01
What WorldbyFlow is
WorldbyFlow is a research tool. You bring a question; it reads current news, public records, and trusted data sources, then hands back a finished, organized report with its evidence marked. This guide walks through the whole app.
The scan
The unit of everything here is the scan: one piece of finished research. You choose a format that fits your question — a timeline, a profile, a comparison, a market read, a risk check — type your subject, and a few minutes later a structured report arrives in your workspace. More than 130 formats share this one simple loop.
Research you can check
What makes WorldbyFlow different is not that it writes well — it is that you can check it. Every report lists the real sources it read, every individual fact carries a grade for how well it is supported, and where sources disagree the report says so rather than quietly picking a side.
Twelve research areas
The same tool runs across twelve research areas — General (the catch-all, and where most people start), plus Policy, Defense, Finance, Tech, Energy, Health, Climate, Sports, Learn, Travel, and Lifestyle. Each area speaks its own language and reads its own trusted sources, so a health question is not answered with a finance reflex. Switch areas any time; your work in each is kept separately.
02
Finding your way around
Five destinations cover the whole app. On a computer they live in the left sidebar; on a phone they are the bottom bar.
Workbench
Your home screen. The timeline shows every scan you have run, newest first, with search and filters to find anything later. Tabs along the top collect your Facts (every established fact across your research), Challenges (standing investigations you grow one scan at a time), Notes, and Portfolio. You can rename, archive, pin, and organize scans right from the timeline.
The scan menu
Where new research starts. On a computer, the sidebar lists every format in named groups — Discover, Explore, Background, Debate, Cases, Analyze, Markets, Act, Investigate, and Tools — with a Start here cluster of the best entry points pinned on top. On a phone, the center Scan button opens the same catalog as a grid.
Advisor
A personal briefing service. Tell the Advisor who you are and what you care about, and it prepares a brief built around your world — useful as a morning read that goes deeper than a headline feed. You can run one whenever you like or set a standing order to have it prepared on a schedule.
Watchboard
Your standing watchlist. Pin signals and open questions from any scan, and check the whole board against fresh coverage on demand. It is covered fully in the Keeping watch chapter.
Studio
Where research becomes a finished product. The Studio plans and writes book-length documents and reports from your scans. It is covered in the Bigger builds chapter.
Guide and Account
The Guide link opens the in-app reference. Account holds your plan, credits, research shared with you by other users, and settings — including Educator Mode, covered later.
03
Running a scan
Three ways to start, one simple loop, and nothing to babysit.
Three ways to choose a format
Browse the catalog and pick the format yourself; or describe what you want to know to the Scan Router in plain English and let it pick for you; or bring a bigger goal to the Scan Planner and get a short sequence of scans that build on each other, each one tap to run.
The form
Every scan asks for a subject — the thing you want researched — and offers a focus field to narrow it: a region, a time period, an angle, an audience. The more precisely you aim it, the sharper the research comes back. Most scans also accept a pasted link to an article as a starting point.
The price, up front
Before anything runs you see a confirmation with the scan’s exact credit price, your balance after, and a time estimate. Nothing ever charges without showing you this first. You can turn the confirmation off once you know the prices by heart.
While it runs
A scan takes a few minutes and finishes on its own — close the tab or leave the screen and it will be waiting in your Workbench when it is done. You can have up to five scans running at once. If one fails, your credits come back automatically.
04
The scan catalog
Every format in the General research area, group by group, with its credit price. Other research areas carry their own selection, sometimes under names that fit their field. A few formats also offer a deeper edition at a higher price, offered where it applies.
Start here
Event Scan2 cr
What's happening and who's affected
Ask2 cr
Get a direct answer to any question
Open Case4 cr
What the record establishes, and what rules each theory out
Entity3 cr
Deep profile of a company or actor
Profile2 cr
Strengths, pros/cons, or roads/barriers for one entity
News Search1 cr
Find and analyze recent coverage
Water Cooler2 cr
Informal takes and counter-narratives
Explore
Innovate3 cr
Grounded ideas for a problem
Scenario3 cr
What happens if this plays out
Uncertainty Map3 cr
What's genuinely unknown — and how to shrink it
Options2 cr
What can be done about it
Compare2 cr
Side-by-side analysis of two things
Landscape2 cr
Map the full competitive environment
Precedents2 cr
Find historical precedents for this situation
Background
Chronology3 cr
How the situation developed over time
Follow the Money2 cr
Who pays, who profits, through what channels
Funding Map3 cr
Who funds this field — programs and awards
Case File3 cr
Lawsuits and rulings — what's actually decided
Budget Anatomy3 cr
A budget line by line — enacted vs proposed
Key Players2 cr
The actors who matter, at a glance
Who's On It3 cr
Who is actually on it, and who decides
How It Works2 cr
How a system or process actually works
Trend Trajectory3 cr
Where a named trend sits on its arc, and where it heads
Early Signals3 cr
Pre-mainstream signals at the edge of a space
Innovation Check3 cr
What an innovation has DEMONSTRATED vs what is claimed
Research Pulse2 cr
What the research layer has actually produced lately
By the Numbers2 cr
The key figures, sourced and dated
Why It Changed3 cr
Why a published number actually moved
Debate
Positions2 cr
Who supports or opposes it, and why
The Arguments2 cr
The case for and against, steelmanned
Myths & Misconceptions2 cr
Common misconceptions, corrected with evidence
Consensus Check2 cr
What consensus expects — and where it's fragile
Poll Check3 cr
What polls show — pollster named, spread kept
Cases
Scene3 cr
Reconstruct one pivotal moment, in the room
Voices3 cr
Real quotes, exactly sourced
Primary Documents3 cr
The record verbatim — filings, rulings, contracts
Case Study2 cr
One real example, worked as a case
Playbook2 cr
The actionable steps, from analysis
Decision Review2 cr
Was the call right, given what was knowable?
