Final Release v4.2.2 Electron MIT Open Source

Your canvas. Your references.

Visual reference workspace for VFX and 3D artists. Plugin system (Theme Creator ships as the first official plugin), safer .kanvaz zip container with SHA-256 integrity, URL and File reference cards, GitHub Actions CI, opt-in updater. Free forever, MIT-licensed. Dev is winding down; no v5 planned.

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What Kanvaz looks like

Kanvaz board view — seven reference cards on an infinite grid canvas: character concept art, code excerpts, VFX shield artwork, glitch/matrix backgrounds, and typed connection lines between related items. — Board view · typed connections between reference cards

Kanvaz Settings panel — Appearance section with theme, minimap, grid lines, card shadows, animations, snap-to-grid, and autosave toggles. — Settings · appearance + behavior

Kanvaz Settings panel — Developer section with FPS overlay, diagnostics, generate test cards, and the Theme Creator plugin (v1.0.0) enabled with color pickers for background, surface, accent, and text. — Developer + Theme Creator plugin

Kanvaz start screen — Recent Boards dialog with 'latest board.kanvaz' listed and a 'Start with empty board' button on a dark grid canvas. — Start screen · recent boards

Kanvaz About dialog — v4.2.1 build shown here; v4.2.2 is the current shipping version. Reads 'Your canvas. Your references. Made by Atharva Patil, Northbyte Studios. Built for VFX artists, 3D artists, and the people who teach them.' — About · v4.2.1 build shown (v4.2.2 is current)

Kanvaz keyboard shortcuts reference — sections for Canvas, Cards, View, and File. Shortcuts include Space+drag to pan, Ctrl+F to search, M to toggle Board/Map view, T for Always on Top. — Keyboard shortcuts reference

Why it exists

Before Kanvaz was a public release, it was a gift — built for the VFX and 3D community I'm part of, for the friends and teachers who needed a fast, no-friction place to drop reference images while working. Most reference tools are either too heavyweight or built for a different workflow entirely.

Kanvaz does one thing: give you a canvas, let you throw images, GIFs, and video references onto it, and stay out of your way.

What's inside

Plugin system, safer container, real CI.

Plugin system (v4.2)

window.KanvazPluginAPI — plugins register new card types, ship full alternate themes, add their own Settings panels. Every install goes through a main-process consent dialog; plugins can't self-approve.

Theme Creator (v4.2)

First official plugin: in-app theme editor, live preview, presets, one-click reset. Shipped with the design-system audit that unified radii, shadows, and animation tokens.

Safer .kanvaz format (v4.1)

Moved from a giant base64-inline JSON blob to a real zip container with per-asset SHA-256 integrity hashes. Roughly 33% smaller files; one damaged asset degrades gracefully instead of losing the whole board. Backward compatible.

URL + File cards (v4.1)

Two new reference card types on top of the original six. File cards block executable/script types on open for safety. No new dependencies, no telemetry.

Kanvaz is at v4.2.2. Its final release.

Board View, the Connection System, and Map View are all stable. Dev is winding down: no v5 planned. v4.3.0 stabilization is the last major work before the project enters maintenance-only mode.

No subscription, no feature paywall, no telemetry, no internet connection required. Your files never leave your machine, and it stays free forever.