This guide covers web Flows. For mobile, see Build mobile Flows.

Prerequisites

• Appcues is installed on your application (required to publish — you can build and preview without it).
• The Appcues Chrome Extension is installed in your browser.

Start a new Flow

You can create a Flow from Studio or directly from a page in your app.

From Studio:

1. Go to Experiences > Flows and click Create a Flow.
2. Enter a name for your Flow and a Build URL — the page in your app where you want to open the Builder and edit this Flow.

The Build URL is where you edit the Flow in the Builder. It doesn't control where the live Flow appears — that's set in page targeting.

From the Chrome Extension:

1. Navigate to a page in your app where you want to build.
2. Click the Appcues Chrome Extension icon in your browser toolbar and select Create new Flow.

Add your first step

1. Click + Add and choose a pattern type: Modal, Slideout, Tooltip, or Hotspot. Not sure which to use? See Flows overview for guidance on each pattern.
2. Choose a template or start from scratch.
3. If you selected a Tooltip or Hotspot, click on the element in your app where you want to anchor it. The element highlights in green to show what the pattern will attach to.

Your default Theme is applied automatically. To change it, select a different Theme from the dropdown in the step settings. Themes are applied per step group — you can use different Themes within the same Flow.

Add components to a step

Components are the content blocks inside each step. Click the + menu in the Builder to add:

• Text — headings, paragraphs, rich text
• Image / GIF — upload or paste a URL
• Video — embed from YouTube, Wistia, or other hosts
• Button — navigate, trigger actions, or track events
• Survey / Form — collect structured responses
• Emoji — add visual accents
• Custom HTML — embed any code for advanced use cases

Resize and rearrange components by dragging them within the step. For detailed guidance, see Add text, images, and GIFs, Add and configure buttons, or Work with custom HTML.

All changes in the Builder are autosaved. Look for the green checkmark next to the gear icon to confirm.

Add more steps

Click + Add to insert the next step.

Choose whether to add to the current group or start a new group:

• Same group — the new step shares the current group's Theme, progress bar, and navigation behavior. Use this for a series of the same pattern type (for example, three Modals in a row).
• New group — starts a fresh step group. Required when switching pattern types (for example, going from a Modal to a Tooltip).

Repeat until your Flow is complete.

Add a navigation step

If your Flow guides users to a different page, add a navigation step between the content steps on each page.

1. Click + Add > Navigate.
2. The Builder enters navigation mode. Navigate to the page where the next step should appear, then click Switch back to Build mode.

Choose the navigation type:

• Redirect — Appcues sends the user to the new URL automatically. Use this when the Flow controls the navigation.
• Let them navigate — Appcues waits for the user to reach the new URL on their own (for example, by clicking a link you pointed out in the previous step). Use this when the user drives the navigation.

Rule of thumb: Any time the URL changes between steps, add a navigation step. Without it, the Flow breaks when the page changes. See Build a Flow across pages for details.

Preview your Flow

Click the eye icon next to Target & Publish to preview your Flow as an end user would see it. Preview mode shows the visual experience but doesn't test targeting rules, user properties, or live data.

Preview is a quick visual check. For a full test of targeting and eligibility, use Test Mode or publish to a staging environment. See Preview and test your Flows.

Configure settings

Click Target & Publish to return to the Flow's settings page in Studio. This doesn't publish the Flow — it opens the configuration panel where you set:

• Page targeting — the URLs where the Flow should appear. See Set Flow trigger rules.
• Audience — who should see the Flow (all users, a segment, or specific conditions). See Set Flow audience targeting.
• Frequency — whether the Flow shows once or repeats. See Set Flow frequency.
• Priority — the display order when multiple Flows qualify on the same page. See Set Flow priorities.

Test your Flow

Before publishing to production, verify that the Flow targets the right users on the right pages. See Preview and test your Flows for testing methods including Test Mode, staging environments, and restrictive publishing.

Publish

On the Flow's settings page, click Publish. The Flow goes live immediately for users who match your targeting and audience rules.

Monitor the Flow's performance in Flow analytics.

Confirm it worked

• Visit a page where the Flow is targeted, as a user who matches the audience rules. The Flow appears.
• Check the Recent Users section on the Flow's analytics page to confirm users are seeing it.
• If using Test Mode, verify the Flow shows when you append the test parameter to the URL.

If the Flow doesn't appear

• Confirm Appcues is installed by opening the Appcues debugger and checking for green checkmarks.
• Check that the user matches the audience targeting rules. Go to Users in Studio, find the user, and open the Eligibility tab.
• Verify the page URL matches the page targeting conditions.
• If the Flow is set to Show once and you've already seen it, reset your Flow history for that user.
• See Troubleshoot Flows for a full diagnostic guide.