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Canvas Binding

Canvas Binding links a Canvas to a folder on your computer — a code project, an Obsidian vault, a folder of papers. That folder becomes the Canvas's Canvas folder: the place where Lino AI works whenever you chat on that Canvas. For example, bind your "Thesis" Canvas to ~/Documents/thesis, and when you ask Lino AI to "summarize the PDFs in the readings folder" or "make a chart from results.csv", it reads and writes right there.

What binding does

When a Canvas has a folder, Lino AI on that Canvas:

  • Can read and write files in it — including creating new files there without asking you each time.
  • Runs commands in it — relative paths start from that folder.
  • Stays inside it. Commands run in a sandbox that can write only in folders you bound or granted, and can't read your other files or credentials — even inside the folder, files such as .env and SSH keys are off limits.

Lino AI looks at the folder of the Canvas you're on each time you send a message, so moving to another Canvas moves it to that Canvas's folder.

A Canvas without a folder still gives Lino AI a temporary scratch folder on this computer for commands and new files. Anything worth keeping should go on the Canvas or into a folder you bind. See Modes & Permissions for the full rules.

Bind a folder

Pick whichever entry point is closest:

  • The navigator. Hover the Canvas's row and click the empty folder chip (Bind a folder), or click More (⋮) → Bind a folder... ("Let Lino AI work inside it").
  • A Canvas tile. Right-click a nested Canvas tile on its parent → Bind a folder....
  • A new nested Canvas. In New nested Canvas, click Canvas folder (optional) before you click Create.
  • An empty Canvas. On the Get Started screen, the From Local Folder tile has a Set up button.

Choose the folder in the system dialog. That's it — there is nothing to save.

See and change the binding

Once bound, the Canvas's row shows the folder's name in a chip; hover the chip for the full path. The same More menu then offers:

  • Change folder... — pick a different folder.
  • Unbind folder — remove the link. Your folder and its files are not touched.

Where else bound folders show up

  • Files in the Right Panel (⌘⇧P): the Folders list starts with every Canvas-bound folder, so you can open their files directly. Click Hide bound folders to see only the folders you added by hand.
  • Settings → Import → Smart Sync lists every binding on this computer — Canvas folders (marked Canvas folder) and Cards bound to single Markdown files (marked Card file). A folder that has been moved or deleted is marked missing.

Bindings belong to the computer you made them on.

Keep files away from Lino AI

To keep certain files in a bound folder private, put a .linoignore file in the folder (or any folder above them), written like a .gitignore — for example diary.md, private/, *.key. Lino AI then can't read, list, search or change those files.

Canvas Binding vs. Smart Sync

They're different things:

  • Canvas Binding gives Lino AI a folder to work in. Your Cards don't change when files in the folder change.
  • Smart Sync keeps individual Cards in step with the Markdown files they were imported from. See Markdown & Obsidian Sync.