Creating Blueprints
A blueprint is a reusable design for a repeatable process. You build it in a visual editor: drag steps onto a canvas, connect them in the order they should happen, and set who does what.
Once a blueprint is published, you can start it as many times as you need — and every run creates the right tasks for the right people automatically.
Before You Start
:::info Who can create blueprints By default, creating blueprints is open to Admins, Executives and department managers. Your organization can also give it to other people through a custom role — see Roles & Permissions.
Editing is tied to the blueprint's owner department: a department manager can change only the blueprints owned by a department they manage. Any other blueprint opens in Read-only mode — you can look at the design but not change it. See Who can use blueprints. :::
:::caution Use a computer The blueprint editor needs a desktop browser. On a phone, the editor shows a Desktop Required message instead of the canvas, because designing a process needs precise mouse control and a larger screen. :::
Create a Blueprint
- Go to Blueprints in the sidebar.
- Click New Blueprint (top right).
- Fill in the details:
| Field | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | Up to 200 characters. Example: Employee Onboarding |
| Description | No | What the process is for. Up to 5000 characters. |
| Owner department | Yes | Which department owns this blueprint. Admins and Executives can choose any department; department managers see only the ones they manage. If the list is empty you see "No department available. Contact an administrator." |
- Click Create & Edit.
The editor opens with a Start and an End step already placed for you. Everything you add goes between them.
The Editor Toolbar
The bar across the top of the editor holds everything you need while designing.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Back | Returns to the Blueprints list. If you have unsaved work, you're asked "You have unsaved changes. Discard and go back?" — choose Discard or Cancel. |
| Blueprint name and status | Shows the blueprint you're editing and whether it's Draft, Published, or Archived. |
| Undo / Redo (arrow icons) | Steps backward or forward through your recent changes. |
| Import | Replaces the current design with one from a file. |
| Export | Downloads the current design as a file. |
| Save | Saves your design. |
| Publish / Unpublish | Makes the blueprint launchable, or returns it to Draft. |
| Start | Opens the launch panel so you can run the process. Only available once published, and only shown if you're allowed to start processes from this blueprint. |
When the editor is read-only
If you aren't allowed to edit the blueprint, the toolbar shows a Read-only badge with the reason next to it:
| Reason shown | What it means |
|---|---|
| "Owned by a department you don’t manage" | Another department owns this blueprint |
| "This blueprint has no owner department" | Nobody owns it yet — an Admin or Executive can set an owner from Edit details on the template card |
In read-only mode:
- Back, the name and status, and Export stay available.
- Save and Publish / Unpublish are visible but disabled; hover over them to see the reason.
- Undo, Redo, Import and the step palette are hidden, and clicking a step does not open its settings.
- Start is shown only if you're allowed to start processes from this blueprint.
Publish can also be disabled on a blueprint you can edit: "You don’t have permission to change the publish status" means publishing is not part of your role, and "Restore this blueprint first" means the blueprint is archived.
The Step Palette
The palette on the left holds every step you can add, grouped by purpose.
| Group | Steps |
|---|---|
| FLOW | Start, End |
| TASKS | Task, Approval |
| CONTROL | Sequential, Parallel |
| ADVANCED | Race, Approval Gate, If/Else, Loop, Timer, Auto-Assign, Webhook |
Each one behaves differently — some create a task for a person, others just control the order things happen in. See Step Types for what each step does and how to configure it.
Adding Steps
Drag a step from the palette and drop it anywhere on the canvas. A new step starts with its type as its title — for example Task — so open it and give it a title that says what has to be done.
:::note One Start, one End A blueprint can only have a single Start and a single End. If you drop a second one, the editor tells you — for example "A Start step already exists". Start and End also can't be deleted or copied, and they have no settings to open — they're the fixed entry and exit of your process. :::
Connecting Steps
Connections tell Arketic what happens next.
- Drag from the point at the bottom of one step to the point at the top of the next step.
- Click a connection to select it, then click the red × on it to remove it.
