An infinite canvas for keeping AI agents and code in one view

What it does

Collaborator is an Electron-based desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux that puts agentic development on an infinite canvas. It combines a file navigator, a pan-and-zoom tile surface, and a file viewer in one window. You spawn terminal tiles by double-clicking empty space—where AI agents run—and drag files from the navigator to open them as live tiles alongside.

The interesting bit

Instead of burying everything in tabs, the app lays out terminals, markdown notes, code editors, and images as tiles bound to absolute file paths. If a file changes on disk, the tile reloads; if you rename it, the tile tracks the new path. All state is just JSON in ~/.collaborator/, so it runs fully offline with no accounts required.

Key highlights

• Native desktop app built on Electron 40 with React 19, Monaco Editor, and xterm.js
• Terminal tiles use a persistent node-pty sidecar; on Windows they can target PowerShell or WSL2 distros
• File tiles are live views bound to disk paths—rename or delete a file and the tile updates or closes automatically
• Canvas state is debounced to local JSON every 500ms; app config and workspaces are also stored locally
• Includes a viewer pane for inline editing of markdown and code files separate from the canvas tiles

Caveats

• The app is explicitly early-stage and in active development
• D3 is listed for force-directed graph visualization, but the spec never says where graphs appear in the UI
• Only one screenshot backs up the entire spatial canvas claim

Verdict

Grab it if you want your agents, terminals, and files visible side-by-side without tab-hunting. Pass if you need a battle-tested IDE or dislike Electron apps.