01 · the problem
Seeing the problem.
Automations are easier to understand as a picture, but the canvas has to feel instant while every change saves safely.
The story · 4 chapters
02 · the build
What I built.
- Drag-and-drop canvas with editable nodes and edges
- Workflow list with create, rename and delete
- Validation for cycles and orphan nodes
- Templates, keyboard shortcuts and JSON export and import
4
node types: email, webhook, delay and condition
5
REST endpoints for full workflow management
200 ms
settle window that separates canvas noise from real edits
03 · under the hood
Making it work.
Safe auto-save. Stale saves are cancelled, and unchanged workflows are never saved again.
No stale closures. Async callbacks always read the current workflow, and canvas layout noise is ignored.
Lean API. Partial updates write only what changed, and every request is validated with Zod.
04 · the result
Succeeding.
Next up: undo and redo, blocking invalid connections, retrying failed saves and per-user workspaces.