Some steps have more than one way out, and each output is labelled:
| Step | Outputs |
|---|---|
| If/Else | Yes (on the right) and No (on the left) — the process follows one branch or the other. |
| Loop | Loop (bottom) runs the repeated part, Exit (right) continues once the loop is finished. |
Moving Around the Canvas
Large processes quickly grow beyond one screen. These controls let you move around comfortably.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Zoom in / out | Hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel, or pinch with two fingers on a trackpad. |
| Pan (move the view) | Scroll the mouse wheel or swipe with two fingers on a trackpad — it moves in any direction. You can also drag with the middle or right mouse button, or hold Ctrl and drag with the left button on empty canvas. |
| Select several steps at once | Drag with the left mouse button on empty canvas to draw a selection box around them, or hold Ctrl/Cmd and click the steps one by one. |
| Overview map | A small map of the whole design sits in the bottom-right corner, so you always know where you are. |
| Zoom buttons | The bottom-left corner has zoom in, zoom out, fit-to-screen, and lock buttons. |
Plain scrolling moves the canvas — it doesn't zoom. Add Ctrl when you actually want to zoom. If you get lost, use the fit-to-screen button in the bottom-left corner to bring the whole design back into view.
If you're viewing a blueprint in Read-only mode, you can simply drag with the left mouse button to move the view around.
Keyboard Shortcuts
These work while you're editing a blueprint.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl/Cmd + A | Select all steps |
| Ctrl/Cmd + click | Add a step to the selection |
| Ctrl/Cmd + C | Copy the selected steps (Start and End are never copied) |
| Ctrl/Cmd + V | Paste the copied steps — they appear slightly offset and become the new selection |
| Ctrl/Cmd + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z or Ctrl/Cmd + Y | Redo |
| Delete or Backspace | Delete the selected steps and connections (Start and End are protected) |
| Arrow keys | Nudge the selected step — and yes, this can be undone too |
Copy and paste is the fastest way to build a repetitive process. Configure one step exactly how you want it, then paste it as many times as you need and just change the titles.
Configuring a Step
Click any step on the canvas — other than Start and End — to open its settings panel. The panel header shows which type of step you're editing.
Steps that create work for a person — Task, Approval, Race, and Approval Gate — share the same core settings.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Title | The name of the step. This becomes the title of the task the step creates. |
| Description | Optional instructions for whoever receives the task. |
| Department | Which department the task belongs to. The first option, Inherit from blueprint, uses the department set on the blueprint itself. |
| Departments (Race — one or more) | Shown on Race steps instead of Department. A Race step can cover more than one department. Add them with + Add department...; leave it empty to inherit from the blueprint. |
| Priority | Low, Medium, High, or Critical. Medium by default. |
| Dynamic assignee (self-serve) | Decides the assignee automatically when the process starts. See the table below. |
| Time Limit (hours) | An optional deadline for the task. Leave it empty for no limit. |
| Done Conditions | What the assignee must provide before the task counts as finished. Add them with + Add. With none set, the task can simply be marked complete. See Step Types and Completion Conditions. |
| Form Template (optional) | Optionally fill the step's conditions from a saved form. Choose — No template — for none. Not available on Approval Gate steps. |
| Attached Files (optional) | Reference files that get copied into every task this step creates. |
| Visibility | Lets chosen departments or people read the created task and add comments or files, without being able to edit it. |
Below these, each step type adds its own fields — the If/Else decision question, branch labels and revision limit, the Timer and Approval Gate timeouts, the Loop iteration limit, the Auto-Assign position, and the Webhook address and headers. These are covered in Step Types.
The panel has two buttons at the bottom: Save to keep your changes, and Delete Step to remove the step entirely.
Save in the panel keeps the step's settings in the design on your screen. The design itself is stored only when you click Save in the toolbar.
