workflow, you can likely turn it into a canvas.\n\nOnce created, your canvas is saved as an extension, so you can use it again. You can keep it with the project for your team to share or save it as a personal extension just for you.\n\n## Instant collaboration, not command and wait\n\nThe real power of a canvas is that you and the agent can both keep working at the same time.\n\nWhen you click a button, update a field, or move a card, the canvas’ shared state changes immediately. The agent sees the same update without a separate send or sync step.\n\nIt works the other way, too. You can ask the agent to use the canvas’ own capabilities—the same actions available to you—to add a release note or move a card, then watch that change appear in the interface. Instead of sending a command and waiting for a response, you’re steering the work together.\n\n## Take this with you\n\nCreating a useful canvas starts with three simple questions:\n\n- What information do I want to see?\n- What do I want to change directly?\n- What should the agent be able to update or do?\n\nNot sure where to begin? The community has shared ready-made [canvas extensions through Awesome Copilot](https://awesome-copilot.github.com/extensions/), including release notes tools, kanban boards, issue triage workflows, and more. Install one that’s close to what you need, then ask the agent to customize it for your workflow in the same way you would refine a canvas you created yourself.\n\nStart small: open a session, run `/create-canvas`, and describe a simple board or checklist for something you’re working on now.\n\n## Tags:\n\n## Written by\n\n## Related posts\n\n### \n\t\t\t\t\t[When chat is the wrong UI](https://github.blog/ai-and-ml/github-copilot/when-chat-is-the-wrong-ui/)\t\t\t\t\n\nWhat is a developer to do when they need something more tangible than a chat box? Enter canvases.\n\n### \n\t\t\t\t\t[AI-powered fuzzing with the GitHub Security Lab Taskflow Agent](https://github.blog/security/application-security/ai-powered-fuzzing-with-the-github-security-lab-taskflow-agent/)\t\t\t\t\n\nIn this blog post, I explain how to use the new fuzzing taskflow based on the GitHub Security Lab Taskflow Agent AI framework.\n\n### \n\t\t\t\t\t[Rendering huge pull requests in the GitHub Copilot app](https://github.blog/engineering/user-experience/rendering-huge-pull-requests-in-the-github-copilot-app/)\t\t\t\t\n\nHow we rebuilt the diff surface in the GitHub Copilot app to open a million-line pull request with hundreds of inline review comments.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/github-copilot-app-for-beginners-how-to-build-custom-workflows-with-canvases", "canonical_source": "https://github.blog/ai-and-ml/github-copilot/github-copilot-app-for-beginners-how-to-build-custom-workflows-with-canvases/", "published_at": "2026-09-25 18:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-25 18:30:49.089450+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "ai-tools", "developer-tools", "ai-products"], "entities": ["GitHub", "GitHub Copilot app", "Awesome Copilot"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/github-copilot-app-for-beginners-how-to-build-custom-workflows-with-canvases", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/github-copilot-app-for-beginners-how-to-build-custom-workflows-with-canvases.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/github-copilot-app-for-beginners-how-to-build-custom-workflows-with-canvases.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/github-copilot-app-for-beginners-how-to-build-custom-workflows-with-canvases.jsonld"}}