Auto-save canvas workflow state after every edit

[Copilot]

Canvas workflow edits were lost on page reload or app restart — there was no persistence beyond a manual JSON export.

Approach

Adds debounced auto-save (1 s) on every node/edge change, keyed per project. Offline-first via localStorage; desktop platforms additionally write canvas.json into the project directory. On next open, the saved state is restored automatically.

Changes

AbstractPlatformAPI

• New concrete methods saveCanvasState(projectUri, content) and loadCanvasState(projectUri) — default implementation uses localStorage (offline, cross-platform).
• Loaded state is validated (nodes and edges must be arrays) before being returned.

ElectronAPI / CapacitorAPI

• Override both methods to write/read {projectUri}/canvas.json on the local file system.
• Falls back to the localStorage base implementation on any error.

CloudAPI

• No changes — inherits the localStorage default.

useWorkflowPersistence (new hook)

• Resolves the project URI from EditorContext and delegates to platformApi.saveCanvasState / loadCanvasState.

useCanvasWorkflow

• Calls useWorkflowPersistence and adds debouncePersistCanvasState (1 s) triggered on localNodes / localEdges changes.
• Saves { nodes, edges } only — per-app snapshot states are excluded to avoid blocking IMC round-trips on every edit.

ProjectView

• createNewCanvas loads any previously saved state before creating the tab; passes it as initialWorkflowContent so the last layout is restored. Falls back to an empty canvas when no state exists.

// Before: always creates a blank canvas
await createCanvasTabView({ viewId: createCanvasViewId() });

// After: restores last saved layout if available
const savedContent = await loadWorkflow();
await createCanvasTabView({
  viewId: createCanvasViewId(),
  appConfigs: savedContent?.nodes
    .filter((n) => n?.data?.config != null)
    .map((n) => n.data.config) ?? [],
  initialWorkflowContent: savedContent ?? undefined,
});

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Save canvas state and workflow after editing</issue_title>
<issue_description>When edits are made in workflow editor, progress should be saved.

Possible methods:

• Save with platformAPI (store local copies to allow offline saving)
• Sync to Pulse Editor Cloud when online.</issue_description>

<agent_instructions>When edits are made in workflow editor, progress should be saved.

Possible methods:

• Save with platformAPI (store local copies to allow offline saving)
• Sync to Pulse Editor Cloud when online.</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

• Fixes Save canvas state and workflow after editing #224

---

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
web-editor	Ready	Preview, Comment	Mar 12, 2026 10:24am