Canvas tools
Two things you place on the canvas that are not nodes. They document and organize a pipeline, and neither one reads or writes data.
Note
Pin a free-text note to the canvas to document a pipeline.
What it does
Pins a free-text note to the canvas so you can explain what a pipeline, or one section of it, is doing. It is purely visual: no inputs, no outputs, it never runs and it never reaches the engine. Resize it by its corners, give it a color, and edit the text in place by double-clicking it.
When to use it
- Explain a tricky transformation for the next person, or for future you
- Label a stage of the pipeline, or leave a TODO
- Add a title and a short description to a finished workflow
Examples
Section label
“Nightly sales load. Do not edit without asking Ops.”
Double-click the note to edit it inline.
Explain a decision
“Filtering to paid only; refunds are handled by the returns pipeline.”
The question the next reader would otherwise have to ask you.
Color-code
Color: amber
Match a note's color to the section it documents so the pairing reads at a glance.
Tips
- Double-click a note to edit it inline; drag a corner to resize it.
- Notes never run and never appear in run results; they are stripped before the pipeline reaches the engine.
- Moving a note counts as a change to the pipeline, so it will ask you to save before you leave.
- Use a Container instead when you want to group nodes and be able to switch the whole group off; a Note only labels.
Container
Group nodes, and switch a whole section off without breaking the flow.
What it does
Groups nodes inside a resizable box so a busy canvas stays organized, and lets you switch the whole group off with one toggle. Drop nodes onto the container to make them members; move the container and its members move with it. Disabling it skips every node inside WITHOUT breaking the flow: the data passes straight from whatever fed the section into whatever the section fed, so the rest of the pipeline runs exactly as before.
When to use it
- Visually segment a large workflow into stages
- Skip a whole section to compare results with and without it
- Take a broken or slow stage out of the way without unwiring it
- Keep related nodes together so they move as one
Examples
Group a stage
Drop the Formula → Sort → Unique nodes onto the container
They become members and move in sync.
Skip a section
Toggle the header switch off
The members gray out and a dashed line shows the path the data now takes.
Group what's already there
Drop a container around a finished chain
Any free node whose center lands inside becomes a member.
Tips
- Disabling is a clean way to A/B part of a pipeline: nothing is deleted or unwired.
- A skipped section passes its FIRST input through to whatever its output fed. A skipped Join passes its Left table on; its Right input is dropped.
- If a skipped section's data leaves from more than one anchor (a Filter wired on both True and False, say), there's no single path to pass through, so the run reports the downstream input as unconnected.
- A source can't be skipped through: there's nothing upstream of it to pass along, so anything it fed reports an unconnected input.
- Deleting a container keeps its member nodes; they're just released back onto the canvas.
- Containers are organizational only; they never run and never reach the engine themselves.