About Konva.js - Open-Source HTML5 Canvas JavaScript Framework
About Konva.js
Konva.js is the most popular open-source 2D HTML5 Canvas JavaScript framework, providing an object-oriented API for building interactive canvas applications. It supports shapes, animations, events, drag-and-drop, filters, serialization, and high-quality exports. Konva has official integrations with React, Vue, Svelte, and Angular, making it the go-to canvas solution across all major JavaScript frameworks. It is MIT-licensed, free for both commercial and personal use, and actively maintained since 2014.
Key Facts
| Created | 2014 (originally forked from KineticJS) |
| Creator | Anton Lavrenov |
| License | MIT (free for commercial and personal use) |
| Language | JavaScript and TypeScript (built-in type definitions) |
| npm package | konva |
| GitHub | github.com/konvajs/konva |
| Website | konvajs.org |
| Community | Discord, Stack Overflow (konvajs) |
Framework Integrations
Konva has official bindings for all major JavaScript frameworks:
| Framework | Package | Install |
|---|---|---|
| React | react-konva | npm install react-konva konva |
| Vue | vue-konva | npm install vue-konva konva |
| Svelte | svelte-konva | npm install svelte-konva konva |
| Angular | ng2-konva | npm install ng2-konva konva |
Who Uses Konva
Konva is used by teams worldwide, including:
- Meta — Facebook/Instagram
- Microsoft
- Labelbox — AI data labeling platform
- Zazzle — Custom product design
- Polotno — Design editor SDK built on top of Konva
And thousands of other companies and individual developers building design editors, annotation tools, whiteboard apps, interactive maps, data visualizations, games, and more.
Architecture
Konva uses a hierarchical node structure:
Stage (one per canvas area)
└── Layer (each layer is a separate <canvas> element)
└── Group (optional, for organizing shapes)
└── Shape (Rect, Circle, Text, Image, Line, etc.)
- Stage: The root container, attached to a DOM element. Contains one or more Layers.
- Layer: Each Layer is a separate
<canvas>element with its own scene and hit-detection canvas. Use multiple Layers to optimize rendering. - Group: An optional container for organizing and transforming multiple Shapes together.
- Shape: A visual element — Rect, Circle, Ellipse, Line, Arrow, Text, Image, Path, Star, Ring, Arc, RegularPolygon, Wedge, Sprite, TextPath, Label, and custom shapes.
Core Capabilities
- Shapes: Rect, Circle, Ellipse, Line, Arrow, Arc, Ring, Wedge, Star, RegularPolygon, Path, Text, TextPath, Image, Sprite, Label, and custom shapes
- Event System: Click, double-click, mouseover, mouseout, touchstart, touchmove, tap, drag events with bubbling and delegation
- Drag and Drop: Built-in drag-and-drop with boundaries, snapping, and drop events
- Animations: Frame-based animations via
Konva.Animationand property tweens viaKonva.Tweenwith 30+ easing functions - Filters: Blur, Brighten, Contrast, Grayscale, HSL, Invert, Noise, Pixelate, Sepia, Threshold, and custom filters
- Serialization: Save and restore the entire canvas state with
toJSON()andKonva.Node.create() - Export: High-quality image export via
toDataURL()andtoBlob()(PNG, JPEG), PDF export via third-party libraries - Select and Transform: Built-in
Transformerfor interactive resize, rotate, and scale - Performance: Layer-based rendering, shape caching, and optimization APIs for handling thousands of shapes
- Cross-Platform: Works on desktop and mobile browsers with full touch event support
- Node.js: Server-side canvas rendering via the
canvasnpm package - TypeScript: Built-in TypeScript type definitions
Links
- Getting Started Tutorial
- Why Konva? — When to Use Konva
- API Reference
- Interactive Demos
- FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions
- Best Canvas Libraries — Comparison Guide
- GitHub Repository
- npm Package
- Changelog
- Discord Community
- Stack Overflow
"Made with Konva" Badge
Add this badge to your project README to show it's built with Konva:
[](https://konvajs.org)