Diagrams that look hand-drawn.
Canvos is a native macOS whiteboard for sketching ideas on an infinite canvas. Shapes render with a loose, hand-drawn feel — and with built-in AI, you can turn a text prompt into a full diagram in seconds. All offline, all yours.
Free • Requires macOS 14.6 (Sonoma) or later
What is Canvos?
Canvos is a native macOS whiteboard and diagramming app inspired by Excalidraw. It renders shapes with a loose, hand-drawn style on an infinite canvas, offers eight drawing tools plus AI text-to-diagram generation, and exports to .excalidraw, PNG, and SVG. It runs fully offline and is free to download.
- Free to download
- $0Free to download
- Drawing tools
- 8Drawing tools
- Export formats (.excalidraw, PNG, SVG)
- 3Export formats (.excalidraw, PNG, SVG)
- Offline drawing
- 100%Offline drawing
Who uses Canvos?
Engineers & architects
Sketch system diagrams, data flows, and architecture maps that stay readable and easy to rework.
Product & UX teams
Rough out wireframes and user flows fast — the hand-drawn look keeps early ideas feeling open to change.
Educators & students
Build visual notes and explain concepts on an infinite canvas, then export clean images to share.
Writers & thinkers
Capture sketchnotes and mind maps, connecting thoughts with arrows and text as ideas develop.
How it works
From blank canvas to finished diagram
Three unhurried steps — no setup, no account, no learning curve. Open the app and you are already drawing.
- 1
Open an infinite canvas
Launch Canvos and start on an endless sketch surface. Pan with a scroll, zoom with ⌘-scroll or pinch — there is always more room to think.
- 2
Draw or prompt
Pick a tool and sketch with hand-drawn shapes, arrows and text — or type a prompt and let AI generate the whole diagram for you.
- 3
Export anywhere
Save as an Excalidraw-compatible .excalidraw file, or export a crisp PNG or scalable SVG to drop into docs, decks and tickets.
Features
Everything you need to think visually
A focused, native whiteboard inspired by Excalidraw — the sketchy look you love, with the speed and polish of a real Mac app.
Hand-drawn rendering
Every shape is rendered with a natural, sketchy wobble — your diagrams look drawn by hand, never cold or corporate.
roughjs-style strokes
Infinite canvas
An endless surface to think on. Pan by scrolling, zoom with ⌘-scroll or pinch, and toggle a dot grid when you want structure.
pan · zoom · dot grid
A full tool set
Rectangle, ellipse, diamond, line and arrow, plus smoothed freehand and inline text. Fill with hachure, cross-hatch, dots or solid.
shapes · arrows · freehand · text
Export anywhere
Save Excalidraw-compatible .excalidraw files to round-trip your work, or export pixel-perfect PNG and scalable SVG.
.excalidraw · PNG · SVG
Truly native macOS
Built in Swift & SwiftUI for macOS 14.6+. A real menu bar, snappy keyboard shortcuts, dark mode, and fully offline & sandboxed.
menu bar · shortcuts · dark · offline
AI text-to-diagram
Describe a diagram in plain English and watch shapes, arrows and labels appear. Bring your own OpenAI or Gemini key — the rest stays offline.
bring your own key
AI-powered
Describe it. Canvos draws it.
Skip the blank-canvas stare. Write what you have in mind — a flow, an architecture, a mind map — and Canvos turns your words into hand-drawn shapes, arrows and labels you can keep editing. It runs on your own OpenAI (gpt-4o-mini) or Google Gemini (gemini-2.0-flash) key, so you are billed by the provider and the rest of the app stays completely offline.
- Type a prompt in plain English
- Shapes, arrows & text appear on the canvas
- Works with your own OpenAI or Gemini key
- Everything else stays fully offline
Why Canvos
Canvos vs. the web version
Canvos keeps the familiar hand-drawn style you know from Excalidraw, then adds the things only a native Mac app can do — a real menu bar, keyboard shortcuts, dark mode, offline drawing, and built-in AI text-to-diagram. Here is an honest look at how it compares.
| Feature | Canvos | Excalidraw Web | Generic Mac drawing app |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native macOS app (menu bar, shortcuts, dark mode) | Yes | BrowserNo (Browser) | Yes |
| Hand-drawn sketchy style | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works fully offline | Yes | PWA | Yes |
| .excalidraw file compatible | Yes | Yes | No |
| Export PNG & SVG | Yes | Yes | Varies |
| Built-in AI text-to-diagram | Yes | No | No |
| Free, no account | Yes | Yes | Varies |
This comparison reflects typical capabilities and may vary by app, version, and configuration. “Generic Mac drawing app” stands for common general-purpose drawing tools rather than any specific product.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about Canvos — the native macOS whiteboard inspired by Excalidraw.
Canvos is a native macOS whiteboard and diagramming app inspired by Excalidraw. You draw shapes, arrows, lines, freehand strokes, and text on an infinite canvas, and everything is rendered with a hand-drawn, sketchy look. It runs natively on your Mac and is free to download.
Canvos is a native macOS app built in Swift and SwiftUI rather than a web app, so you get a real menu bar, native file dialogs, keyboard shortcuts, dark mode, and offline drawing. It keeps the familiar hand-drawn sketchy style and is file-compatible with Excalidraw via the .excalidraw format, and it adds built-in AI text-to-diagram generation.
Yes. Canvos can generate a diagram from a natural-language prompt. You type what you want and it places shapes, arrows, and text on the canvas. AI uses your own API key for OpenAI (gpt-4o-mini) or Google Gemini (gemini-2.0-flash), so you are billed directly by the provider and the rest of the app works fully offline.
Canvos saves and opens the .excalidraw JSON format, so your drawings are compatible with Excalidraw. You can also export your canvas to PNG (raster) and SVG (vector).
Canvos requires macOS 14.6 or later. It is built natively in Swift and SwiftUI for performance and full system integration, and runs inside the macOS App Sandbox.
Canvos is free to download. The only optional cost is AI diagram generation, which uses your own OpenAI or Google Gemini API key and is billed by that provider based on your usage.
Yes. Canvos is a sandboxed native Mac app and all drawing happens locally on your device. The only time it reaches the internet is when you explicitly use an AI feature, which calls the AI provider directly with your own API key.
Start sketching on your Mac
Open an infinite canvas, rough out your ideas in a hand-drawn style, and let built-in AI turn a prompt into a diagram — all offline, all yours.
Free • Requires macOS 14.6 (Sonoma) or later