Your first canvas

This page takes you through your first few minutes: open your project, add an agent, and give it a first task.

Figure: Cuewire the first time it opens. The Start here card has three steps.

First launch

The first time Cuewire opens, you see:

• the sidebar on the left, with one workspace called Home;
• an empty canvas with the Start here card in the middle.

The Home workspace works in your user folder. For real work, open your project folder first.

Note

Agents start in the project folder of the canvas. They can read and change the files there.

Open your project

1. On the Start here card, click Open a project folder….
2. Choose your project’s folder.
3. Click Use this folder.

Cuewire adds a workspace for the folder to the sidebar. It is named after the folder. Its first canvas opens, with the Start here card again.

Tip

+ Add project at the bottom of the sidebar does the same.

Add an agent

Step 2 of the Start here card lists every agent Cuewire knows. Terminal gives you a plain shell.

1. Click an agent, for example Claude Code.

The agent starts in a new terminal in the middle of the canvas. The terminal is named after the agent, for example Claude Code. It shows Starting… until the program is up.

Figure: A new agent. Its name and a status dot are in the title bar.

An agent that is not on your computer shows (not installed), and you can’t click it. Install its command-line tool first. Then quit Cuewire (Ctrl+Q) and open it again, so Cuewire finds the new tool.

Tip

You can also add a terminal yourself. Press Ctrl+T and click the canvas. Then right-click the terminal and choose an agent under Runs. Cuewire asks before it replaces the shell that is running; press Enter to go ahead.

Give it a first task

The first time an agent starts in a folder, it may ask a question of its own. For example, it may ask whether you trust the folder. Answer it in the terminal first.

You can give the agent a task in two ways.

Type in the terminal

1. Click inside the terminal. Your keys now go to the agent.
2. Type your request and press Enter, as in any terminal.
3. Press Shift+Esc when you are done. The keyboard goes back to the canvas.

Write a prompt

1. Click the terminal’s title bar. This selects the terminal without typing into it.
2. Press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac). The prompt box opens, named Prompt · Claude Code.
3. Write your request. For example: “Read the README and list three small improvements.”
4. Press Enter to send it. Shift+Enter starts a new line.

Cuewire types the prompt into the agent and sends it. A message says Sent to Claude Code.

Figure: The prompt box. Enter sends, Shift+Enter starts a new line, Esc keeps the draft.

Tip

Esc closes the prompt box and keeps what you wrote. It is there the next time you open it.

Watch it work

The agent works in its terminal. You can watch, or do something else. Cuewire tells you when the agent stops:

• The title bar says needs input or needs approval when the agent waits for you.
• It says done when the agent has finished its turn, and failed when something broke.
• The Needs you list appears at the top right. It shows every agent that waits for you. Click an entry to jump to that agent.
• When some agents ask to run a command, the list has Approve and Deny buttons.

If the Cuewire window is in the background, or the agent is off screen, you also get a Windows notification.

Figure: The agent asks for approval. Answer in the terminal, or with Approve or Deny.

See Know when an agent needs you for the details.

Connect a second agent

Agents can work together when you wire them. Step 3 of the Start here card says how: drag from one node’s edge to another. The card is gone once the canvas has a node, so do it like this:

1. Right-click an empty part of the canvas and choose New terminal here.
2. Right-click the new terminal. Under Runs, choose an agent, for example Codex. Press Enter when Cuewire asks to restart the terminal.
3. Point at the first agent. Small round handles appear on its four edges.
4. Drag from a handle to the new agent, and let go.

A wire now joins the two agents. They can hand each other tasks. See Agents working together.

Close Cuewire whenever you like

Your agents keep working when you close the window. Open Cuewire again, and every terminal is still there. See Workspaces and canvases.

What’s next

• A tour of the window
• Move around the canvas
• Add an agent