Beyond chat: custom canvases in the GitHub Copilot app
GitHub describes canvases as small apps inside Copilot that can communicate with its agent, call third-party APIs and run code locally.
TLDR
GitHub's article makes the case for task-specific interfaces instead of relying on chat for everything. Examples include a Connect 4 game played with the agent, a Windows package-management interface and a SQLite database tool. The author argues that having an agent build reusable tools can avoid spending tokens on routine actions. Setup effort varies: the author says a SQLite canvas can be built in one attempt, while a workflow-automation canvas took the better part of a day to get its design and automation right.
Beyond chat: custom canvases in the GitHub Copilot app
GitHub describes canvases as small apps inside Copilot that can communicate with its agent, call third-party APIs and run code locally.
TLDR
GitHub's article makes the case for task-specific interfaces instead of relying on chat for everything. Examples include a Connect 4 game played with the agent, a Windows package-management interface and a SQLite database tool. The author argues that having an agent build reusable tools can avoid spending tokens on routine actions. Setup effort varies: the author says a SQLite canvas can be built in one attempt, while a workflow-automation canvas took the better part of a day to get its design and automation right.