Node Palette
Palette, category groups, and integration filter.
The node palette is the left-hand sidebar of the workflow editor. It lists every available node type, organized by semantic category, and lets you filter by integration or search by name.
Opening the palette
The palette is always visible in Edit mode. If you switch to Execution mode it collapses. Switch back to Edit to restore it. You can drag the palette's resize handle to give the canvas more room.
Semantic groups
Nodes are organized into eight top-level semantic groups:
| Group | Color | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| Triggers | Emerald | Start-of-workflow events (GitHub push, Linear issue, Linear agent session, etc.) |
| Composition | Fuchsia | Foundational config-source nodes (agent cards, LLM models, kit providers, etc.) |
| Orchestration | Sky | Agent dispatch, invoke, file management, session state |
| Inference | Violet | LLM configuration and inference |
| Flow Control | Orange (accent) | Conditions, gates, parallel fan-out/fan-in, loops |
| Issue Tracking | Blue | Linear and generic issue-tracker nodes |
| SCM | Amber | GitHub PR, branch, file, and GitHub Issues nodes |
| Utilities | Zinc | Text transformation, keyword prefix, and other helpers |
Click a group header to collapse or expand it. The order of groups is fixed and matches the semantic hierarchy above.
Subcategory headings
Within each group, nodes are further grouped by subcategory (e.g., within SCM: Pull Requests, Branches, Files, Issues, Labels, Assignees, Comments). Subcategory headings appear as small dividers between clusters of related nodes.
Recommended-first sorting
Within each group, nodes tagged as recommended float to the top. Remaining nodes sort alphabetically by display name. Recommended nodes reflect the most commonly used starting points for typical workflows.
Searching
Type in the Search field at the top of the palette to filter across all groups simultaneously. The search matches against:
- Node display name
- Node definition ID (e.g.,
linear.issue.assigned) - Node description
- Any declared aliases
Empty the search field to return to the full grouped view.
Integration filter
When your project has multiple integrations connected, you can narrow the palette to show only nodes from a specific provider (Linear, GitHub, Donmai, etc.). Click the provider pill above the search box to toggle it. Active filters are highlighted; click again to clear.
Nodes from providers that are not connected to the current project are shown with a warning indicator. You can still add them to the canvas, but they will fail at runtime until the integration is connected.
Adding nodes to the canvas
Drag a node from the palette and drop it anywhere on the canvas. The node is created at the drop position with a generated ID.
Click a node to add it at a default position (center of the current viewport).
After placing, the Node Config Panel opens automatically so you can configure the node's parameters immediately.
Special palette items
The palette has a collapsible Utility Nodes section below the eight semantic groups. It surfaces structural node types that are not categorized by provider:
| Utility item | What it creates |
|---|---|
| Gate | A gate node (defaults to gate.human_query) for approval / suspension |
| Escalation | An escalation routing node |
| Parallel Group | A fan-out / fan-in pair container |
| Loop | A loop wrapper pre-seeded with an empty group body |
| Sub-workflow | A sub-workflow reference node |
| Group | An empty group container for sub-graph composition |
| Annotation | A canvas-only text label (no runtime behavior) |
Group container
The Group button creates a new empty group container at the current scope. Groups have a typed I/O interface and can be composed from other nodes by dragging them inside. See Groups for full details.
Loop wrapper
The Loop button creates a loop container pre-seeded with a fresh empty group body. You can also drag it onto an existing group to wrap that group's body in a loop. Set maxIterations, delayBetween, and breakCondition in the loop's config panel. See Loop Executor for iteration semantics.
Input / Output ports (group-draft mode)
When editing a group bundle in group-draft mode, an additional Ports section appears in the palette below the search bar. The Input port and Output port buttons add boundary pseudo-nodes to the group's public interface, which you can then type and wire.
Node preview popover
Hover over a node in the palette to see a preview popover showing:
- Full description
- Input and output port names with their types
- The provider that owns the node
- Any deprecation notice
This lets you evaluate a node before placing it on the canvas.
Deprecated nodes
Deprecated node types appear in the palette with a strikethrough style and a deprecation badge. They are still placeable for backward compatibility with existing workflows, but the palette surfaces a hint recommending a replacement.
Building a workflow from the palette
Here is a concrete walkthrough for building a simple "assign issue → dispatch agent" workflow using only the palette and canvas.
Open your project's Workflows page and click New workflow. The editor opens with an empty canvas in Edit mode.
In the palette search box, type linear agent session. Find Linear: Agent session created under the Triggers group and drag it onto the canvas. This is your entry point.
From the Composition group, drag an Agent Definition node onto the canvas below the trigger. This node acts as the configuration source for the agent you will dispatch.
In the Agent Definition config panel, use the Agent card picker to select the agent card that should run. Set any inline overrides (system prompt prefix, max tokens, etc.).
From the Orchestration group, drag an Agent Dispatch node onto the canvas. Wire the trigger's output port to the Agent Dispatch input, and wire the Agent Definition node to the Dispatch's foundational input port.
From the Issue Tracking group, drag a Linear: AgentSession close action after the Dispatch node. Wire the Dispatch's output to the close node so the Linear AgentSession is closed when the agent finishes.
Click Publish in the workflow controls to promote the draft. The Run button becomes active and the workflow is now live.
Related pages
- Canvas - canvas navigation and controls
- Node Config Panels - configuring node parameters after placement
- Port Types - how typed ports determine valid connections
- Node catalog - Triggers - all 15 trigger node types
- Node catalog - Conditions - all condition node types
- Node catalog - Foundational - config-source nodes
- Groups - sub-workflow composition