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Nodes overview

Eighteen node types. Drop them from the palette, or drag a wire off a handle and pick from the wire-drop menu.

Sources

Section titled “Sources”

Nodes that start a lane.

GlyphNodeRole
✎PromptFree text out · {{param:}} · typed value (text/int/float/bool/json)
❯SessionAn existing provider session — continue it, or extract from it
⎇Subagent runA child run under a session (inert; a handle for wiring)

Prompt has no input handle at all.

Artifacts

Section titled “Artifacts”

Files and session slices pushed onto the text lane.

GlyphNodeRole
✦SkillInjects a SKILL.md
§RulesInjects CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / .cursorrules / .cursor/rules/*
≡Context · distilled summaryAI-condensed brief of a session
❝Context · transcript excerptFiltered raw conversation
▤Context · filesManifest of files the session touched

Skill and rules nodes are pure sources. The three context glyphs are one node type in three kinds.

Transforms

Section titled “Transforms”
GlyphNodeRole
⟨/⟩AgentRuns a provider CLI agent; emits its reply and its session
⇄Text → PromptWraps inbound text in a {{input}} template
◷DelayWall-clock pause on the text lane (no agent) — 1 in · 1 out; good for detached-job demos
⌁CustomYour own node from ~/.config/threadle/nodes — text in, text out · named ports + maxConnections

Custom node manifests may override the ⌁ glyph and declare named typed ports.

Control flow

Section titled “Control flow”
GlyphNodeRole
∀IteratorSplits text into items; the downstream agent runs once per item
⋈KnotExplicit fan-in — concat / first / majority / synthesize
‡TripwireCircuit breaker — abort / skip / park
✓ApprovalHuman gate; edit the text (splice) and continue
⇄Live handoffChat with an agent until Ready, then distill or excerpt and continue

Sinks

Section titled “Sinks”
GlyphNodeRole
⇤OutputCaptures result text · render auto/text/markdown/html/svg · resizable

Output also re-emits its text, so sinks can chain.

Layout

Section titled “Layout”
GlyphNodeRole
▦Group frameVisual frame; links to a saved sub-workflow when extracted
✎NoteSticky annotation

Executes vs inert

Section titled “Executes vs inert”

The runner skips note, group and subagent-run outright — they never have a status beyond idle. A linked group frame is still inert itself, but its wires resolve onto its member nodes before the run.

Everything else executes. Two per-node overrides change that:

OverrideEffect
muteSkipped entirely; downstream nodes starve and are skipped too
bypassInbound text passes straight through without executing

Per-node retry (0–10 extra attempts, with backoff) and continue-on-error control what a failure does to the run.

Which nodes require input

Section titled “Which nodes require input”

These are flagged before a run if nothing is wired in: output, Text → Prompt, Delay, approval, iterator, knot, tripwire, agent, custom (plus each required named port on a custom node).

Other readiness rules:

NodeNeeds
Agenta model set in the inspector (required for detached runs)
Live handoffan agent on the node, or an inbound session
Contexta materialized payload, or a wired session source
Skill / Rulesa picked artifact

All of it surfaces continuously in loose ends.

Lanes

Section titled “Lanes”

Edges carry text, session or context, and the canvas colors them accordingly. Invalid node pairs are refused at connect time, as are mismatched value types — a source type must equal the target type, widen int → float, or feed a text target. Handles also have a connection capacity (e.g. Delay is 1 in · 1 out; Knot is multi-in · 1 out; custom named ports default to 1 — see Params & named ports).

A few text-looking pairs are forbidden on purpose: prompt → output, skill → output, rules → output, context → output. Output is for results; convert or run through an agent first.

Detail pages

Section titled “Detail pages”