Frequently asked questions

A visual workspace for ideas and project work. Put notes, files, tasks and connections on a Board, then use Frames to open more detailed Boards inside the same Project.

Flowstate is currently a free beta. No credit card is required to create an account.

No. Open Flowstate in a modern browser. Some browsers also offer an install option for a separate app window.

No. Boards, Tasks, Timeline, sharing and the built-in Workflow templates work without an AI model or API key.

Create a Project and add a Text object for its goal. Add a few Frames for the main areas and a Task List for the next actions. See the mindmapping example.

Yes. Sharing is optional. You can keep a Project private and invite people later.

Yes. Choose System, Light or Dark. The account preference follows you across devices; the current browser also remembers it for startup.

The container for your Boards, collaborators, files, settings and revision history. Permissions and AI access are granted at Project level.

The canvas where you place and connect objects. A Project has a root Board and can contain more Boards inside Frames.

A visible object that owns a nested Board. Open it to work on that part of the Project in more detail. It is more than a drawn rectangle.

A Frame opens another Board. An Artboard is a flat drawing and composition surface on the current Board.

Yes. Nested Frames let you divide a large Project into smaller parts without moving those parts into separate Projects.

Use the Board navigation or your browser's Back button. Back and Forward revisit Boards and Frames; on phones, an open panel closes first.

Yes. Add a Button with the Shortcut action and choose an authorized target in the same Project. It opens the target Board and centers the object.

Yes. Project folders organize All projects. Opening a Project from a folder also gives browser Back a path to that folder.

Drag with the pan tool, or use two fingers on a trackpad or touch screen. Pinch to zoom. Ordinary mouse-wheel steps zoom around the pointer.

Yes. Auto layout offers All objects, or Selected objects when you have a selection. A selected group keeps its center. Locked objects stay in place, and Undo restores the earlier positions.

Objects can align with nearby edges, centers, sizes and repeated gaps. Snap can follow the Project default or use Everything, Objects only, Grid only or Off on this device.

Yes. Properties includes position, dimensions and other controls for the selected object. Available settings depend on its type.

Lock it. Locked objects are excluded from ordinary movement and auto layout. Unlock it when you need to change its placement.

Yes. Use Undo and Redo for supported edits. Revision history is a separate way to recover saved Project states.

Yes, for supported objects when you can edit the destination and have access to the source. Workflows, References and Project-bound Buttons cannot cross Projects this way. Media can cross Projects only when you own both.

Clicking the Button performs its action. The pencil opens its Properties. Dragging moves the Button without running it.

Yes. Pasting a browser URL onto a Board creates Text with a clickable link. Resize it, then double-click below the link or select it and press Enter or F2 to add notes.

Yes. Select a range in a paragraph or heading for bold, italic, underline, color, size or weight. Ctrl/Cmd+B, I and U are also available.

Yes. Supported objects, including Task Lists, Tables, Charts, Images and Files, can sit between paragraphs. You can move them back onto the Board later.

Yes. Tables accept tab-separated rows from a spreadsheet. You can also add, remove and reorder rows and columns and adjust column widths.

Yes. Choose Loop or Manual playback. Manual Pause keeps the current frame, Play resumes it, and First frame resets it.

Yes. A PDF-backed File can switch between a compact File card and an Embedded PDF. This does not create another uploaded file.

Yes, for supported YouTube links and direct HTTPS video or audio. External Media contacts its provider only after you activate it or remember that exact provider/origin choice.

On a supported desktop browser, Record project captures a selected tab or window with an optional microphone. Preview it, download it, or add it as a private Video. Capture stops after 30 minutes of active recording or about 450 MiB.

No. Uploaded media is private and access is checked by Flowstate. Sharing a Project or a public link can give other people access to its content.

No. A Task List holds checkable items, while other objects can also carry planning fields such as status and dates. Tasks brings the Project's work together.

Yes. On a regular Board, owners and editors can choose New list in Tasks, including on a phone. This is not offered on Workflow Boards or to viewers.

Open Tasks and filter by status, priority, due date or tag. The view includes work across the Project's Boards.

