A Lean Canvas with a real local AI coach. Your idea stays on your laptop.

What a Lean Canvas does in nine boxes.

A Lean Canvas is a one-page business model — Problem, Solution, Unique Value Proposition, Channels, Customer Segments, Unfair Advantage, Key Metrics, Cost Structure, Revenue Streams. It replaces a 30-page business plan with the nine questions a founder actually has to answer to know if the idea works.

Totally Lean runs the canvas in your browser. No account. No server. The data lives in your local storage. Three local AI agents help you fill it; a 90-second voiced pitch generator turns the canvas into something you can hand to a stranger.

When you click Start, you're editing in seconds, no signup, no email, no team workspace. Share via URL when you want someone in. Export JSON when you want a copy.

Other ways founders frame the same canvas.

The same nine boxes, framed for different moments. Pick the one that fits where you are right now.

• NOT A SPREADSHEET · NOT A DECKThe Lean Canvas for the business plan you'll actually open.
• BEFORE THE DECKA Lean Canvas you write before you write the pitch.
• FOR THE 11 PM IDEAThe Lean Canvas you draft the night you have the idea.
• NO ACCOUNT · NO SERVER · NO ROOM FULL OF PEOPLEThe Lean Canvas that never leaves your laptop.
• TYPE · HEAR · SHIPNine boxes. Ninety seconds. The Lean Canvas with a voiced pitch.

Frequently asked

Can Claude, Codex, or Cursor operate this canvas for me?

Yes. Totally Lean publishes an operating manual for AI agents at /agent.txt — a public document describing the canvas data model, stable DOM selectors, keyboard shortcuts, and rules agents should follow. Any browser-driving agent (Claude for Chrome, Codex Chrome extension, Operator-class tools) can read the manual and operate the canvas through documented affordances. The agent talks to your browser, not to us — your canvas never reaches a server. The .leancanvas JSON file format gives agents a structured read/write channel as well.

What do the three local AI agents do? Why three?

Three different conversations help at different stages of writing a canvas. Onboarding interviews you when the canvas is blank. Critic challenges what you've written — weak Problem statements, vague Customer Segments, hand-wavy Unfair Advantages. Explorer brainstorms adjacencies you haven't considered. Each holds a structured written conversation about the canvas; none overwrites it directly. All three run on your machine — WebGPU in your browser or your own Ollama daemon.

Is the AI really local? Where does the model actually run?

Two paths. (1) WebGPU — model weights download once and cache in your browser; inference runs on your GPU. (2) Ollama — your own daemon running locally; the browser talks to it via localhost. Neither sends canvas content to any server we operate. The default behavior is fully offline.

Can I read or write the .leancanvas file with my own tools?

Yes. The format is documented at /file-format with a JSON Schema (Draft 2020-12). Open it in a text editor, parse it with any JSON library, edit it programmatically — versioned, stable, agent-friendly. The format is the same shape the editor uses internally; no proprietary lock-in layer between what you see and what gets exported. If Totally Lean disappears, your canvases stay readable forever.