Canva Core Workflow B — Assets, Autofill & Folders

Overview

Secondary workflow: upload assets to Canva, autofill brand templates with dynamic data (text, images, charts), and organize content with folders. Autofill requires a Canva Enterprise organization.

Prerequisites

• Completed

  canva-install-auth

  with valid access token
• Scopes:

  asset:read

  ,

  asset:write

  ,

  brandtemplate:meta:read

  ,

  brandtemplate:content:read

  ,

  design:content:write

  ,

  folder:read

  ,

  folder:write

Asset Management

Upload an Asset (Binary)

// POST https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads
// Rate limit: 30 req/min per user
// Scope: asset:write
// Content-Type: application/octet-stream

import { readFileSync } from 'fs';

async function uploadAsset(
  filePath: string,
  name: string,
  token: string
): Promise<{ id: string; status: string }> {
  // Asset name must be Base64-encoded, max 50 chars unencoded
  const nameBase64 = Buffer.from(name).toString('base64');
  const fileData = readFileSync(filePath);

  const res = await fetch('https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/asset-uploads', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${token}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/octet-stream',
      'Asset-Upload-Metadata': JSON.stringify({ name_base64: nameBase64 }),
    },
    body: fileData,
  });

  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Upload failed: ${res.status}`);
  return res.json();
}

// Upload returns a job — poll for asset ID
const uploadJob = await uploadAsset('./hero-banner.png', 'Hero Banner Q1', token);

Upload an Asset via URL

// POST https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/url-asset-uploads
// Rate limit: 30 req/min per user

const { job } = await canvaAPI('/url-asset-uploads', token, {
  method: 'POST',
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'Product Photo',
    url: 'https://example.com/images/product-shot.jpg',
  }),
});
// Poll GET /v1/url-asset-uploads/{jobId} for completion

Get, Update, Delete Assets

// GET /v1/assets/{assetId} — scope: asset:read
const asset = await canvaAPI(`/assets/${assetId}`, token);

// PATCH /v1/assets/{assetId} — scope: asset:write
await canvaAPI(`/assets/${assetId}`, token, {
  method: 'PATCH',
  body: JSON.stringify({ name: 'Updated Name', tags: ['brand', 'q1'] }),
});

// DELETE /v1/assets/{assetId} — scope: asset:write
await canvaAPI(`/assets/${assetId}`, token, { method: 'DELETE' });

Brand Template Autofill

Step 1: List Available Brand Templates

// GET https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/brand-templates
// Rate limit: 100 req/min per user
// Scope: brandtemplate:meta:read
// Requires: Canva Enterprise organization

const templates = await canvaAPI('/brand-templates', token);

for (const tmpl of templates.items) {
  console.log(`${tmpl.title} — ID: ${tmpl.id}`);
}

Step 2: Get Template Dataset (Autofillable Fields)

// GET https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/brand-templates/{templateId}/dataset
// Scope: brandtemplate:content:read

const { dataset } = await canvaAPI(
  `/brand-templates/${templateId}/dataset`, token
);

// dataset is a map of field_name → { type: 'text' | 'image' }
for (const [field, config] of Object.entries(dataset)) {
  console.log(`Field: ${field}, Type: ${config.type}`);
}
// Example output:
// Field: headline, Type: text
// Field: hero_image, Type: image
// Field: price, Type: text

Step 3: Create Design from Template via Autofill

// POST https://api.canva.com/rest/v1/autofills
// Rate limit: 60 req/min per user
// Scope: design:content:write

const { job } = await canvaAPI('/autofills', token, {
  method: 'POST',
  body: JSON.stringify({
    brand_template_id: templateId,
    title: 'March Newsletter — Generated',
    data: {
      headline: {
        type: 'text',
        text: 'Spring Collection Is Here',
      },
      hero_image: {
        type: 'image',
        asset_id: uploadedAssetId,  // From asset upload step
      },
      price: {
        type: 'text',
        text: '$29.99',
      },
    },
  }),
});

// Poll for completion — GET /v1/autofills/{jobId}
let autofillJob = job;
while (autofillJob.status === 'in_progress') {
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2000));
  const poll = await canvaAPI(`/autofills/${autofillJob.id}`, token);
  autofillJob = poll.job;
}

if (autofillJob.status === 'success') {
  const newDesign = autofillJob.result.design;
  console.log(`Autofilled design: ${newDesign.id}`);
  console.log(`Edit: ${newDesign.urls.edit_url}`);
}

Autofill with Chart Data

const { job } = await canvaAPI('/autofills', token, {
  method: 'POST',
  body: JSON.stringify({
    brand_template_id: templateId,
    title: 'Q1 Report',
    data: {
      sales_chart: {
        type: 'chart',
        chart_data: {
          rows: [
            { cells: [{ type: 'string', value: 'Jan' }, { type: 'number', value: 45000 }] },
            { cells: [{ type: 'string', value: 'Feb' }, { type: 'number', value: 52000 }] },
            { cells: [{ type: 'string', value: 'Mar' }, { type: 'number', value: 61000 }] },
          ],
        },
      },
    },
  }),
});
// Chart data: max 100 rows, 20 columns per row

Folder Management

// Create a folder — POST /v1/folders, scope: folder:write, 20 req/min
const { folder } = await canvaAPI('/folders', token, {
  method: 'POST',
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'Q1 Campaign Assets',     // 1-255 chars
    parent_folder_id: 'root',       // "root" | "uploads" | folder ID
  }),
});
console.log(`Folder created: ${folder.id}`);

// List folder contents — GET /v1/folders/{folderId}/items, scope: folder:read
const items = await canvaAPI(`/folders/${folder.id}/items`, token);

// Move item to folder — PATCH /v1/folders/move, scope: folder:write
await canvaAPI('/folders/move', token, {
  method: 'PATCH',
  body: JSON.stringify({
    item_id: designId,
    to_folder_id: folder.id,
  }),
});

Error Handling

Design title invalid

file_too_big

import_failed

autofill_error

Resources

• Assets API
• Brand Templates API
• Autofill Guide
• Folders API

Next Steps

For common errors, see

canva-common-errors