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Projects and workflow files

EdgeWeave keeps your work in projects. A project is a folder holding your workflows, your data, your own nodes and, optionally, its own Python environment.

Where projects live​

Projects are stored in your user data folder, not in the EdgeWeave install folder, so updating or reinstalling EdgeWeave never touches them:

WhatWhere (Windows)
Projects%APPDATA%\EdgeWeave\projects

The app comes with a demo_project full of examples. Use the project picker at the left of the toolbar to switch projects, and + (New Project) to create one. Switching is instant: the new project's own nodes are loaded and the old project's are unloaded, with no restart.

What is in a project​

my_project/
  project.json          name and creation date
  modules/
    user_blocks/        your own nodes (Python files, reloaded when saved)
    core_blocks/        further nodes for this project, loaded the same way
  venv/                 the project's Python environment (see below)
  *.weave               workflows, in any folders you like
  sample_data/ ...      whatever data the workflows read

New projects also get a .gitignore that leaves out venv/ and Python caches, so the folder is ready to put under Git. You can also open any project file (workflows, Python, JSON, Markdown) in the Code Editor and use its Git panel (tutorial).

Workflow files (.weave)​

A workflow is saved as a .weave file. It is plain, readable JSON that records every node, its field values and its connections, so it works well with Git and diffs.

  • Save writes the current tab to a .weave file you choose.
  • Auto-save: once a workflow has been saved or opened from a file, EdgeWeave saves your changes back to that same file about once a minute, and when you switch away from the app. A tab is only ever written to its own file.
  • Open loads a .weave file into a new tab. You can also click a file in the Files tab beside the Library to open it.
  • Each open workflow is a tab. New Module adds an empty one, and one project can have as many workflows as you like.
  • Clear empties the current canvas.

A node's field values travel with the file, so avoid typing secrets such as passwords into node fields in a workflow you will share. They are not exported to Python scripts or dashboards, but they are part of the .weave file itself.

Reusing workflows​

One .weave file can be called from another as a subsystem, which is the way to build large systems from small, tested pieces. Select part of a graph and use Extract selection to Subsystem to move it into its own file.

Your own nodes​

Python files in a project's modules/user_blocks/ folder add nodes to that project only. Save the file and the node appears, no restart needed. If a node there has the same name as a built-in one, yours replaces it. See Write your own node. To make nodes available in every project, install them as a Marketplace module.