--- title: When chat is the wrong UI | daily.dev description: An informal argument from a GitHub Copilot team member proposes that chat interfaces are often the wrong way to interact with AI agents once a user knows what... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/when-chat-is-the-wrong-ui-1btrkn7yk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: When chat is the wrong UI | daily.dev og:description: An informal argument from a GitHub Copilot team member proposes that chat interfaces are often the wrong way to interact with AI agents once a user knows what... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/when-chat-is-the-wrong-ui-1btrkn7yk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/1BTRKN7yK.png og:image:alt: When chat is the wrong UI og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # When chat is the wrong UI **[GitHub Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ghblog)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An informal argument from a GitHub Copilot team member proposes that chat interfaces are often the wrong way to interact with AI agents once a user knows what they want to accomplish. The post introduces 'canvases' in the GitHub Copilot app — full-stack mini applications that run without browser chrome and can communicate bi-directionally with the agent while also executing code locally. Examples include a Connect 4 game against the agent, a UI for managing Winget packages, a SQLite database browser with intellisense, and a Windows Live Writer-style blog editor for Jekyll posts, plus a workflow canvas that automates a research-prototype-plan-implement-iterate-finalize development loop so the user can step out of the interaction loop. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is a canvas in the GitHub Copilot app? A canvas is a small full-stack application that runs inside the GitHub Copilot app without browser chrome, allowing bi-directional communication between the app's server and the Copilot agent. It can call third-party APIs and execute code locally on a machine, functioning like a normal computer program while still talking to the agent, unlike a plain chat interface. _daily.dev surfaces practical examples like this for developers rethinking how they interact with coding agents._ ### Why is chat considered a limiting interface for working with AI coding agents? Chat became the default AI interface because it was the first thing people understood, but it forces every interaction through a single textarea even when a task-specific tool would be faster and cheaper. Repeatedly asking an agent to perform routine actions like staging and committing code wastes tokens compared to building a reusable tool that handles the task directly. _developers weighing chat versus custom tooling for agent workflows can track these debates on daily.dev._ --- Tags: [#devtools](https://daily.dev/tags/devtools), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#github](https://daily.dev/tags/github), [#ui-design](https://daily.dev/tags/ui-design), [#bots](https://daily.dev/tags/bots) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/when-chat-is-the-wrong-ui-1btrkn7yk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"When chat is the wrong UI","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/when-chat-is-the-wrong-ui-1btrkn7yk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/when-chat-is-the-wrong-ui-1btrkn7yk"},"datePublished":"2026-09-24T20:02:43.561Z","dateModified":"2026-09-25T00:33:34.580Z","description":"An informal argument from a GitHub Copilot team member proposes that chat interfaces are often the wrong way to interact with AI agents once a user knows what...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/400049431c04aedd8a3865c652c72f48?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/400049431c04aedd8a3865c652c72f48?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"GitHub Blog","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"GitHub Blog","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/106cf162b88840808484d4b5429b59b1","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/ghblog"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/when-chat-is-the-wrong-ui-1btrkn7yk","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"devtools,ai-agents,github,ui-design,bots","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GitHub Blog","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/ghblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"When chat is the wrong UI"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/when-chat-is-the-wrong-ui-1btrkn7yk#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is a canvas in the GitHub Copilot app?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A canvas is a small full-stack application that runs inside the GitHub Copilot app without browser chrome, allowing bi-directional communication between the app's server and the Copilot agent. 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