Dated items across the Project, including nested Boards. Schedules appear as date spans; individual dates and deadlines appear at their dates. On phones, Timeline uses an agenda layout.

Check that it has a date or schedule. An undated object remains on its Board but has no date position to show in Timeline.

Overdue work, work due or running today, the next seven days and open Task Lists. Tap an item to find it on its Board.

Do not rely on email or push reminders. Use Today, Tasks and Timeline to review dates. Workflow completion notices are shown inside the app, not as closed-browser notifications.

As the Project owner, open Share, choose Can view or Can edit, enter their email and send the invitation. Pending invitations and collaborators appear in the same place.

Read the Project and navigate into Frames. A viewer cannot edit its content. Download controls depend on the owner's settings.

Add and change Project content. Ownership, sharing controls and owner-only settings remain with the owner.

Yes. Flowstate shows presence and reconciles saved changes in real time. Conflicting or unsynced work must still be resolved; it is not silently reported as saved.

The owner can enable a revocable, read-only public Project link. Anyone who has that link can view its allowed scope. Use personal invitations for named collaborators.

Yes. Remove a collaborator or revoke the relevant public link or AI grant. This stops future authorized access, but cannot retrieve files or information someone already copied.

No. It removes the normal download action and blocks its dedicated download route. It cannot stop someone capturing content already displayed in their browser.

A Frame whose Board contains executable steps. A run follows connected execution ports through those steps. Ordinary Lines or a diagram do not run anything.

Create Task Lists, save or update Text, read and filter Project data, branch on conditions and pause for owner review. The built-in templates provide starting points for these actions.

Review and save a report, Create a Task List, and Collect open tasks. Each creates an editable Workflow. See the Workflow example.

Open its Frame and use Run at the top of the toolbar. A Button configured with Function / Run Workflow can also provide a manual starting point on a Board.

Open Runs inside the Workflow. It shows status, timing, individual steps and verified saved changes. Inspect selects an older run; Bounded input/output shows recorded step data.

An Output step keeps returned data in Runs. To create something on a Board, add an Action such as Save as Text or Create a Task List and choose its destination.

Yes, when a verified Action created or changed an object and its identity is available. Open object in the run result takes you to it.

The Project's overview of Workflow runs, reviews and pending or failed events. Its toolbar button appears inside a Workflow or on a Board directly containing a Workflow Frame.

Owner approval grants the Workflow its requested authority. An Owner reviews the result Wait step pauses a particular run for an Approve or Reject decision before later steps continue.

No. Rejection stops the steps after the review. Put the review before any Action that should wait for permission to save.

Server Actions and enabled schedules, webhooks and human Project-event triggers can. Background maintenance normally checks work every five minutes. Local AI steps require an active compatible owner browser; an external Agent needs an actual connected service.

Yes. An enabled, owner-approved Project-event trigger can react to a human checking an existing task or changing Project content. AI, system and Workflow-control changes do not recursively trigger these events.

Retry uses the original definition and input with duplicate-effect protection. A previously verified Action is not simply applied twice. Fix the underlying permission, configuration or service problem first.

Terminal runs and failed pending events are kept for 90 days. Save important results as Text or Task Lists instead of relying on run history as permanent storage.

It lets a compatible external agent read an authorized Project and, with Can edit access, use supported tools to change it. It does not give the agent your Flowstate account password.

The owner opens AI, then Access, creates Read or Can edit access and copies the setup shown there. Ready-to-paste options cover Codex, Claude Code and Claude Desktop. See the connection guide.

Use Read for inspection and discussion. Choose Can edit only when the agent should change Project content or run authorized editing tools. Set an expiry and revoke access when it is no longer needed.

Start with flowstate_read_project_context. Then use flowstate_read_resource to read authoring-capabilities, ai-instructions and ai-chat. Those resources describe current permissions, operations and Project guidance.

Use flowstate_apply_mutation_batch with the advertised operation fields, the current revision_token and a new idempotency_key. Set dry_run to validate first. Reuse the key only when retrying the same batch; if the revision is stale, reread the Project and rebuild the batch.

