Concepts

The core mental model behind Kanvas: designs, components, relationships, the two modes, and how Kanvas works with Meshery and Layer5 Cloud.
Tags:
Categories:

Kanvas rests on one idea: a design is a declarative description of infrastructure. It records which components exist, how they relate to each other, how each one is configured, and any annotations that explain the intent. A design describes the state you want; it is not a script of steps to run.

Each part of Kanvas plays one role around that design:

  • Designer authors the design. You place components, connect them, and configure them on a shared canvas. Every save creates a new version, and collaborators can edit the same design at the same time.
  • Meshery validates and deploys the design. It checks the design against component schemas, dry-runs it against target clusters, and deploys or undeploys it on the Kubernetes contexts you choose.
  • Operator shows the running result. It displays live cluster state and links it back to the design: every resource Kanvas deploys carries the identity of its source design, so Operator can show exactly what one design produced.

Layer5 Cloud, as the remote provider, stores designs and their versions and governs who can see them. Every new design starts public; Designs and Components explains visibility in full.

  • Designs and Components - what a design contains, how it is saved and versioned, what components are, and how a design maps to deployed resources.
  • How Kanvas Works with Meshery and Layer5 Cloud - the extension model, where designs live, what talks to your clusters, and what differs between kanvas.new and self-hosted Meshery.
  • Relationships - how Kanvas maps the ways connected components interact.
  • Collaboration Model - how live co-editing, design access, and comments work together, and what each one controls.
  • Designer - the authoring mode: its purpose, scope, and tools.
  • Render Modes - how Kanvas trades visual detail for canvas speed, and how Adaptive mode moves between modes.
  • Operator - the operating mode: live cluster state and per-design views.
Designs and Components

What a Kanvas design is, how it is saved, versioned, and shared, what components are, and how a design maps to the resources it deploys.

Relationships

What relationships are, the kinds Kanvas draws and evaluates, how each one forms, and how relationships keep component configuration consistent.

Policy Evaluation

How Kanvas evaluates the relationships in a design continuously, which engine runs the evaluation, what triggers it, and why results can change after you stop editing.

Designer

How Designer mode turns a shared design document into an editable canvas, what it gates by mode and by permission, and how changes save and sync.

Operator

How Operator mode shows your clusters, where its data comes from, what it filters and caps, and how terminal and log sessions reach your containers.

Collaboration Model

How live co-editing, design access, and comments work together in Kanvas, and what each layer does and does not control.

Render Modes

How render modes trade visual detail for canvas speed, how Adaptive mode moves between them, and how render mode interacts with size gates, Layers, Designer, and Operator.

How Kanvas Works with Meshery and Layer5 Cloud

How Kanvas runs inside Meshery, where designs are stored, what talks to your clusters, and what differs between kanvas.new and self-hosted Meshery.

Kubernetes Request Flow

How a request travels from a client through Ingress or a Service to a Pod and its containers, why labels and selectors hold the path together, how the path maps to a Kanvas design, and how to debug it layer by layer.

Related Reading

Related Videos

Last modified October 15, 2026: docs(kanvas): rendering - render modes, URL parameters, auto-pan, performance limits (ffba9dc53fb)