What is the plans tab, and what are canvas, tasks and notes plans?
The plans tab is a space for laying out a project's plans as diagrams. You reach it from the plans button along the top of codus. A plan can be one of three kinds: a canvas plan (shapes joined by connecting lines, the visual kind you draw), a tasks plan (a list of tasks filed under a feature), or a notes plan (a list of notes filed under a feature). New plans you create are canvas plans. Only canvas plans have shapes on them, which matters when you want to file a task or note against one.
Opening the plans view
At the top of the codus window, click the plans tab (its icon is a small list; its tooltip reads "Project plans list + dependency graphs"). This opens the plans view over the whole window. To go back to your terminals, click ← grid in the top-left.
Down the left is a tree of your plans, grouped by project. When you have no plans yet it reads "No plans yet". Click a plan in the tree to open it in the main area.
The three kinds of plan
- canvas: the visual kind. It is a canvas of shapes joined by connecting lines. This is what most people mean by a plan: boxes for the pieces of work and arrows showing how they connect.
- tasks: a plain list of the tasks that have been filed under a particular feature. It has no shapes; it is a table you read.
- notes: a plain list of the notes filed under a feature. Like the tasks kind, it is a list, not a canvas.
The tasks and notes kinds are created for you when you file a task or note against a feature on a canvas plan. You do not make them by hand. See How do I file a task or note under a module on a plan?.
Making a canvas plan
- Open the plans tab.
- Make sure the quadrant has a project folder pinned. The + plan button is greyed out until it does, and the view shows "no folder pinned".
- Click + plan. A small box asks for a title ("New plan"). Type a name and confirm.
- The empty plan opens, ready for shapes.
Adding shapes and connections
On an open canvas plan, click + add to drop a shape onto the canvas. The menu groups them:
- Flow shapes: agent, prompt and action, for describing work the agent does.
- Generic shapes: task, group and note, for the plainer pieces.
You can also right-click an empty part of the canvas to add a shape there. Once you have two shapes, drag from one to the other to draw a connection between them. Shapes plus connections are what make a canvas plan a diagram rather than a list.
Why canvas plans are special
Only canvas plans have shapes. That is why, when you want to file a task or a note against a feature, codus asks you to pick a shape on a canvas plan. If you have not drawn any canvas plans, that picker will have nothing to offer and will say "No canvas plans". The next page walks through it: How do I file a task or note under a module on a plan?.
How do I know it worked?
A new canvas plan opens in the main area with its title in the breadcrumb at the top, and it appears in the tree on the left under its project. Each shape you add lands on the canvas where you can rename it.
Common problems
"The + plan button is greyed out." The quadrant has no project folder pinned, so there is nowhere to store the plan. Pin a folder to the quadrant first, then the button becomes active.
"This is not the planner I was looking for." The plans tab is the shapes canvas. There is a separate, hidden planner tab for planning work across projects. See Where did the planner tab go?.