Creating a Flow

This guide walks you through creating a new Flow in FormWise. In just a few steps, you will have a workspace ready to start building your AI-powered application.

[Screenshot: The Create New Flow dialog with a name field.]

How to create a new Flow

1. Open Flows from the sidebar on the left (under Assets).
2. Click the New button in the top-right corner, then pick Flow.
3. Enter a name for your Flow. Pick something descriptive so you can find it later (for example, "Blog Post Generator" or "Customer Support Bot").
4. Click Continue. Your new Flow opens directly to the Design tab, where you can start building.

You can add a description later on the Publish & Share tab.

To create an Agent instead of a Flow, pick Agent from the same New menu. See Agents.

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Picking a Flow style

FormWise Flows come in two styles. You do not pick one in the create dialog: the style follows from what you build. Add form questions to the Start node and your Flow runs as a Form; leave the questions empty and it runs as a Chatbot. You can also set the default View Type (Chat View or Form View) on the Publish & Share tab.

Form

Your users fill out a structured form and receive an AI-generated result when they submit.

• When to use it - The user provides a well-defined set of inputs and gets a single output back. Great for generators, analyzers, calculators, and one-shot transforms.
• What the builder looks like - Questions in the Start node's Questions slot, and a Workflow Builder for the logic that runs on submit.
• Learn more - Form Builder, Workflow Builder.

Chatbot

Your users have an ongoing conversation with the AI - multi-turn, with memory of the chat history.

• When to use it - Support bots, assistants, Q&A over a knowledge base, anything where back-and-forth matters.
• What the builder looks like - A Workflow Builder that runs on every message. Every node can read the user's message as {{workflow.user_message}}, and Agent nodes can include the conversation history.
• Optional capabilities - Voice mode for hands-free use, artifacts for generated documents and images, and chat attachments so users can upload files mid-conversation. Artifacts are switched on in the Agent node - see Configuring Agent Nodes.

Not sure which to pick? Start with a Chatbot. It is the most flexible, and you can add form questions later to turn it into a Form.

Looking for a persona-driven agent instead of a workflow? See Agents - Agents have their own guided builder, separate from Flows.

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After you create the Flow

Once your Flow opens in the editor, a few quick things to do before you start designing:

• Set the description and category on the Publish & Share tab so it is easy to find later.
• Decide how to share it from the Publish & Share tab. Publish a version first, then use Share for a link or embed code. See Deploying.
• Open the Design tab and either start building from scratch or use the Ask Assistant to scaffold a first draft from a plain-language description. See Workflow Builder.

Organizing your Flows

As you build more Flows, keeping them organized becomes important. FormWise gives you several ways to stay on top of things:

• Categories - Assign a category from a Flow card's ··· menu (Category), or create a new one there. Then use the category pills to filter the list.
• Suites - Add a Flow to a Suite from the same menu (Add to Suite).
• Search and filter - Use the search bar at the top of the Assets page to find any Flow by name. You can also switch between Flows, Agents, and Suites, or filter by category.

Duplicating an existing Flow

If you want to create a Flow that is similar to one you already built, you do not have to start from scratch:

1. Go to the Flows page.
2. Find the Flow you want to copy.
3. Hover the Flow card and click its ··· menu.
4. Select Duplicate.
5. A copy of the Flow is created with all its workflow logic, form fields, and settings intact. You can rename it and make changes from there.

Duplicating is a great way to create variations of a Flow - for example, building a content generator for different audiences or languages.

What's next

Now that your Flow is created, it is time to build out the logic:

• Workflow Builder - learn how the visual editor works.
• Configuring Agent Nodes - the most important node in any workflow.
• Form Builder - design the input form for a Form Flow.
• Agents - the guided builder for persona-driven agents.
• Testing and Quality - try your Flow out before you ship it.