Canvas mode
Normally you set up the cards and arrows. In canvas mode the agent does it itself: it works through cards on the canvas instead of hidden inside its own window.
The whole story, step by step, and what working this way gives you: neurosquad.ai/en/canvas-mode .
- It opens a terminal card for commands — one per long-running process.
- It opens a browser card when it needs the web.
- It keeps its log in a note card.
- It creates helper agents for work that can run in parallel.
- It wires its helpers to the cards their task needs — your note, a terminal, a browser, a task board — since a helper only sees cards connected to its own card. In canvas mode it may connect any two cards of the workspace (what it may wire).
- It equips itself with a plugin, skill or MCP server it needs — memory, library docs, a code graph (how, and what still asks you).
Everything it does is right there on the canvas for you to see. A card in canvas mode has a faint green glow.
Turn it on
Agent card menu → Enable canvas mode. It is there for every AI CLI that gets NeuroSquad’s card tools — all 22: Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenCode, Kilo Code, Hermes Agent, Qwen Code, Antigravity CLI, GitHub Copilot CLI, Factory Droid, Amp, Auggie, Cursor CLI, Cline CLI, Goose, Kimi Code, ZCode, MiMo Code, PenguinHarness, Crush, aider, Pi and omp.
The card tools and the instructions switch at once, while the agent is running. On top of that, NeuroSquad takes away the CLI’s own shell and web tools, so the agent really does use the cards. Each CLI has its own way to do it:
| CLI | How its own shell and web are cut off | Holds in dangerous mode | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Bash, WebSearch, WebFetch disabled at launch; dangerous mode never approves them | yes | next launch |
| Codex CLI | shell tool and web search switched off — not offered to the model | yes | next launch |
| OpenCode, Kilo Code | bash, webfetch, websearch denied in the card’s config | yes | next launch |
| MiMo Code | bash, webfetch, websearch, codesearch, exec denied in the card’s config | yes | next launch |
| Hermes Agent | the terminal, code_execution, web, search and browser toolsets disabled | yes | next launch |
| Qwen Code | run_shell_command, monitor, web_fetch, web_search disabled and denied | yes | next launch |
| Antigravity CLI | a hook denies run_command, manage_task, search_web, read_url_content and the browser tools | yes | next launch |
| Gemini CLI (legacy) | run_shell_command, its background-process tools, web_fetch, google_web_search excluded | yes | next launch |
| GitHub Copilot CLI | the bash/PowerShell tools, web_fetch and web_search excluded, the shell denied | yes | next launch |
| Factory Droid | a hook denies Execute, Script, WebSearch, FetchUrl | yes | next launch |
| Amp | NeuroSquad’s plugin refuses its shell tools, web_search and read_web_page on every call | yes | next launch |
| Auggie | the process tools, web-fetch and web-search removed | yes | next launch |
| Cursor CLI | a hook denies Shell, WebFetch, WebSearch — read from the card on every call | yes | immediately |
| Cline CLI | NeuroSquad’s plugin removes run_commands, fetch_web_content, web_search and refuses them | yes | next launch |
| Goose | the developer extension keeps only its file tools (no shell); code_execution and computercontroller get no tools | yes¹ | next launch |
| Kimi Code | Bash, WebSearch, FetchURL disabled, plus a hook that blocks them | yes | next launch |
| ZCode | Bash, BashOutput, KillShell, WebFetch, WebSearch, web_search removed from the model’s tools, plus a hook that blocks them | yes | next launch |
| PenguinHarness | a hook refuses exec_command and input_command (its shell, and its only way to the web) | yes | next launch |
| Crush | bash, its job tools, download, fetch, agentic_fetch, sourcegraph disabled | yes | next launch |
| aider | it stops suggesting shell commands and stops fetching URLs from the chat² | yes | next launch |
| Pi | bash and powershell excluded; Pi has no web tools of its own | yes | next launch |
| omp | bash, eval, web_search and URL reads blocked and hidden from the model | yes | next launch |
¹ Goose’s extension manager stays, so a model that goes out of its way could turn another extension
on. ² /run and /web remain yours to type.
“Next launch” means the CLI picks it up when the card starts again; the running session keeps its tools until then. Dangerous mode skips approval prompts — it doesn’t give back what canvas mode took away.
Canvas mode is not a sandbox. The agent still reads and edits your project’s files with its own tools, and what it runs in a terminal card are real commands on your computer.