How to Change the Direction of a Flow

This guide shows you how to lay a Flow out left to right instead of top to bottom, turn some of its nodes the other way, and choose the direction new Flows start in.

Prerequisites

• Access to a Space where you can edit Flows

Directions

A Flow reads in one of two directions:

A node can have its own direction, which overrides the Flow's for that node's handles. Every other node follows the Flow.

Switch the Whole Flow

1. Open the Flow in the Flow editor.
2. Click the direction button in the top-right corner of the canvas, next to Undo and Redo. Its arrow points down for top to bottom and right for left to right, and its tooltip names the direction it switches to.
3. Click Save (or Save new version for a published version).

Result: The Flow switches direction and every node is mirrored across the diagonal from the top-left corner of the Flow, so a chain that ran down the canvas now runs across it. The top-left corner of the Flow stays where it was. Nodes with their own direction switch too, so they still differ from the Flow.

Rotate Selected Nodes

1. Select the nodes: click one, or drag a selection box around several.
2. Right-click the canvas and choose Rotate selection.
3. Save the Flow.

Result: Each selected node turns to the opposite of the direction it had, and the selection is mirrored across the diagonal from its own top-left corner, so it stays in place. A node turned back to the Flow's direction follows the Flow again.

Both actions are part of the editor history: Undo (⌘ Z / Ctrl Z) reverts them in one step.

Set the Direction for New Flows

1. Open Settings from the main navigation.
2. Under Flow editor, choose Top to bottom or Left to right in Direction for new flows.

Result: Flows you create afterwards, in the Flow editor or with the API or CLI without a direction, start in that direction. Existing Flows keep theirs.