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ArchFoundry Docs Open the canvas

Build a diagram on the canvas

Updated October 27, 2026Plans: Free, Pro, Enterprise

Overview

The canvas is where an architecture lives. Every card is one AWS service with its price, every line says which card can reach which, and the whole diagram is also Terraform you can read and download. This guide covers building and editing a diagram by hand. To have Archie draw it for you, see Design your first architecture with Archie.

Prerequisites

  • An ArchFoundry account, signed in. Diagrams you make while signed in are saved to your organization, so your teammates see them too.
  • No AWS account is needed to design.

Steps

  1. Open the canvas at app.archfoundry.ai/app.
  2. To start from a working system, click Templates in the left rail (or press Ctrl+/, ⌘/ on a Mac), pick one, and click Use this template.
  3. To add a single service, click Services in the left rail, search for it under Search services…, and drag it onto the canvas. Filter with Priced to see only services with a price.
  4. To connect two cards, drag from the dot on the right edge of one card to the left edge of another. The line means the first card sends traffic to the second.
  5. Click a card to select it. The Node tab on the right shows its name, what it costs, and what it receives from and sends to.
  6. To change a card's settings, open the Config tab and edit the fields. They are the settings its Terraform uses.
  7. To rename the diagram, double-click its name at the top.
  8. To find a card or run any command, press Ctrl+K (⌘K on a Mac) and start typing. Type > to see only commands.
  9. To undo, press Ctrl+Z (⌘Z). To redo, press Ctrl+Shift+Z (⇧⌘Z).
  10. To give the canvas more room, click Collapse near the bottom of the left rail. The rail shrinks to icons; hover one to see its name. Click the same button (Expand sidebar) to bring the labels back. ArchFoundry remembers your choice, and Home uses it too.
  11. To tell us about a problem or an idea, click Feedback at the bottom of the left rail. Choose Bug, Idea, Question or Other, write what happened, and click Open email. Your email app opens a message to founders@archfoundry.ai, sent from your own address. Copy instead copies the text so you can paste it anywhere.

Saving is automatic. Save now in the command palette (Ctrl+S) saves at once.

Example

These commands in the command palette cover most of what you do on the canvas:

text
Add a cloud service
Browse templates
Saved diagrams
Tidy the layout (arrange along the connections)
Zoom to fit
Export as PNG
Export as SVG
Export as PDF (print)
Duplicate this diagram
New diagram
Sidebar: collapse

The templates include a container behind a load balancer, a static site on a CDN, a three-tier web application, a serverless API, queue-backed workers, a nightly batch ETL and a retrieval service (RAG), among 23 in all. Each shows a projected monthly price before you use it.

Verify it worked

  • The price in the top bar, marked Estimate, changes as you add and remove cards. It is the AWS on-demand list price for what is on the canvas, not a bill.
  • Saved diagrams (Ctrl+O) lists the diagram under its name.
  • Clicking Code at the top shows the Terraform for what you drew. Canvas switches back.

Troubleshooting

The top bar says Another tab has this diagram open. Two tabs are editing the same diagram. Whichever saves second keeps its work as a copy, so close one of them.

The top bar says sign in to save. Your session ended. Sign in again to keep saving. Nothing on the canvas is lost.

A card shows no price. That service is not in the price book yet, so it adds nothing to the total rather than a guessed number.

You deleted a diagram by mistake. Open the command palette and choose Restore deleted: followed by its name.

The left rail shows only icons. It is collapsed. Click the button above the theme switch (Expand sidebar), or choose Sidebar: expand in the command palette.

Something here is wrong and none of the above covers it. Click Feedback while you are on the screen in question. Include details about this screen is on by default, so the message already says which diagram and what was selected.

Open email does nothing. Your computer has no email app set up for mail links. Click Copy instead and paste the text into your email.

Next steps