canvas-template: Template Browser & Instantiation

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Operations

List Templates (/canvas template list)

Run the template script to list available archetypes:

python3 scripts/canvas_template.py --list

Present the results as a formatted table:

Archetype	Layout	Description
presentation	linear-vertical	Slide deck for Advanced Canvas (1200x675 slides)
flowchart	linear-vertical → auto dagre	Process flow with connected step nodes
mind-map	grid → auto radial	Radial expansion from central topic
gallery	grid	Image placeholder grid with title zone
dashboard	grid	Metric cards + status zones
storyboard	linear-horizontal	Scene cards for video planning
knowledge-graph	grid → auto force	Entity nodes for relationship mapping
mood-board	grid	Asymmetric image grid for creative direction
timeline	linear-horizontal	Horizontal event sequence
comparison	grid	Side-by-side columns for option analysis
kanban	grid	Todo/Doing/Done column board
project-brief	linear-vertical	Stacked zones for project kickoff

Instantiate Template (/canvas template use [name])

1. Validate the template name against the 12 archetypes.
2. Ask for required parameters:
   • title (all templates): What's the canvas title?
   • Template-specific params (slide_count, step_count, image_count, etc.)
3. Determine output path (canvas directory detection from orchestrator).
4. Run instantiation:

python3 scripts/canvas_template.py [template] [output_path] --param title="[title]" --param [key]=[value]

5. Validate the output:

python3 scripts/canvas_validate.py [output_path]

6. MANDATORY: Content Quality Gate — Read the orchestrator's Quality Standards section. Before reporting:
   • Replace ALL placeholder text in every node with real content relevant to the title
   • Verify no "Describe this", "YYYY-MM-DD", "Value: 0", or "Content goes here" strings remain
   • Run python3 scripts/canvas_validate.py and confirm 0 errors, 0 overlap warnings
   • If the template has post_layout (mind-map→radial, knowledge-graph→force, flowchart→dagre), confirm the layout was applied
7. Report: "Created [name] canvas at [path] with [N] nodes, [E] edges, [G] groups."

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Template Parameters

Each template has defaults that can be overridden:

Template	Key Parameters	Defaults
presentation	slide_count	6
flowchart	step_count	5
mind-map	branch_count	5
gallery	image_count, columns	9, 3
dashboard	metric_count	4
storyboard	scene_count	6
knowledge-graph	entity_count	8
mood-board	image_count	8
timeline	event_count	6
comparison	criteria_count	4
kanban	cards_per_column	3
project-brief	objective_count	3

All templates accept color_title, color_body, color_accent to override the color scheme (values: "1"-"6").

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Post-Instantiation

After creating a template canvas, suggest next steps based on the archetype:

• presentation: "Add content to each slide. Use /canvas add banana for hero images."
• gallery/mood-board: "Replace placeholder slots with /canvas add image or /canvas add banana."
• flowchart: "Edit step text. Run /canvas layout dagre to re-flow after changes."
• mind-map: "Edit branches. Run /canvas layout radial for proper expansion."
• knowledge-graph: "Add entities and edges. Run /canvas layout force to visualize relationships."
• kanban: "Add task cards with /canvas add text. Move between columns manually in Obsidian."