Salt AI Docs
Pipeline Builder

Canvas Interactions

Master the canvas with shortcuts, modes, and navigation tools.

The canvas is your workspace for building pipelines. It supports panning, zooming, selecting, and organizing nodes with keyboard shortcuts and mouse controls.

Interaction Modes

The canvas has two primary modes, toggled from the floating toolbar:

Select Mode (V)

The default mode. Click to select nodes, drag to move them, and draw selection rectangles around groups. Press V to switch to select mode.

Pan Mode (H)

In pan mode, clicking and dragging moves the canvas viewport instead of selecting nodes. Press H to switch to pan mode. This is useful for navigating large pipelines without accidentally moving anything.

You can temporarily pan in Select mode by holding Space and dragging, or by using the middle mouse button.

Zooming

  • Scroll wheel -- Zoom in and out centered on your cursor position.
  • Pinch gesture -- On trackpads, pinch to zoom.
  • Toolbar buttons -- Use the + and - buttons in the floating toolbar.

Fit to View

Click the Fit View button in the toolbar, or press Shift+0, to automatically zoom and pan so that all nodes are visible on screen. Press Shift+1 to zoom to your current selection instead.

Mini-map

Press M to toggle the mini-map, a small overview that shows your entire pipeline at a glance. Click and drag within the mini-map to quickly navigate to a different area.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks save a specific viewport position and zoom level. Use them to mark important areas of large pipelines so you can jump back instantly. See Bookmarks for details.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Press ? at any time to open the keyboard shortcuts modal inside the builder.

Panels

ShortcutAction
AToggle node browser
LToggle logs panel
RToggle run history panel
PToggle properties panel
MToggle minimap
IToggle interactivity
?Show keyboard shortcuts

Viewport

ShortcutAction
HPan mode
VSelect mode
Shift + 1Zoom to selection
Shift + 0Zoom to fit all
Shift + EToggle edge style
FToggle follow execution
Space + DragPan the canvas (in select mode)

Editing

ShortcutAction
Cmd/Ctrl + ZUndo
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + ZRedo
Cmd/Ctrl + CCopy selected nodes
Cmd/Ctrl + VPaste nodes
Cmd/Ctrl + DDuplicate selection
Cmd/Ctrl + ASelect all nodes
.Collapse or expand selected nodes
COpen color picker
Delete / BackspaceDelete selected nodes or edges

Organization

ShortcutAction
Cmd/Ctrl + GGroup selection
Cmd/Ctrl + OAdd container for selection
Shift + GAdd or remove container

General

ShortcutAction
Cmd/Ctrl + KOpen command menu
Cmd/Ctrl + SSave pipeline
Cmd/Ctrl + /Toggle AI assistant

Context Menus

Right-click on different elements to access context-specific actions:

  • Canvas background -- Add a node, paste, or select all.
  • Node -- Copy, duplicate, delete, or group the selected node.
  • Edge -- Delete the edge.

Command Menu

Press Cmd+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux) to open the command menu. This is a quick-access search bar where you can:

  • Search for and add nodes
  • Jump to pipeline settings
  • Access common actions

The command menu is the fastest way to add nodes when you know what you're looking for.

Tips for Large Pipelines

  • Use containers to group related nodes and keep sections visually distinct.
  • Set bookmarks at key sections so you can navigate between them quickly.
  • Name your nodes descriptively -- it makes the mini-map and search much more useful.
  • Align data flow consistently (left-to-right or top-to-bottom) so the pipeline reads naturally.

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