---
title: Overview
path: overview
status: published
---

# Overview

**ScaiFlow is a visual designer that compiles flowcharts into deployable ScaiCore agents.**

You draw a graph of nodes — entry points, LLM blocks, tool calls, decisions, loops, human-in-the-loop reviews, sandboxed compute steps — and ScaiFlow emits the YAML (or SCIR binary) that [ScaiGrid](/docs/scaigrid) accepts to create and run a Core. The output is a portable, self-contained runtime; ScaiFlow itself is a design-time tool with no runtime dependency on the produced agent.

## Who it's for

- **Product builders** who want a no-code path to assemble agents that solve a specific business problem (intent classification, expense approval, customer support triage, RAG-based Q&A).
- **Engineers** who'd rather author flows visually and let the compiler keep them in sync with the underlying [ScaiCore](/docs/scaicore) language than write the code by hand.
- **Platform teams** integrating ScaiFlow into a tenant — managing access via [ScaiKey](/docs/scaikey) groups, provisioning ScaiGrid credentials, monitoring deploys.

## What you can do

- Draw flows that combine deterministic logic (`@rigid`), constrained LLM calls (`@guarded`), and goal-driven LLM reasoning (`@flexible`) — the three-tier "rigidity spectrum".
- Put **humans in the loop** at any decision point via `@checkpoint` blocks backed by [ScaiQueue](/docs/scaigrid#scaiqueue) review surfaces.
- Run sandboxed code in [ScaiBunker](/docs/scaigrid#scaibunker) compute environments — provision, exec, file upload/download, destroy.
- Compose flows from sub-flows via core-to-core calls.
- Publish a flow as a **chat model** that any OpenAI-compatible client can reach at `/v1/chat/completions`.
- Manage a per-tenant **catalog** of published flow packages (`.scaipkg`) — install, version, share.
- Watch live executions, set runtime breakpoints, replay invocations from captured inputs.

## What ScaiFlow is not

- Not a runtime. The compiled YAML/SCIR runs on ScaiGrid; ScaiFlow doesn't intercept invocations.
- Not a low-code app builder. The output is an agent (asynchronous, event-driven, LLM-powered), not a CRUD frontend.
- Not a code transpiler of last resort. Every node maps to a real ScaiCore construct — if a feature isn't in ScaiCore yet, ScaiFlow doesn't pretend it is.

## Where to next

- **[Quickstart](./quickstart)** — design and deploy an Echo agent in five minutes.
- **[Concepts](./concepts)** — the mental model behind flows, nodes, rigidity, and compilation targets.
- **[Tutorials](./tutorials)** — end-to-end recipes for common patterns (HITL, RAG, multi-model).
- **[Reference](./reference)** — CLI, REST API, flow schema, every node kind, every configuration knob.
- **[Troubleshooting](./troubleshooting)** — common symptoms with diagnoses.