Instant Process

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Getting Started with Instant Process ​

Instant Process is a visual and declarative language for describing and designing processes. Whether you're documenting a business workflow, modeling a software process, or mapping operational procedures, Instant Process provides a simple and intuitive way to express workflows.

This guide will help you get started, from understanding the core concepts to creating your first process graph. Along the way, you'll quickly learn the simple language, supported nodes, and best practices for building clear, maintainable process models.

Key concepts ​

Instant Process lets you define and generate processes.

You describe:

  • Activities: things that happen
  • Events: when and why something happens
  • Gateways: where choices, branching, or routing occur
  • Connections: how everything is linked together
  • Swimming lanes: groups or perspectives that isolate paths

Using these building blocks, you draw a process graph that makes the structure of whatever you are modeling explicit and easier to discuss.

Example graph ​

When you create your first project in Instant Process, you are greeted with a small example:

pml
LANE 'User 1'
START '1. Start' NEXT
ACTIVITY '2. Activity' NEXT
EVENT '3. Event' NEXT
LANE 'User 2'
GATEWAY '4. Gateway' NEXT '2. Activity' 'yes' AND '5. End' 'no'
END '5. End'

This snippet shows the essential pieces of the language:

  • START, ACTIVITY, EVENT, GATEWAY, and END are node types. They declare what you want to draw.
  • Each node is followed by a label like '1. Start' or '4. Gateway' that identifies and describes it.
  • LANE groups the nodes that follow it into a swimlane, here 'User 1' and 'User 2'.
  • The NEXT keyword indicates a connection from one node to the next. It declares where to go next.
  • In the GATEWAY '4. Gateway' line, explicit NEXT targets are supplied.

On the right side of the editor, Instant Process renders the generated graph for this definition, so you can immediately see how the note you write turns into nodes and edges.

From here, you can rename labels, add or remove nodes, or change the options in the gateway to match the process you have in mind. The core pattern stays the same: choose a node type, give it a label, and use NEXT to express how the flow should continue.

Next steps ​

  • Example graph: start from the example graph above and reshape it into a process you care about.
  • Follow the tutorial: build a complete process graph step by step in the Tutorial.
  • Read the documentation: every node type, connection, and lane is described in the Documentation.
  • Explore other functionality: exports, sharing, and the rest live in Features & Integrations.