Gridvana user guide

Launch Gridvana and press ⌘N (or choose “New Canvas”) to create a project; canvas width and height can be anything from 1 to 4096. Click “Create Canvas” and start painting on the grid.

The app autosaves as you work: after a crash, the next launch offers to recover your unsaved project (or you can discard it). Projects are stored in .gvn format with RGBA pixel data and full layer/frame structure.

• ◆Select (hold Space to temporarily pan the canvas)
• ◆Magic wand: select pixels by connected region
• ◆Select by color: grab all same-color pixels on the canvas
• ◆Brush, eraser, paint bucket, color picker
• ◆Shape tools: rectangle / outline / circle / outline circle / line

The color panel offers both foreground and background colors (swappable in one click) and keeps a history of used colors, so you can pick up where you left off.

Multiple layers and layer groups (+ Group). Every layer has a blend mode, opacity and its own cel (with offset, and link/unlink to share content across frames).

The Layers tab provides visibility toggles and locking (L); right-click a layer to copy, paste, delete or link. Onion skinning and exports respect “Active layer only”.

The timeline panel manages your animation frame by frame—add frames, duplicate them, and name segments with “+ Tag”. Tags support forward and reverse playback directions for reusable loops.

Onion skinning shows the frames before and after the current one, with adjustable strength (opacity), tinting for previous/next frames, and the option to restrict it to the active layer.

• ◆⌘X / ⌘C / ⌘V / ⌘D: cut, copy, paste, duplicate
• ◆⇧H / ⇧V / ⇧R / ⇧L: flip horizontally / vertically, rotate clockwise / counterclockwise
• ◆⌘A select all, ⌘⇧I invert; Delete removes the selection
• ◆Arrow keys nudge the selection pixel by pixel; Esc deselects

The context menu also offers “Crop to selection”, “Trim transparent edges” and “Canvas size…” for tidying up the edges of your artwork.

• ◆PNG + JSON: project assets with layer/frame structure and metadata
• ◆Animated GIF: one-click export with tag ranges and playback direction
• ◆PNG sequence: one PNG per frame
• ◆Sprite sheet: row/column layout, scale, trim transparent edges, empty-frame handling and metadata

Every exporter supports frame and layer ranges, and the export panel previews the result live before you commit.

Under Settings → AI Agent, enable the agent panel and configure an executable command (e.g. Codex) plus a model to launch an interactive TUI terminal session inside the app.

The MCP Service tab exposes an embedded MCP endpoint: agents can read canvas snapshots, run paint/project operations, and sync changes back through events. Permissions can default to allow or ask per session—service status is visible live.

The most common shortcuts are listed below; if one clashes with the system, adjust it in macOS System Settings → Keyboard.

Project files use the .gvn format (schema V6), storing RGBA pixels plus the full layer, frame and tag structure, with autosave and crash recovery.

The Settings panel covers language & region, AI agent, and MCP service preferences; the editor's status bar shows save state, autosave state and MCP connection status.