---
title: "Getting started"
description: "A five-minute Clip walkthrough: create a project, generate your first image on the canvas, edit it with AI, or simply ask the chat to do it."
url: https://clip.sg/docs/getting-started
last_updated: 2026-09-16
---

# Getting started

Five minutes, start to finish: a project, a generated image, and one AI edit on top of it.

## 1. Start from the home page

![The Clip home page](https://clip.sg/docs/images/home.webp)

The home page has one prompt bar and a row of recent projects. You can either describe something and let Clip set the project up around it, or create an empty project and work by hand.

![The prompt bar](https://clip.sg/docs/images/home-prompt-bar.webp)

The paperclip attaches files to start with. **Agent** controls how much thinking Clip puts into the request. The arrow sends it.

## 2. Create a project

Pick **New Project** in the left sidebar and give it a name. You can rename it later from the canvas at any time, so don't agonise.

![The New Project dialog](https://clip.sg/docs/images/new-project-dialog.webp)

Clip opens the canvas — an infinite surface with your tools on the right and the AI chat panel beside it.

## 3. Add an image generator

On the tool rail, choose the **Image Generator** — the icon with a small plus on a picture. If your window is short, the generators live behind the **⋯** button.

![The five generators](https://clip.sg/docs/images/generator-menu.webp)

A generator node lands on the canvas and its form opens on the right.

![The image generator](https://clip.sg/docs/images/image-generator.webp)

Type what you want. Everything else has a sensible default:

- **Image model** — which AI makes the picture. Leave it alone until you have a reason not to.
- **Reference** — up to fourteen of your own images to steer the look. Optional.
- **Settings** — output size and aspect ratio.
- **Add style** — lock the result to a named visual style.

The button tells you the cost: **Generate ⚡14**. Press it.

## 4. Watch it work

The node shows a progress bar, a label for the current stage, and a running timer.

![A generation in progress](https://clip.sg/docs/images/generating-node-on-canvas.webp)

You can click away, work elsewhere, close the panel, or reload the page — the generation keeps going and the result finds its way back to the node. If your connection blips, Clip reconnects.

## 5. Edit the result

When it lands, the node becomes a real image on your canvas, named automatically. Select it and the AI toolbar appears above it.

![A finished image and its toolbar](https://clip.sg/docs/images/generated-image-on-canvas.webp)

Every button carries its price:

![The image toolbar](https://clip.sg/docs/images/image-toolbar.webp)

Try **Edit Now** (⚡14) — describe a change in plain words, like "make the linen deep green", and Clip returns a new version. Your original is never destroyed; edits arrive as new work beside it.

## 6. Or skip all of that and ask

Everything above can be done by describing it. Open the chat panel, say what you want, and Clip plans the work, runs it, and arranges the results on your canvas.

![The chat panel](https://clip.sg/docs/images/chat-panel.webp)

Both routes produce the same editable objects on the same canvas. Most people end up mixing them: ask for the first pass, then refine by hand.

## Where things are saved

Your canvas saves itself continuously — you'll see a small status light near the project name. There is no Save button and nothing to lose track of. If something ever goes wrong, [Version history](https://clip.sg/docs/version-history) has your back.

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**Next:** [Canvas basics](https://clip.sg/docs/canvas-basics) — a proper tour of the editor.