canvas-page-definition

name	canvas-page-definition
description	Start here for any Canvas page-spec task. Use for create, modify, refactor, review, migrate, or validate work on page JSON files that sync with Canvas and render in Workbench. Establishes the canonical Canvas page-spec contract, including placement, structure, format constraints, and validation.

Canonical definition

A Canvas page is a JSON page spec stored in the repository's configured pagesDir.

Workbench uses these files for local page previews, and the Canvas CLI push/pull workflow uses them to sync pages between the local project and Drupal Canvas.

Page specs should fully mirror what authors can build in Drupal Canvas.

Minimum contract (MUST)

Every Canvas page MUST satisfy all checks below:

• The page file exists in the configured pages directory (pagesDir in canvas.config.json; default ./pages)
• The page file is a JSON object
• The page includes a non-empty title
• The page includes a path that starts with / and is unique within the project
• The page includes an elements object with at least one element
• Every element in elements includes a discovered component type
• Any slots entries reference element IDs defined in the same file

If any item is missing, the page is incomplete for Canvas usage.

Location and naming

Author the canonical local page specs in the configured pages directory (pagesDir in canvas.config.json). If pagesDir is not set, Workbench defaults to the top-level pages/ directory.

• Place each page in <pages-dir>/<page-name>.json
• Keep page files flat in the configured pages directory; nested files are ignored
• Use a stable, descriptive filename that mirrors the page title in a filename-safe way
• Use a human-readable title inside the JSON file for the actual page title

Examples:

• <pages-dir>/homepage.json
• <pages-dir>/about-us.json

Treat files in the configured pagesDir as the source of truth for local page definitions that can be previewed in Workbench and synced with Canvas via the CLI.

Authored page work is incomplete unless the page is previewable from the configured pagesDir and ready for validation.

Page file format

Each page file must be a JSON object with:

• title: the actual page title
• path: the page's URL path (e.g., /about). Must start with / and be unique within the project. Other pages link to this page using this value.
• elements: an object of authored page elements

The page file may also include:

• description: a short plain-text summary of the page. Surfaced as page metadata (e.g., for listings or SEO). Leave as an empty string if not set.

Each entry in elements must include:

• type: a discovered component type

Each entry may also include:

• props: root props for that element
• slots: a map of slot names to arrays of element IDs from the same file

Workbench preserves elements insertion order when building the page. Put top-level sections in the order you want them rendered.

Use the discovered machine-readable component type for each element, such as card, heading, or js.hero, depending on what Workbench finds in the local project.

Linking between pages

To link to another page in the project, reference the target page's path.

Example

{
  "title": "About",
  "path": "/about",
  "description": "",
  "elements": {
    "hero": {
      "type": "js.hero",
      "props": {
        "heading": "About us",
        "text": "Learn how our team plans, builds, and ships Canvas experiences.",
        "layout": "left_aligned"
      }
    },
    "spacer-lg": {
      "type": "js.spacer",
      "props": {
        "height": "large"
      }
    },
    "body-section": {
      "type": "js.section",
      "props": {
        "width": "normal"
      },
      "slots": {
        "content": ["body-copy"]
      }
    },
    "body-copy": {
      "type": "js.text",
      "props": {
        "content": "<p>Canvas pages should use real component composition rather than custom page wrappers.</p>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use stable, descriptive element IDs unless you are intentionally preserving IDs from another source such as an exported Canvas page.

Image props in pages

When a component prop is defined as an image in component.yml, page JSON must pass that prop as a single image object. Match the component prop name exactly and use the Canvas image shape inside props.

{
  "type": "js.card",
  "props": {
    "image": {
      "src": "https://placehold.co/400x300/png",
      "alt": "Card placeholder image",
      "width": "400",
      "height": "300"
    },
    "heading": "Featured card"
  }
}

Supported authored page image sources:

• External http:// or https:// URLs
• data:image/... URLs

Do not use local file paths in page JSON. CLI media upload from local files is not supported.

If page media reconciliation or page sync adds resolved image data such as width, height, or _provenance, preserve that data unless you are intentionally changing the image source.

Format constraints

The page-spec format only supports discovered component elements plus their props and slots.

That means page specs cannot directly represent:

• Hand-written React wrappers such as PageLayout
• Raw HTML layout elements such as <div> or <section>
• className-driven spacing or custom wrapper styling
• Inline code duplication of an existing component's markup

If you need a layout primitive, look for an existing component first. If none exists, create it as a component before using it in a page spec.

Validation

Validate every authored page before finishing.

npx canvas validate