Canva has a new AI image model of its own. It’s called Craft, and you can try it inside Canva’s Dream Lab rather than opening a separate image-generation app.
Launched on October 22, 2026, Craft is designed for posters, social graphics, illustrations, portraits and layouts that include text. Canva says it can produce images at up to 2K resolution across more than 30 aspect ratios. Canva’s announcement explains how the model works.
Try it in a minute
- Open Canva and sign in.
- Find Dream Lab in the bottom-left panel.
- Enter a specific image prompt and choose a suitable aspect ratio.
- Generate, inspect the text and layout, then refine anything that looks wrong.
Canva says Craft is available globally to its users. That does not mean unlimited free generations: access and usage depend on your plan’s AI allowance.
A prompt worth trying
Create a clean 16:9 feature graphic about digital privacy. Use a simple laptop illustration on the right, a calm blue background, generous empty space on the left, and one readable heading: “PRIVACY BASICS”. Avoid small text and clutter.
Why so specific? Canva says Craft first plans the objects, layout and lettering, then renders the image. The goal is more predictable placement and easier refinement—not a guarantee of perfect spelling or a finished design every time.
Developers: there’s an API too
Craft is available through Canva’s preview image-generation API. To explicitly select this model, pass:
"model": "craft_v1_2k"The documented endpoint is POST /rest/v1/image-generations on api.canva.com. It needs a user access token with the asset:write scope, an eligible account, and available AI credits. Jobs are asynchronous; download links expire after 24 hours. See Canva’s API reference before integrating it.
Two catches
- AI credits still matter. Even when the tool is accessible to free accounts, generations are subject to allowances.
- Canva MCP support is not ready yet. Canva’s launch page lists Craft on the MCP Server as coming soon. Don’t confuse the live API with an already-available MCP integration.
Bottom line: If you already build graphics in Canva, Craft is worth comparing with your current image workflow. Test a real poster or thumbnail, check the lettering, and decide whether the edits save you time.