GitHub Copilot app for Beginners: How to build custom workflows with canvases
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Title: GitHub Copilot app for Beginners: How to build custom workflows with canvases URL Source: Published Time: 2026-09...
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- 主题聚焦：GitHub Copilot app for Beginners: How to build c
- 来源：The GitHub Blog，建议结合原文判断细节。
- AI 分析暂不可用，本条为保底评分与摘要。
GitHub Copilot app for Beginners: How to build custom workflows with canvases - The GitHub Blog
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Improve how you use GitHub at work.
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Learn how to start building, shipping, and maintaining software with GitHub.
Get an inside look at how we’re building the home for all developers.
Discover how we deliver a performant and highly available experience across the GitHub platform.
Explore best practices for building software at scale with a majority remote team.
Get a glimpse at the technology underlying the world’s leading AI-powered developer platform.
Learn how we build security into everything we do across the developer lifecycle.
Find out what goes into making GitHub the home for all developers.
Our engineering and security teams do some incredible work. Let’s take a look at how we use GitHub to be more productive, build collaboratively, and shift security left.
Explore how to write, build, and deploy enterprise software at scale.
Automating your way to faster and more secure ships.
Guides on continuous integration and delivery.
Tips, tools, and tricks to improve developer collaboration.
DevOps resources for enterprise engineering teams.
How to integrate security into the SDLC.
Ensuring your builds stay clean.
Learn why Gartner positioned GitHub as a Leader for the second year in a row.
Keep up with what’s new and notable from inside GitHub.
An inside look at news and product updates from GitHub.
The latest on GitHub’s platform, products, and tools.
Insights into the state of open source on GitHub.
The latest policy and regulatory changes in software.
Data-driven insights around the developer ecosystem.
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The latest Git updates.
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How open source is driving positive change.
Explore open source games on GitHub.
Organizations worldwide are incorporating open source methodologies into the way they build and ship their own software.
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Learn about core challenges in DevSecOps, and how you can start addressing them with AI and automation.
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GitHub Copilot app for Beginners: How to build custom workflows with canvases
Describe the interface you need in plain English, then let the agent build a live surface you can both use and update—so you spend less time adapting to tools and more time getting work done.
[Kayla Cinnamon](https://github.blog/author/cinnamonmsft/ "Posts by Kayla Cinnamon")·@cinnamon-msft
September 25, 2026
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Most tools give you a fixed set of screens and ask you to fit your work into them. But what if you could start with the workflow you want instead and have the interface take shape around it?
That’s the idea behind canvases in the GitHub Copilot app. A canvas, also called a canvas extension, is a customizable interface that you and the agent share. It can be a kanban board, an issue triage board, a release checklist, a dashboard, a form, or even a spreadsheet: a UI shaped to how you work.
Because the canvas is bidirectional, the agent can update it as it works, and you can use buttons, cards, filters, and other controls to make changes too. Just like using a live shared whiteboard.
Let’s create one.
Creating a canvas with /create-canvas
To create a canvas, you don’t have to do any coding or design by hand. Just open an agent session, enter the /create-canvasskill, and describe what you want in plain English.
Make sure your prompt covers three things:
- The workflow the canvas should support.
- What you should be able to do in the interface.
- What the agent should be able to do.
For example, you could enter:
/create-canvas Create a release notes canvas for tracking new feature work completed across GitHub Copilot app sessions. Include controls for reviewing and organizing entries and allow the agent to add and update them.
Then, the agent will build the interface and open it in the right-side panel without you having to write files or mess with the layout. One description becomes a custom tool that’s ready to use.
Shaping the canvas around your workflow
Because the interface is generated from your description, your first version is just a starting point, and you can keep refining until you’re happy.
You could ask the agent to add a column or filter, pull in your open pull requests, or turn the entire canvas into a checklist for your day. The agent will revise the canvas to match. While there isn’t a fixed menu of layouts, if you can describe a workflow, you can likely turn it into a canvas.
Once created, your canvas is saved as an extension, so you can use it again. You can keep it with the project for your team to share or save it as a personal extension just for you.
Instant collaboration, not command and wait
The real power of a canvas is that you and the agent can both keep working at the same time.
When you click a button, update a field, or move a card, the canvas’ shared state changes immediately. The agent sees the same update without a separate send or sync step.
It works the other way, too. You can ask the agent to use the canvas’ own capabilities—the same actions available to you—to add a release note or move a card, then watch that change appear in the interface. Instead of sending a command and waiting for a response, you’re steering the work together.
Take this with you
Creating a useful canvas starts with three simple questions:
- What information do I want to see?
- What do I want to change directly?
- What should the agent be able to update or do?
Not sure where to begin? The community has shared ready-made canvas extensions through Awesome Copilot, including release notes tools, kanban boards, issue triage workflows, and more. Install one that’s close to what you need, then ask the agent to customize it for your workflow in the same way you would refine a canvas you created yourself.
Start small: open a session, run /create-canvas, and describe a simple board or checklist for something you’re working on now.
Try using the GitHub Copilot app >
- * *
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Written by
[Kayla Cinnamon](https://github.blog/author/cinnamonmsft/)
Senior AI Developer Tools Advocate
Table of Contents
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