A successful save has a server-verified execution receipt and readable saved state. A message saying “done” is not proof. Check the changed object or the tool result.

No. Its grant is scoped to the authorized Project and is rechecked on requests. A grant for one Project does not grant access to another.

No. Local AI runs model inference in a supported browser after a model download. MCP connects an external client. Both use Flowstate's permission checks and verified tool results.

No. It downloads its selected model and uses the device's resources. It still needs compatible browser and graphics support; normal Project and Chat storage remains on Flowstate.

Not in this release. Local AI accepts bounded text inputs such as TXT, Markdown, JSON, CSV and HTML. It does not extract PDF/DOCX text or interpret image pixels.

Project connection credentials remain write-only. A separate Project secret can be read only when the owner explicitly enables AI may read and the caller has eligible Edit access. Each secret read is recorded. Local AI and Workflow Agents cannot read those secrets.

No. The Bridge connects an existing agent service to the Project conversation. An enabled connection still needs a real runner capable of receiving callbacks and responding.

An owner can add a REST JSON source or an incoming webhook, then bind fields to supported Text, Chart or Table content. Setup and mapping live in Integrations.

Yes, through configured outbound webhooks. These are generic signed webhooks, not a claim that every external app has a dedicated Flowstate integration.

Use Convert to static to keep the displayed data as normal content. You can separately edit or remove the source when it is no longer needed.

Owner-managed, encrypted credentials for bounded FTPS, MySQL or HTTPS operations. The owner chooses permitted operations; creating a connection does not itself grant an AI agent access.

No. MySQL is limited to allowed SELECT operations, HTTPS reads use a fixed endpoint, and FTPS operations have configured limits and checked writes. See the connection limits.

Yes. Add and edit supported objects, work with Tasks, use Properties, move and resize selected objects, and create Connections or Lines. Phones use a dedicated touch layout.

On a phone, tap to select the object first. Dragging the selected object moves it; dragging an unselected object pans the Board.

Artboard drawing, Workflow building, screen recording and Integrations setup. Their phone controls explain that they are available on desktop. Running Workflows and reading Runs are supported on phones.

Press and hold the object while keeping your finger still. Its actions open as a bottom sheet on phones or a context menu on tablets.

An open phone view or panel closes first. Board and Frame navigation is then handled through browser history before leaving the Project.

Yes. Watch the save state. Pending or failed changes are not the same as a confirmed save.

Supported edits can queue locally and reconcile after reconnecting. This does not make every feature available offline. Keep the browser's pending work until it is saved or deliberately exported/discarded.

Open Account settings, Storage & device, then Review pending changes. Compare your version with the saved version, retry, download the pending queue or make an explicit discard decision.

Use revision history. Automatic recovery points are grouped over two minutes and bounded to 100 per Project over 30 days. A named recovery point can be kept beyond that automatic window.

Choose the Flowstate ZIP export when you need the attached files too. JSON keeps structure and content but not those file bytes. Import creates a new Project rather than overwriting the existing one.

A visual copy of the current Board, including objects outside the screen. Choose one overview page or A4 tiles. Text is rasterized, animated media is still, and Frames show previews rather than every nested Board.

No. PDF is for reading or printing. Use a Flowstate ZIP or supported JSON snapshot for a Project import.

Project export controls are owner-only. The saved archive does not include connection credentials, Project secrets or Workflow run history.

No. Recovery history has limits and remains part of the service. Keep a downloaded ZIP when you need an independent copy of a Project and its exportable attached files.

No advertising or analytics provider is currently configured. The app uses its own scripts, styles and fonts. User-activated external media can contact its provider; see the cookie policy.

Project data is saved by Flowstate, and uploaded files are kept in private object storage. Access is checked before file delivery. See the privacy policy for the data and sharing rules.

Yes. Account settings includes device/session revocation. Remembered login on a revoked device is also revoked.

Not currently. Use a strong, unique password and revoke sessions you no longer use.

You can lose local preferences, installed model caches and unsynced work. Clearing browser data does not delete saved server Projects. Resolve or download pending changes first.