Get started with the Flow Editor

Use the Flow Editor to arrange strategy logic as nodes connected on a canvas. This page explains the decisions and workspace areas you will meet first.

Prerequisites

You can read these docs without an account. To follow the product steps, sign in to a Screebits account with Flow Editor access and permission to create or edit a strategy. Modes, starting points, and nodes can vary by plan and account availability.

Before you create a strategy

Choose the mode carefully:

• Tactical strategies respond to market events and can evaluate signals, submit orders, monitor positions, or send alerts.
• Portfolio strategies run primarily on a schedule, can include a bounded auxiliary safety guard, and work with universes, rankings, weights, constraints, and rebalancing.

The mode cannot be changed after creation. If you choose the wrong mode, create another strategy in the correct mode.

Availability can depend on your plan. A locked choice is not a validation error.

Create from a starting point

The creation flow asks for a mode, a name and optional description, then a starting point:

• Blank strategy creates the smallest editable graph for the selected mode.
• Starters contains guided, editable examples available to your account.

Follow Create a strategy for the complete flow.

Know the workspace

• The toolbar contains Save strategy, Save checkpoint, Undo, Redo, Auto-layout, Preferences, editor commands, and Backtest actions when available.
• The palette lists nodes you can add in the current mode.
• The canvas holds nodes and control or data connections.
• The Inspector configures the selection and shows Parameters, Outcomes, and Data Ports.
• The validation area reports problems that prevent a ready graph.
• Variables is available from its workspace control. Open Preferences, then choose Settings, for strategy settings.

On compact screens, workspace panels open over the canvas and only one panel stays open at a time.

Try it here

Read the graph

Explore the two paths in the RSI example: control and data.

Exercise steps

1. Follow Event Trigger → Condition → Alert to identify the control path.
2. Follow Data Source → Indicator → Condition for data. Select a node to inspect its properties.

Start lesson

Read one graph from left to right

The RSI Starter gives you a concrete way to read the canvas. Event Trigger → Condition → Alert is the control route: a closed bar starts an evaluation, Condition chooses Match or No Match, and Alert runs only from the connected Match outcome. Data Source → Indicator → Condition is a separate data route: bars feed RSI(14), and its numeric value fills Condition's Left input. A data connection does not activate a node by itself.

This starter has no Order node. A matching alert is therefore not a trade, and saving the graph does not start it. Follow the complete five-node exercise before adding your own branch.

Save and verify

Changes become dirty before they are stored. You can choose Save strategy or press Ctrl+S on Windows and Linux or Command+S on macOS. Autosave also runs while editing. Offline, error, and conflict states need your attention.

After saving, return to the strategy list and reopen the strategy to confirm that your latest graph is available.

If the toolbar shows offline, error, or conflict, the latest local edit is not yet a confirmed saved version. Keep the editor open and follow save and conflict recovery. A green validation result and a saved version answer different questions: validation checks the graph, while save confirms persistence.

Next step

Build the RSI Momentum Alert to practice both control and data connections.