Canvas and nodes

The canvas is the central area of the Designer where the automation flow is built. Activities are represented as nodes stacked from top to bottom: the visual order is the order of execution.

Activity node

Each node displays the package icon, the visible title of the activity, its technical tipo, the configured parameters, and — if the activity produces a result — the output variable.

Open Browser browser-open

• browser = chrome
• url = = empresa.url
• headless = false

→ page

Expressions (values starting with =) are rendered highlighted in blue to distinguish them from literal values — the Designer evaluates them at runtime against playbook variables.

Parameter preview on the canvas

Each node shows a compact summary line with its key parameters, without opening the Properties panel: expressions are shown without the =, and collections or conditions are summarized ({3}, [2], age > 50). To see and edit all parameters, select the node and open Properties.

Node with sub-flow (lanes)

Some activities — For Each, If, Try/Catch, While — group other activities within named lanes. Each lane is rendered as an expandable section within the parent node and has its own sequence of activities.

For example, a For Each executes its body lane once for each element in a list:

For Each for-each

• collection = = items
• iterator = item

An If has two lanes — then and else. A Try/Catch has try, catch and finally. The order of execution is still from top to bottom within each lane.

Working with lanes

• Collapse each lane: every lane has a chevron and an activity count. You can collapse try, catch or finally independently to focus on what matters and save space.
• Add without dragging: inside each lane —and at the bottom of the root canvas— there is a + Add activity button that opens a searchable picker and inserts the chosen activity.
• Drop a playbook: drag a playbook from the Project panel onto a lane or the canvas and an Invoke Playbook activity pointing at it is created automatically.
• Active lane: while you drag an activity, the lane you are over highlights (its dashed border turns the accent color) so you know where it will land.

Complete flow

In practice, a playbook combines several activities in sequence. The following example processes an invoice queue: fetches an item, opens the browser, invokes another playbook for each invoice, and marks the item as successful.

Procesar facturas pendientes main

Queue Get Item queue-get-item

• queue = facturas-pendientes

→ item

Open Browser browser-open

• browser = chrome
• url = https://erp.cliente.com
• headless = true

→ page

Invoke Playbook invoke-playbook

• playbook = submit-invoice
• inputs = { item: = item }

Queue Set Transaction Status queue-set-transaction-status

• item = = item
• status = successful

Canvas operations

Action	How to do it
Add activity	Drag from the palette, or double click on the canvas
Select	Click on the node (Ctrl/Shift+click for multi-select)
Move	Drag the node
Cut / Copy / Paste	Ctrl+X / Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V
Duplicate	Ctrl+Shift+D
Enable / Disable	Ctrl+E / Ctrl+D
Delete	Select and press Delete
Undo / Redo	Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y
Zoom	Mouse wheel or buttons in the toolbar
Pan	Middle click + drag, or Space + drag

Context menu (right-click)

Right-click a node to open a menu with the most common actions: Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Enable/Disable and Delete. If you have several nodes selected, the actions apply to the whole selection. A disabled node is skipped at run time.

Order of execution

Activities are executed in order from top to bottom. Within a lane, also from top to bottom. There are no visual connections between nodes — the order is sequential by position, not by arrows.