Analyze
Person2 cr
Profile a specific individual
Relations2 cr
How entities connect around an event
Relationship2 cr
How two entities relate to each other
Idea Stress-Test3 cr
Your idea vs the record — assumptions graded
Falsification Plan3 cr
The cheapest tests that could kill the hypothesis
Convergence2 cr
Where two forces actually meet, evidenced
Track Record2 cr
Past claims and forecasts vs. what happened
Why They Did It3 cr
Why an actor really made that move
Method Study4 cr
How a named method works in real practice
Options Appraisal4 cr
Your shortlist, scored on your own criteria
Fact Grid4 cr
Your subjects × fields, filled with receipts
Read Grid5 cr
How each player is actually positioned
Document Breakdown5 cr
Decode a document you have, claims checked
Synthesis4 cr
Combine multiple scans into one view
Markets
Market Research5 cr
Size and read any market the record supports
Buyer Research4 cr
Who buys, what they solve for, what they pay
Supply Chain3 cr
What feeds it — mapped, sourced, visibility-tagged
Logistics Read3 cr
How it moves — legs, nodes, and what binds them
Operator Dossier2 cr
Who actually carries, holds, or handles it
Regulatory Map3 cr
Every rule around an activity, status-honest
Deal Flow3 cr
The arena's deal record — parties, terms, patterns
Pricing Read3 cr
What things actually cost — posted and sourced
Partnership Map3 cr
Who is aligned with whom — documented ties only
Act
What You Need2 cr
What you need to hit an objective
Vulnerability Assessment3 cr
Where a competitor is exposed
Risk3 cr
What could go wrong and how likely
Plan4 cr
Action steps with timelines and owners
Opportunity Brief3 cr
One solicitation's documented file, end to end
Sentinel2 cr
Tripwires and signals to watch for
Catalyst Calendar2 cr
The dated events ahead that could move this
Briefing1 cr
Executive summary for decision-makers
Investigate
Inquiry15 cr
Deep research with every claim verified
Tools
Thinking3 cr per framework
Structured frameworks like SWOT, PESTLE
05
Understanding a result
Every report shares one anatomy, so the tenth scan you read feels as familiar as the first.
Sections
The body of a report is short, titled sections, each answering one part of the question. Titles are written to be skimmed — read them top to bottom and you have the shape of the answer.
Sources
The Sources button shows everything the scan actually read — how many sources were consulted, which were cited, and which public records were checked. Every entry is a real link. A link only ever appears if the research genuinely used it.
Facts and their grades
The Facts tab breaks the report into individual claims, each graded by how well it is supported: confirmed against a named outside source, grounded in material the scan actually read, partially supported, contested between sources, or unverified. The grades are assigned by the software from what was actually found — the writing cannot award itself a passing grade.
The sizing badge
Some reports carry a small badge classifying the situation’s size and complexity — a quick read on whether something is routine, needs resources, needs analysis before action, or is genuinely major. It appears only on the formats where that judgment is meaningful.
Open questions and next steps
A good report is honest about what it could not establish. Open questions are listed as open — never dressed up as facts — and most come with a suggested follow-up scan that would help close them.
06
Going deeper on a result
A finished scan is a starting point. The Continue the analysis menu on every report offers follow-up actions, each priced in credits and shown before it runs.
Ask about this scan — 1 credit
Put a direct question to a finished report and get an answer grounded in that research. The fastest way to pull one specific thing out of a long read.
Actionability — 1 credit
Turns a report into what it means for you: give it a perspective — your role, your business, your class — and it reads the research through that lens.
Re-check — 2 credits
Runs the question again later and reports what changed since the original. The right tool for a story that is still moving.
