> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.watx.in/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The flow editor

> Build a WhatsApp flow: the palette, the canvas, the inspector, the entry node, and what has to be true before it can be activated.

Opening a flow takes over the screen: a toolbar at the top, a node palette on the left,
the canvas in the middle, the selected node's settings on the right, and a validation
bar when something is wrong.

## The toolbar

| Control                  | What it does                                                                                |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Back arrow               | Returns to **Flows**.                                                                       |
| Name                     | Click to rename. The description underneath is internal — customers never see it.           |
| Status chip              | **Draft**, **Active** or **Archived**.                                                      |
| **Edited**               | Appears as soon as there are unsaved changes.                                               |
| Validation badge         | Appears only when there are issues. Opens the list.                                         |
| AI prompt bar            | Describe a change and get a draft — see [Testing and Build with AI](/flows/testing-and-ai). |
| **Test**                 | Opens the simulator.                                                                        |
| **Runs**                 | The run history, with the run count beside it.                                              |
| **Delete**               | Removes the flow.                                                                           |
| **Activate** / **Pause** | Puts it live, or takes it back to draft.                                                    |
| **Save**                 | Writes the flow.                                                                            |

**Activate** is disabled while there are errors; hovering it says to fix the issues in
the top bar first. Saving a draft is always allowed — a half-built flow is a normal thing
to leave overnight.

## Canvas and list

A **Canvas** / **List** toggle sits under the toolbar, beside a legend of every node type
and its colour. Your choice is remembered on that device.

Below 768px wide the list view is forced and the toggle, palette and inspector are hidden:
the canvas handles are about 10px and drag-to-connect is not a finger workflow. The list
view can do everything except wiring by drag.

## Adding nodes

The palette on the left is a permanent rail of every node type you can add, grouped as
**Message types**, **Ask & capture**, **Actions & data** and **Flow control**,
with a search box at the top. It collapses and reopens with the panel button.

There are two ways to add:

* **Drag** a type onto the canvas — it lands where you dropped it.
* **Click** it — it lands in the middle of the visible canvas.

Either way the new node is selected, so its settings open immediately.

## Wiring

Unlike an automation, a flow is a real graph: each node stores the key of the node it
continues to.

* **Drag from a node's output port to another node** to wire that path. A node with one
  way out has a single port; a **If / else** has *true* and *false*; a **Take a payment**
  has *paid* and *not paid*; a **Send buttons** or **Send list** has one port per button
  or row, labelled with its title.
* **Select an edge and press <kbd>Delete</kbd>** to clear just that path.
* **Select a node and press <kbd>Backspace</kbd> or <kbd>Delete</kbd>** to remove it. Every
  path that pointed at it is cleared too, so there are no arrows left hanging.

A path left unwired is not an error while you are drafting, but it will be flagged before
you can activate.

## The inspector

The right pane shows the selected node's settings form — the same form the list view
uses, so the two cannot drift.

With **nothing selected** it shows the flow's own settings instead of empty space:

* **When…** — the trigger. **A message contains a keyword**, **Customer's first ever
  inbound message**, or **Manual only (no auto-trigger)**.
* **Keywords (comma-separated)** for a keyword trigger.
* **Entry node** — which node the run starts on.

A manual flow answers no message on its own. It is started by an automation's **Start
flow** step, or by another flow's **Connect flow** node.

## Node keys

Every node has a key — a short identifier such as `welcome` or `ask_name`. It is what
every path points at, so it is the node's real identity. Two nodes with the same key is
an error, and the flow will not activate.

## Validation

The bar at the bottom lists every issue, split into errors and warnings. Clicking a
node-scoped issue jumps to that node on the canvas and flashes it; a trigger issue is
shown on the trigger form instead.

Errors stop activation. Among them:

* No name, no entry node, no nodes at all, or an entry node that does not exist.
* A duplicate node key.
* A path that points at a node which is not there, or a required path left empty.
* A keyword trigger with no keywords.
* Missing text, missing prompts, a variable name that is not a valid identifier.
* WhatsApp's own limits: at most 3 buttons, button titles at most 20 characters, at most
  10 list rows across all sections, and the length caps on row titles, descriptions and
  captions. These are checked here so a send cannot be rejected later for something that
  was knowable now.

Warnings do not stop activation. The two you will meet most:

* A node that cannot be reached from the entry node.
* A **Wait** of 24 hours or more, which closes
  [WhatsApp's messaging window](/whatsapp/messaging-window) — after it, only a template
  will send unless the customer writes again.

## Import and export

A flow can be exported as JSON from its card on the flows list, and **Import** in the
flows list header reads one back — which is how you copy a flow between workspaces. An
imported flow always arrives as a **draft**, whatever the file says, so you review it
before it answers anybody.