Blocks, Widgets & Elements

Everything on the canvas — core writing cards, productivity widgets, generative elements, and diagrams.

Everything in Umbra is an element on the infinite canvas. Drag any block directly from the left toolbar, double-click anywhere on the canvas background to place a note, or press keyboard shortcuts to spawn widgets and tools.

One Umbra canvas holding notes, spreadsheets, sprint kanban, live interactive atom, widgets and stickers

Core Blocks

The primary building blocks of your workspace, accessible directly on the main toolbar.

Block	Shortcut	What it is for
Note	`N`	Clean writing card. Live markdown as you type, and real-time arithmetic that computes.
Document	—	A full-page word processor document formatted as an A4 page — see Documents.
To-do	`F`	Interactive checklist with tick boxes. Press `Enter` to spawn the next item.
Table	`G`	Full spreadsheet workbook — compact summary card on the canvas, opens to a full grid.
Board	`B`	Nested sub-canvas. Double-click to dive in, use the top breadcrumb to navigate back.
Column	—	Titled container region. Cards inside it inherit its status — the core kanban primitive.
Sprint	—	A self-contained agile sprint board in a single block, with customizable columns, points, and task cards.
Calendar	—	Interactive month, week, and daily planner with mood logs, reminders, and journal entries.
Access	—	Link a local folder or codebase directly to your canvas with live file watching, drag-and-drop, and read/write security — see Folder Access.
Text	`T`	A borderless typographic label for board titles, headers, and section callouts.
File	—	Upload any document. PDFs open in the integrated PDF reader; video and audio play inline.
Image	—	Drag-and-drop photographs, diagrams, and illustrations directly onto the board.
Code	—	Formatted code snippets with multi-language syntax highlighting and one-click copy.
Equation	—	Formatted LaTeX and KaTeX mathematical formulas with inline live typesetting.
Frame	`P`	Camera presentation slide target. Invisible during normal work, active in Slides mode.
Connector	`C`	Smart directional lines between blocks that automatically route and follow cards when moved.
Drawing	`D`	Smooth freehand vector ink for sketching, diagramming, and annotations.

Widgets (`W`)

Press W or click the Widgets button on the toolbar to open the iOS-style productivity widgets drawer. Widgets add active, dynamic capabilities to your canvas.

Umbra productivity widgets drawer with Focus Timer, Voice Memo, Streak Counter, World Clock, and Web Bookmark

1. Flash Cards

Interactive study decks designed for rapid recall and active learning:

3D Card Flip: Click or swipe to reveal answers with 3D perspective animations.
Multiple Question Types: Multiple choice (MCQ), fill-in-the-blank, open numerical answers with units, and conceptual QA.
Math & Science Notation: Full LaTeX and scientific equations (such as Euler's formula or chemical pathways) typeset directly on card faces.
Questions Drawer: Expandable question index tracking card status (#01 ACTIVE, review count, and card progress).

2. Focus & Pomodoro Timer

Customizable countdown timer and stopwatch for deep work sessions:

Interval Modes: 25-minute Deep Focus, 5-minute Short Break, and 15-minute Long Break presets.
Visual Progress: Real-time circular progress ring displaying elapsed time at a glance.
State Guarantee: Runs in-memory so reopening a closed board never shows a stale, expired countdown.

3. Streak Counter

Daily habit and consistency tracker right on your canvas:

Daily Increments: Quick +1 Log Today button to record completed habits without breaking flow.
Streak Indicators: Displays total consecutive active days with milestone badges and fire icons.
System Integration: Optional notifications to remind you to log daily goals.

4. World Clock

Real-time global clock displaying current times across major international hubs:

Multi-City Display: Simultaneously monitor up to 5 global timezones (e.g., Cupertino, London, Tokyo, Berlin, New York).
Analog & Digital: High-precision analog clock faces with live digital readouts and UTC offset indicators.

5. Voice Memo

Capture audio thoughts, meeting snippets, and lectures directly into your boards:

Canvas Recording: Dedicated waveform visualizer while recording.
Local Audio Storage: Audio recordings are safely saved to your workspace for instant playback.
On-Demand Transcription: Transcribe recorded audio into a separate markdown note beside the audio block.

6. Web Bookmark

Save web pages and research references as rich interactive cards:

Metadata Fetching: Automatically extracts page titles, descriptions, and site favicons.
Quick Links: One-click opening in your default browser.

Elements & Generative Canvas (`S`)

Press S or click the Elements button to open the shape and generative element palette.

The Magic Element code editor and interactive simulation preview in Umbra

1. Magic Element (`live`)

The Magic Element renders live, dynamic graphics and simulations generated on demand:

Kinetic Physics: Interactive orbital simulations, particle systems, and vector physics models.
Live Telemetry & Spline Charts: Real-time plotted analytical graphs and responsive visual charts.
Interactive Component UI: Custom mini-applications, interactive widgets, and generative visual tools running smoothly on your board.

2. Stickers Library

A curated catalog of thousands of scalable vector Noto emoji illustrations:

Categories: Smileys, Gestures, Animals, Food & Drink, Travel & Places, Objects, Symbols, and Flags.
Drag-to-Canvas: Effortlessly drag stickers directly onto notes, cards, and diagrams to visually tag and highlight ideas.

3. Shape Catalog

Precision vector geometry for architecture diagrams, user journey flows, and mind maps:

Geometry Kinds: Rectangles, rounded boxes, pills, diamonds, circles, ellipses, triangles, stars, pentagons, hexagons, and custom arrows.
Typography & Formatting: Double-click any shape to type formatted labels directly inside the boundary. Custom stroke styles, fills, and corner radii.

Research & Deep Study Blocks

Umbra bridges unstructured spatial thinking with rigorous academic and scientific research.

Umbra Canvas with KaTeX math equations, chemical formulas, and PDF research split-view

PDF Deep Link Pointers: Highlight quotes and figures inside uploaded PDFs to spawn linked cards that jump directly back to that specific page upon click.
Fast Math & Calculation: Type mathematical operations directly in notes (price = 24.50, quantity = 4, total = price * quantity) and watch them compute live.
Chemical & Physical Systems: Combine diagrams, KaTeX formulas, and live simulations on one cohesive workspace.

Moving, Arranging & Grouping

Grab & Drag: Grab any block by its surface (outside text editing fields) to freely reposition it.
Smart Stacking: Dragging a block over another brings it to the front of its z-index band. Columns and kanban containers automatically remain behind cards.
Multi-Selection: Drag a selection marquee or hold ⌘ (or Ctrl on Windows) while clicking multiple elements.
Grouping (⌘G): Group multiple selected blocks into a unified bounding box. Move the group together or adjust spacing between elements. Ungroup anytime with ⌘⇧G.
Layering: Press [ to send a block backward and ] to bring it forward.