Better Canvas
Better Canvas icon: three connected nodes with an AI star in the lower-right node

Free and open source · Runs inside Obsidian

An Obsidian
Canvas plugin.

Better Canvas adds AI assistance, mind maps, and six themes to Obsidian's built-in Canvas. Install and enable the plugin, then use these features directly on your canvas in Obsidian.

Install in ObsidianExplore the features

Requires desktop Obsidian 1.14.4 or newer

Weekend reading circle.canvasSoft Notes
Pastel idea, excerpt, concept, question, and action cards connected around a reading-circle plan.
Real plugin interface inside Obsidian. Your content stays in your vault.
AI assistant

Keep the answer
next to the question.

Select one card or a group in Obsidian Canvas and ask AI with your existing context. Answers become new nodes connected to their sources, so every follow-up has somewhere to start.

An AI question about evidence gaps and follow-up research, opened from a selected claim in a Paper Research canvas.
Real question composer. The pictured prompt was not sent; no generated answer is shown.

Start with what you know

Summarize sources, compare viewpoints, and expand an idea. Watch answers stream in, stop, or regenerate.

Give understanding a structure

Generate a mind map or learning flashcards. Export a Markdown deck for Spaced Repetition.

Choose your own model

Use OpenAI-compatible APIs, Anthropic, or Gemini. Connect installed, signed-in local agents such as Codex and OpenCode.

AI setup guide

AI is optional and needs your configuration. Services may charge for usage. Prompts and related context go to your chosen service; local agents may also call remote models. Editing, mapping, and themes work without AI.

Mind maps

A new thought.
Another branch.

Build mind maps on Obsidian's native canvas. Create children and siblings from the keyboard, arrange branches in four directions, or start a map from the H1 headings in a Markdown note.

A reading circle branching into what to read, who to read with, and what to keep, with concrete actions on each branch.
An example map in the Default theme; nodes were arranged for this illustration.
Tab
Create a child
Enter
Create a sibling
Alt + arrow
Select a nearby node
Left / right / up / down
Four layout directions

While editing text, use Shift + Tab / Shift + Enter to create nodes. Shortcut groups can be disabled in settings.

Canvas themes

Same ideas.
A different expression.

Give each Obsidian canvas its own theme. Loose ideas, reading notes, process maps, or sketches: choose a look that fits while keeping your text, positions, and connections.

Soft Notes Gummy Whiteboard Paper Research Hand-drawn Whiteboard Scrapbook Default
Soft Notes: Light, colorful cards for ideas, excerpts, concepts, questions, and actions.
Soft NotesLight, colorful cards for ideas, excerpts, concepts, questions, and actions.

Real plugin screenshots. Theme choices save with the canvas; node styles can be applied to several selected cards at once.

Keep going after the map.

Read and annotatePin PDF pages, extract quotations, and mark them with a pen or highlighter.

Share your thinkingPresent a canvas, or export PNG, SVG, and JSON Canvas.

Stay connectedBring more notes together with node links, backlinks, and Canvas Portals.

Read the feature guide

Static exports can differ from the editor. Scrapbook paper textures and tape are not reproduced in whole-canvas or selection static exports. Known limitations

Your next canvas
starts here.

In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins. Search for Better Canvas, install it, and enable it.

Install in ObsidianCommunity directory

Desktop only. Requires Obsidian 1.14.4 or newer.

Prefer a manual install?

Download better-canvas.zip from GitHub Releases, extract it into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ folder, then enable it in Obsidian.

Download latest releaseInstallation instructions