Background Eraser and the Image Toolkit
The canvas now does images. The Background Eraser is the first tool to ship on top of a new image-toolkit primitive — drop a photo in, get a clean cutout you can compare against the original with a draggable slider, and click either side to open the full-resolution version in a lightbox.
Trying it in 60 seconds
- Start a conversation with an image-capable agent (the Image Postprocessor is purpose-built for this)
- Drag an image into the message input — or paste one from your clipboard
- Ask "remove the background" or "isolate the subject"
- The canvas opens with a BEFORE/AFTER slider; drag the divider to compare
- Click either side to open the full image in the lightbox
That's it. No tool to install, no foreground/background brushing — the agent handles the cutout end-to-end.
What you can do with the slider
The slider isn't just a preview — it's interactive:
- Drag the divider to compare any percentage of BEFORE vs. AFTER
- Click the left side to open the original in the lightbox
- Click the right side to open the cutout in the lightbox
- Download the cutout as PNG (with transparent background) from the canvas toolbar
- Save to Library to keep the cutout for later use in other tools
The slider layers correctly: the AFTER (cutout) sits on top of the BEFORE (original) so the visual matches the content of each side.
What the image-toolkit primitive enables
Background Eraser is the first tool, not the only one. The same canvas primitive supports any tool that takes one image and produces another, with the BEFORE/AFTER comparison built in. Tools coming soon include:
- Smart upscale (low-res to high-res)
- Style transfer
- Object removal (paint over, regenerate)
- Color and lighting adjustments
Each will work the same way — same slider, same lightbox, same Library save — so you only learn the pattern once.
Quality tips
- Higher input resolution = better cutout. A 4000×3000 photo gives a noticeably cleaner edge than a 600×400 thumbnail
- Good subject/background contrast helps. A person on a busy background of similar colors will need more cleanup than the same person on a plain wall
- JPEG artifacts hurt edges. Use PNG where possible; if you only have JPEG, prefer the highest-quality version you can find
- Save the cutout to your Library if you plan to compose it into another image — it'll be available to image-aware agents in future conversations
When to use which agent
- Image Postprocessor — when the task is purely "do this thing to this image"
- Canvas Expert — when you want the cutout to be part of a larger interactive layout
- HTML Expert — when you want the cutout dropped into a page mockup or web component