Dynamic Assignees
Normally you pick a person for each step when you launch the process. A dynamic assignee decides that for you instead, based on who started the run — which is what makes a blueprint reusable by anyone.
| Option | Who gets the task |
|---|---|
| None (assign a fixed person at launch) | Nobody is chosen in advance — you pick a person each time you start the process. |
| Whoever starts the process | The person who launched the run. |
| Starter’s department manager | The manager of the department that person belongs to. |
| General Manager (pick an executive) | A specific Executive you choose here. Selecting this reveals a Select executive… list so you can name them. If nobody has the Executive role yet, you see "No executives found — set a user’s role to Executive first." |
Dynamic assignees are what let a process be opened up to your whole team. If every task step resolves automatically, anyone can launch the process themselves from Start a Process without a manager assigning people first.
Attached Files
Use Upload file to attach reference material — a policy document, a checklist, a template — to a step. Every task the step creates gets its own read-only copy. Assignees can view and download these files but cannot delete them.
Each file can be up to 50 MB. An uploaded file becomes part of the step only after you click Save in the panel, and part of the blueprint only after you save the blueprint.
Uploading files is a permission of its own. If your role doesn't include it, the Upload file button is not shown — you still see the files that are already attached.
Saving and Publishing
A blueprint moves through three states: Draft while you design it, Published once it can be run, and Archived when you no longer need it in the main list.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Save | Saves your design. The button reads Save* when you have unsaved changes, Saving... while it works, and Saved when everything is stored. It's disabled when there's nothing new to save. |
| Publish | Turns a Draft into a Published blueprint so it can be launched. |
| Unpublish | Returns a Published blueprint to Draft. |
| Archive | On the Templates list, hides the blueprint from the main view. You're asked to confirm first. A blueprint with processes still running can't be archived. |
| Restore | On an archived blueprint's card, brings it back — you choose Restore as Draft or Restore as Published. |
:::caution Save before you publish You can't publish while you have unsaved changes — you'll see "Save your changes before publishing". Arketic also warns you if you try to go back, navigate away, or close the browser tab with unsaved work. :::
What publishing checks
When you click Publish, Arketic checks that the design can actually run. If something is missing, the blueprint stays a Draft and a message tells you what to fix:
- The design has a Start and an End step.
- Every If/Else step has been set up — open it and click Save at least once — and has both its Yes and its No output connected.
- Every Loop step is connected: the last step of the repeated part leads back into the Loop step, and the Exit output leads to the next step.
- Every form template chosen on a step still exists. If one has been archived since, remove it from the step or choose another.
Test a new blueprint with a small group before rolling it out to everyone. Unpublish it while you make corrections, then publish again.
Import and Export
You can move a blueprint design between workspaces or keep a copy as a backup.
Export
Click Export to download the current design as a file.
- Save the blueprint first. With unsaved changes, nothing is downloaded and you see "Save first — unsaved changes are not exported".
- Department and assignee choices are removed from the exported file. That makes it safe to share and reuse somewhere else, where those people and departments may not exist.
Import
Click Import to open the Import Blueprint window.
- Drag a previously exported file onto the window, or click to browse for it. Only exported blueprint files (
.json) are accepted. - Check the preview — it shows the name, description, and how many steps and connections the file contains.
- Click Replace Current Workflow to apply it.
:::caution What importing changes Importing replaces your current design. Because departments and assignees are stripped out during export, you'll need to set those again on the imported steps.
Nothing is stored until you click Save, so if you change your mind you can leave without saving and your original design stays untouched. :::
Tips for a Good Blueprint
- Start small. Get a simple path from Start to End working, publish it, run it once, then add branches and conditions.
- Name steps the way you'd name a task. The step title becomes the task title, so "Prepare the welcome pack" reads far better in someone's task list than "Step 3".
- Set time limits on steps that shouldn't sit idle, so nothing stalls silently.
- Use done conditions when you need proof of completion — a signed file, an amount, a date — rather than trusting a checkbox.
- Use dynamic assignees for any process that different people might start.
- Save often. Undo is there, but a saved design is the one you can always come back to.
Related Pages
- Blueprints Overview — how blueprints and processes fit together
- Step Types — what every step does and its own settings
- Running Blueprints — launching processes and tracking progress
- Start a Process — letting your team launch processes themselves
- Completion Conditions — the requirements you can put on a task
- Form Templates — reusable sets of task fields