Design edit handoff

When an agent creates or edits a design on someone's behalf, the work isn't done. The user still needs to review it, tweak it, and make it their own. If your integration doesn't surface a way back into Canva, users are stuck — they've got a result they can't act on.

This pattern is called design edit handoff: after any design-touching operation, your agent should return a direct link to the design so the user can immediately open it in Canva.

Apply the handoff pattern whenever your agent calls one of these tools:

If your agent touches a design in any way, include a handoff link.

Every design-touching tool response should surface two things:

1. The design's edit URL — a direct link that opens the design in the Canva editor.
2. A clear call to action — a short prompt that tells the user they can open and edit it.

Most design-touching tools return an edit URL directly in their response:

• edit_url — returned by tools such as search-designs and get-design, as a top-level field
• design_summary.urls.edit_url — returned by create-design-from-candidate, nested under design_summary.urls
• edit_design_url — returned by start-editing-transaction, as a top-level field

Use whichever field the tool returns. If you need to construct an edit URL from a design_id, use this format:

https://www.canva.com/design/{design_id}/edit

The design_id is returned in the response of all design-creating and design-fetching tools. In create-design-from-candidate responses, it's available as design_summary.id.

For example, the response from create-design-from-candidate looks like this:

{
  "design_summary": {
    "id": "DAHFr228rsU",
    "title": "Cobalt Blue Instagram Post with 'Hello World'",
    "urls": {
      "edit_url": "https://www.canva.com/d/...",
      "view_url": "https://www.canva.com/d/..."
    },
    ...
  }
}

Your agent should present this to the user like:

Your design is ready. Open in Canva to edit ↗

1. Get the edit URL from the tool response.

   The edit URL field location varies by tool. Use whichever is present, or construct it from the design_id as a fallback:

   const editUrl =
     toolResponse.edit_url ??
     toolResponse.edit_design_url ??
     toolResponse.design_summary?.urls?.edit_url ??
     `https://www.canva.com/design/${toolResponse.design_id ?? toolResponse.design_summary?.id}/edit`;

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2. Include the edit URL in your agent's final response.

   Pass the edit URL into your LLM's context so it can surface the link to the user. Add it to your system prompt or tool result handling:

   const systemPrompt = `
      After any tool call that creates, modifies, or retrieves a design, always include a direct link for the user to open and edit the design in Canva. Use the format: https://www.canva.com/design/{design_id}/edit
   
      Present it clearly as a call to action, e.g.: "Your design is ready. Open it in Canva to review and edit."
    `;

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3. Handle listing tools.

   When returning a list of designs (e.g., from search-designs), include an edit URL for each item in the list — not just the first result.

   const designs = toolResponse.items.map((design) => ({
      ...design,
      edit_url:
        design.edit_url ??
        `https://www.canva.com/design/${design.design_id}/edit`,
    }));

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• Don't end the workflow at export. export-design gives users a static file. It's a delivery mechanism, not a handoff. Always offer the edit URL alongside or before an export.
• Don't skip the handoff for "read-only" operations. Even when listing or retrieving designs, users often want to jump straight into editing. Include the link.
• Don't bury the link. The edit URL should be one of the first things a user sees after an operation completes, not an afterthought at the bottom of a long response.

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