> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cortex-foundation-add13747-droid-1a2462c9-cor-444-sanitize.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cortex Design

> Persistable canvases from Chat or Code, edited in a separate desktop app. No fourth mode in the web shell.

A Design canvas is a board: frames, options, notes, and a Library drawer of reusable components, pages, and tokens. It is created when Chat or Code writes to it and persists on your account. You work on it in the **Design desktop app**.

## The shape of the product

| Fact                         | What it means                                                                                                                                 |
| ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Hosted from Chat or Code** | Both products have design tools that create and write to a canvas. Bot does not.                                                              |
| **Edited on desktop**        | The working UI is a separate desktop app. There is no `/design` route in the web app and no Design segment on the Chat · Code · Bot switcher. |
| **Private to your account**  | Sign in first. Another account's canvases are not visible.                                                                                    |
| **Not a Chat sidecar**       | A Chat canvas is a document beside a conversation. A Design canvas is a board of frames. Different objects.                                   |

## Start from Chat or Code

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sign in">
    Canvases are member objects.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Host a canvas">
    Ask Chat — *lay these three screens out on a canvas* — or ask a Code session to draw the architecture. The design tools create the board, titled **Untitled canvas**, and write frames to it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open it on desktop">
    Install the [Design desktop app](/design/desktop), sign in, and open the board. Edit frames, notes, and the Library drawer there.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What the web app will not do

* Show a Design segment on the product switcher.
* Open a working canvas in the browser.
* Let a guest create a canvas.

Hosting from Chat or Code still creates the object; the desktop app is where you work.

## Next

* [Canvases](/design/canvases) — what lives on the board.
* [Library](/design/library) — components, pages, tokens.
* [Design desktop](/design/desktop) — install and open.