Content extensions
What are content extensions? Why create one?
A content extension imports third-party content, such as photos and illustrations, into Canva. Users can access this content via the side panel and add it to their designs.
These are some examples of apps with content extensions:
Users can find apps with content extensions via the More tab.
When a user opens a content extension, the app is pinned to the left side of the screen and the content appears in the side panel. The user can then drag content into their design.
With additional configuration, a content extension can also:
At its most basic, a content extension is a REST API.
Canva expects this API to have the following endpoint:
As a user interacts with a content extension via Canva's UI, Canva sends requests to this endpoint and expects to receive responses in a format that it understands. Based on these responses, Canva knows what content to render in the side panel.
A content extension can provide users with two types of content:
This is the request-response cycle of a content extension:
const axios = require("axios");
const express = require("express");
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.static("public"));
app.post("/content/resources/find", async (request, response) => {
const { data } = await axios.get("https://picsum.photos/v2/list");
const resources = data.map((resource) => {
return {
type: "IMAGE",
id: resource.id,
name: resource.author || resource.id,
thumbnail: {
url: resource.download_url,
},
url: resource.download_url,
contentType: "image/jpeg",
};
});
response.send({
type: "SUCCESS",
resources,
});
});
app.listen(process.env.PORT || 3000);
Last modified 9mo ago