Canva Playbooks

Use these when the deliverable should live in Canva — editable designs, brand assets, social sizes, or export-ready PDFs/MP4s — rather than in Alfrada's local presentation tool or Google Slides.

When to choose Canva vs other tools

Goal	Prefer
Editable Canva design, brand templates, social sizes	Canva (canva_*)
Slide deck from markdown in Google Workspace	Google Slides (gslides_*)
Quick local slide deck without OAuth	presentation
Static hero / product image	Image Lab
Import PDF/DOCX/PPTX into Canva for visual editing	Canva import

Connect Canva first under Integrations → My Canva. Run canva_get_user at the start of each workflow to confirm which account is active.

22. Import → Edit → Export

• Good for: turning an uploaded deck or PDF into an editable Canva design, then exporting for review
• Best setup: place the source file in session in/ first
• Example prompt:

Import and export

Confirm my Canva account, import in/board-deck.pptx as a design titled 'Board April 2026', poll until the import succeeds, then export it as PDF when ready.

Recipe: canva_get_user → canva_import_design (title + attachments: ["in/file.pptx"]) → poll canva_get_import_status with jobId until success → canva_get_export_formats with designId → canva_export_design with design_id + format: {"type":"pdf"} → poll canva_get_export_status with exportId until success.

23. Upload Asset → Create Design

• Good for: seeding a social post or ad creative from an existing image
• Best setup: image in in/ or a public HTTPS URL
• Example prompt:

Asset to design

Upload out/hero.png to my Canva library as 'Spring hero', then create a 1080×1080 custom design titled 'Spring drop teaser' seeded with that asset.

Recipe (local file): canva_upload_asset (name + attachments: ["out/hero.png"]) → poll canva_get_upload_status → canva_create_design with design_type: {"type":"custom","width":1080,"height":1080} and asset_id.

Recipe (public URL): canva_upload_asset_from_url (url + name) → poll canva_get_upload_status → canva_create_design.

24. Multi-Account Targeting

• Good for: agency workflows with personal, agency, and client Canva accounts connected
• Best setup: connect up to three accounts; note each display name in Integrations
• Example prompt:

Agency account browse

Using my agency Canva account, list the 10 most recently modified owned designs.

Recipe: canva_get_user → canva_list_designs with account_identifier set to the Integrations display name and ownership: "owned".

Heads up

• Async jobs: import, export, and upload calls return a job ID. The agent polls canva_get_import_status, canva_get_export_status, or canva_get_upload_status until the job completes — large files can take a minute or two.
• Export formats vary by design type. Call canva_get_export_formats before exporting to avoid unsupported-format errors.
• Successful exports are saved into session in/ when possible; otherwise use the signed download URL (~24h).
• Parameter casing: POST tools use snake_case (design_id); GET/status tools use camelCase (designId, jobId, exportId).