Red Team Review — 1 credit
Has the report argued against: the strongest case that its reading is wrong, and where it leans hardest on thin evidence. Worth running before you act on anything important.
Deep Source Check — 3 credits
The adversarial audit: the report’s facts are re-searched one by one against fresh, independent coverage, and each verdict is shown. This is how a report you are about to stake something on earns its keep.
Check this fact — 1 credit
The same adversarial re-search, for one single fact. Available on any fact in your Facts collection.
Free follow-ons
Some follow-ups cost nothing: Who & what lists every person and organization the report mentions, Signals to watch offers pins for your Watchboard, and My notes keeps your own margin notes attached to the scan.
07
Saving, sharing, and other formats
Research is made to be handed off. Every finished scan carries an export and share menu; here is everything in it.
Save it
Download PDF gives you the full report as a clean document. Copy as Markdown pastes it, formatted, into email and documents. Cite sources exports the report’s references in the formats reference managers and academic tools expect.
Share it
Public link creates a read-only web page anyone can open — no account needed. Share PDF adds a branded cover page and a link you can send. Share with a user sends the scan to another WorldbyFlow account with a message thread attached, so you can discuss the research right on top of it.
Read and listen
Read turns a structured report into a flowing long-form narrative, free on any plan. Listen produces a spoken walkthrough of the scan for 1 credit — research for the commute. Episode goes further for 5 credits: a two-voice podcast-style deep-dive, eight to ten minutes, with the full script.
Visual formats
Visual card renders the scan as a shareable dashboard image, free for subscribers. Summary Deck (2 credits) builds a slide carousel sized for social feeds, caption included. Data cards (2 credits) designs charts and tables from the report’s own figures, each traced to its source. Social and Slideshow PDF exports turn the key points into presentation decks, free.
A note on availability
A few formats are not offered on every scan type — some research shapes have no card or deck to render, and News Search results keep to a shorter list of exports. The menu only ever shows what genuinely works for the scan you are on.
08
Keeping watch
Most research questions do not end — they develop. Two tools keep you current without re-running everything.
The Watchboard
Any scan can offer signals to watch — the tripwires and open questions its research surfaced. Pin the ones that matter and they gather on your Watchboard, one standing list across all your research. Check signals (2 credits) sweeps the whole board against fresh coverage and reports what moved. A board can also be shared as a read-only page.
Standing orders
Subscribers can put a Watchboard check or an Advisor brief on a schedule. Each run is charged at the normal price from your balance, and if your credits run short the run is skipped and you are told by email — a standing order never surprises you.
The Advisor
The Advisor prepares a personal brief around who you are and what you follow — 5 credits a run, or 10 for the business edition built around your company’s world. Run it on demand, keep the history, or set a standing order.
09
Organizing your research
A library is only useful if you can find things in it. These tools keep a growing body of research in order.
Research Projects
Group scans under a named project — a client, a course, an investigation — and filter your timeline to just that thread. Available on every paid plan; the number of projects grows with the plan.
Portfolios
Keep lists of the companies and people you track. Add them from any scan result, and launch new research on any of them in one tap.
Your Facts collection
Every graded fact your scans establish gathers in the Facts tab of your Workbench — your own record, searchable across everything you have run. When a new scan conflicts with something already in your record, the disagreement is flagged for you rather than silently overwritten.
Challenges
A Challenge is a standing investigation with an objective — grow it one scan at a time, folding new research in from any report’s follow-up menu.
Timeline housekeeping
Search, filter by type or date, rename, pin what matters, and archive what is done. Archived scans stay searchable — nothing is lost.
11
Credits, plans, and your account
The billing model in full. The short version: you spend credits only when you run something, and every price is shown before you commit.
The plans
Standard is $10 a month for 20 credits. Premium is $25 a month for 60 credits. Pro is $50 a month for 125 credits — enough to build a full Studio report or book each month. Studio is $100 a month for 275 credits, for producing at volume. Every plan unlocks every scan format; plans differ in monthly credits and in how many projects and portfolios you can keep.
Credit packs
Top up any time: 5 credits for $5, 15 credits for $10, 25 credits for $15, 100 credits for $50. Pack credits last twelve months and survive a cancelled subscription.
The free account
Free accounts pay as they go: no monthly fee, no monthly credits, and every scan format available whenever you hold credits from a pack. A couple of subscriber extras — the free Read narrative and the Visual card — remain part of the paid plans.
How credits behave
Unused subscription credits roll forward month to month while your plan is active, for up to twelve months each. Your oldest credits are always spent first. If you cancel, banked subscription credits end with the plan; pack credits stay. And any scan that fails refunds itself automatically.
Managing your plan
Upgrade, downgrade, or cancel any time from the account screen — changes prorate fairly, and billing runs through a secure checkout with a self-service billing portal for receipts and card changes.