See the proposal as a diagram before you accept it

What you see

The moment a proposal for the open process arrives, the flow pane stops drawing the saved text and draws the proposed text instead. A dark banner at the top of the diagram reads “Previewing suggested change — green steps are new or moved”, with Apply and Discard right there. Nodes that would be added carry a green glow. The editor on the left is untouched; it still shows the document as it is, and the chat entry says “previewing in the diagram →”.

How Runic decides what is new

Runic diffs the current text against the proposed text line by line. Every added line becomes a green node. A step that moved shows up as a removal plus an addition in a line diff, so it glows too — that is why the banner says “new or moved”. Removed steps are absent from the preview; the chat diff lists them in red.

Only the newest pending proposal for this process previews, and only while its base text still equals the document. Discard it and the next-newest matching proposal, if any, takes its place.

Hover keeps working

During a preview the two panes deliberately show different documents, so Runic keeps a line map between them. Hover a node in the preview and the editor scrolls to the line it corresponds to, when that line exists in the current document. Hover a line in the editor and the matching preview node lights up. Judging a change is exactly when you want that link, so it is not switched off.

What pauses while previewing

Because the diagram is not the saved document, a few diagram interactions are off until you decide: rubber-band selection on the canvas, the export menu, the icon picker on a step, and click-to-jump on .go and .do nodes; custom icons you picked for steps show as their defaults. Layout toggles still apply — Flow direction, Compact cards, Branch alignment and Tight packing render the preview the same way they render the real flow. Apply or Discard, and everything comes back.

Limits

The preview exists for processes, not sequence diagrams. Any edit to the document while a proposal is pending ends the preview, because the proposal can no longer be applied safely; the chat marks it “document changed”, and undoing the edit brings the preview back. Applying types the change in from the first line that differs, so the flow redraws node by node rather than snapping.

How to use it

1. 1
   Ask for a change

   In the chat, describe what should change in the open process and press Enter.
2. 2
   Look at the flow pane

   When the proposal arrives, the diagram switches to the proposed document. The banner “Previewing suggested change — green steps are new or moved” sits at the top.
3. 3
   Inspect the green nodes

   Hover any node to jump the editor to its line in the current text; green nodes are the ones the proposal adds or moves.
4. 4
   Decide on the diagram

   Click Apply on the banner (or in the chat) to write the change in, or Discard to drop it. The preview ends either way.

Commands & shortcuts

Tips

• Flip the Flow direction toggle while previewing if a left-to-right layout makes the new branch easier to read.
• Do not type in the editor while judging — a single edit ends the preview until you undo it.
• If two proposals are pending, the newest one previews. Discard it to see the older one.
• Removed steps do not show in the diagram. Check the red lines in the chat diff for what goes away.

Questions