Canvas Overview
Canvas is TARX's native BI layer — a visual analytics surface that connects directly to your workflow execution data and generates interactive charts from natural language descriptions.
What Canvas Is
Canvas bridges the gap between workflow automation and data analysis. Instead of exporting data to a separate BI tool, you link a Canvas to one or more workflows, describe a chart in plain English, and get an interactive ECharts visualization generated from aggregated execution output data — all inside TARX.
Key Concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Canvas | A named analytics workspace with one or more tabs and a grid of chart objects |
| Workflow Source | A link from a Canvas to a workflow — and optionally a specific Output node via the Aggregate from output picker — defining which execution data to aggregate |
| Canvas Agent | A user-configured canvas-kind agent (BYOK) that powers chart generation. You choose the model and API key. |
| Charts | Interactive ECharts visualizations generated from your workflow output data via the canvas agent |
| Tabs | Organizational groups within a canvas — each tab has its own chart grid |
| Auto-Generate | A two-step flow (plan → generate) that creates an entire canvas automatically from your data schema |
How It Works
- Create a canvas — give it a name, link a workflow source, select a canvas agent
- Agent generates charts — describe what you want to see; your canvas agent (using your BYOK key) generates an Apache ECharts configuration from aggregated execution data
- Explore interactively — hover for tooltips, scroll legends, zoom time axes
- Share — create a public share link for read-only access (no login required for viewers)
Data Flow
Workflow runs → execution outputs stored in TARX
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Canvas aggregates outputs (last N runs / date range / all)
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Schema + 30-row sample sent to your canvas agent (BYOK)
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Agent returns Apache ECharts option JSON
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Chart rendered with echarts-for-react in the browser
What Makes Canvas Different
- Workflow-native: data comes directly from your workflow execution outputs — no export, no ETL
- BYOK: chart generation uses your own LLM API key, not a platform credit. You pick the model.
- Live data: refresh data from the latest workflow runs with one click
- Shareable: create expiring share links for stakeholders who don't have a TARX account