Polotno SDK lets you embed a complete drag-and-drop canvas editor inside your app. Users can move, resize, and layer any element (text, image, video, or shape) with precision and fluid control. The canvas is fully interactive, supporting zoom, pan, rulers, and grid snapping for exact positioning. Everything runs client-side or on your infrastructure, so you keep control over UX and data. The canvas follows Polotno’s schema architecture, meaning every layout, element, and transformation can be stored, edited, or automated programmatically.
Key features
Drag-and-drop editing
Move and resize elements freely on the canvas with pixel-level precision. The interaction engine ensures smooth manipulation even with complex multi-layer designs.
Zoom and pan
Navigate large designs easily with zoom and pan controls. The canvas maintains crisp rendering and stable performance regardless of zoom level or element density.
Layers panel
Organize, reorder, lock, or hide elements using a full layers panel. It provides a structured view of every canvas object (text, image, video, or shape) for easy editing and automation.
Snap to grid
Align elements automatically with grid snapping or guides. This ensures consistent spacing and layout accuracy for templates, print, or marketing assets.
Multi-page support
Create, duplicate, and manage multiple pages or frames within one project. Ideal for presentations, print layouts, and multi-format creative workflows.
Bleed and trim
Define bleed and trim regions for print-ready exports. These visual boundaries help designers maintain production accuracy without leaving the editor.
Bleed can be uniform or per side. Pages accept bleedTop, bleedRight, bleedBottom, and bleedLeft alongside the uniform value, which is what asymmetric work like book covers, dielines, and gatefolds actually needs. Bleed controls live in the Size panel, the download button can include bleed in a PDF export, and per-side values are honored on canvas, in PDF export, and recovered on PDF import. See page bleed.
Rulers and measurements
Display rulers and position indicators to maintain alignment and spacing. Useful for precise template design or enterprise production standards.
Tables
Tables are a real element type, not a grid of lines and text boxes. Cells hold their own content and styling, borders and alignment are editable, and the table survives the round trip through PDF, HTML, SVG, and PPTX export. Ruled grids in an imported PDF are reconstructed back into table elements. See the table element schema.
Drawing
A free-draw mode for annotation, signatures, and sketch layers. Stroke properties are editable after the fact from the draw panel, and the result is a normal element in the schema. See drawing.
Design validation
Because every element's properties are readable through the store API, you can check a design before it leaves the editor: fonts and colors against brand rules, image resolution against a print threshold, elements inside the safe area, minimum type size for accessibility. Validation logic and how you surface it are yours. See design validation.
Touch and mobile
Pinch to zoom, multi-touch drag, and a timeline built for touch mean the same editor works on tablets and phones without a separate build. See mobile support.
Undo and redo history
Track every change with a complete undo/redo stack. Developers can integrate this state history into custom workflows or autosave logic.
Automation and schema control
Every canvas action (position, scale, rotation, layer order) is reflected in the schema. This allows programmatic creation, modification, or synchronization with external data sources, making the canvas a foundation for creative automation.
Example use cases
- Design platforms – Add a responsive, self-hosted canvas for image, text, and video editing.
- Marketing tools – Build campaign-level templates users can edit and export directly in-app.
- AI creative systems – Programmatically generate and arrange canvas layouts from AI-generated assets.
- Print and packaging editors – Include bleed, trim, and measurement tools for production accuracy.
- Presentation builders – Create multi-page documents with reusable components.
- Internal design tools – Power custom design workflows on secure, private infrastructure.
Developer benefits
- Unified editor for text, image, SVG, and video layers.
- Self-hosted by default, cloud-ready for rendering automation.
- Schema-based layout definition for reproducibility and integration.
- Framework-agnostic JavaScript SDK with React support.
- Commercial-safe licensing for SaaS and enterprise apps.
FAQs
Does the canvas support zoom and pan?
Yes. The viewport supports smooth zooming, panning, and fluid navigation across complex designs.
Can I manage multiple pages or artboards?
Yes. Multi-page layouts are supported within a single project schema.
Is snapping and alignment configurable?
Yes. Developers can enable or customize grid size, snapping behavior, and alignment guides.
Does the canvas support tables?
Yes. Tables are a first-class element with editable cells, borders, and alignment, and they export to PDF, HTML, SVG, and PPTX.
Can I validate a design before export?
Yes. The store API exposes every element's properties, so you can enforce brand, resolution, safe-area, and accessibility rules with your own logic.
Can I automate canvas layouts?
Yes. All positions, transformations, and layers are schema-controlled and can be generated or updated via code.
Can it be self-hosted?
Yes. The entire SDK and rendering pipeline can run on your own servers.
