Getting started

New to building software? This page takes you from zero to your first feature, step by step. You don't need to know how to code.

When you first sign in, a Setup guide in the bottom-right corner shows the same steps on every page. Each step ticks itself off when you've done it; open a step for a button that takes you straight there. Minimize it to a small button, or close it; bring it back in Settings → Preferences.

What Flowmaps does

Flowmaps turns a business idea into a working product, together with AI:

1. You describe your idea in your own words.
2. Flowmaps recommends the features your product needs, and puts them on a mind map.
3. You decide what to build first on a board.
4. AI builds it in your project, and explains what it does.
5. You tell your customers with a help article Flowmaps drafts for you.

Step 1: Add your Anthropic API key

Flowmaps uses Claude, an AI made by Anthropic. To use it, you need an API key: a long password that lets Flowmaps use Claude on your behalf. You pay Anthropic directly for what you use.

1. Go to console.anthropic.com and create an account.
2. Create a key and copy it.
3. In Flowmaps, open Settings and paste it under Anthropic API key.

Your key is encrypted and only used for your own requests. More in Settings and your API key.

Step 2: Start your first venture

A venture is one business idea. Click + New venture, describe your idea in a few sentences, and click Recommend features. Pick the ones you want and click Create my mind map.

More in Ventures and mind maps.

Step 3: Get to know your mind map and board

• The mind map is your whiteboard: every feature is a card, and lines show how they connect.
• The board shows the same cards in columns: Idea → Scoped → Ready → In Progress → Shipped.

Some cards get a flag: a warning that the feature touches something risky, like payments or personal data. Read What are flags? before you build those.

Step 4: Build your first feature

1. Open a card and click Generate under Build prompts. These are the instructions for the AI.
2. Drag the card to Ready on the board.
3. Build it with AI, in whichever way suits you:
   • In Claude Code: make a folder for your project, open it in the Code tab of the Claude desktop app (or in VS Code with the Claude Code extension), and ask "Build … from Flowmaps". The setup guide walks you through it, with the sentence ready to copy.
   • From your terminal: type flowmaps and pick the feature.

The AI works on a separate copy of your project, so nothing breaks. When it works, you add it to your project and the card moves to Shipped.

Keep a safe copy online: Save your work on GitHub, by hand or every night by itself.

Step 5: Tell your customers

Open the venture's Knowledge base and click Draft next to the feature you shipped. Check the article and click Publish. More in Knowledge base.

Words you don't know yet?

The Glossary explains every technical word in plain English.

Still stuck?

Email us at flowmapsco@gmail.com. We're happy to help.