Clusters

A cluster is a board, and clusters nest inside each other without limit — which is how a project becomes a folder tree without anyone building one. There is no limit on how many clusters you make, and a cluster costs none of your cards: its card on the parent's canvas is free on every plan, and only what you put inside it counts. Each cluster gets an automatic thumbnail rendered from its actual contents, or a cover image you choose yourself.

Updated October 27, 2026

A cluster is the unit of work: a project, a scene, a pitch, a moodboard. The code and the API call the same object a board.

Starting a project

A project is a cluster at the top of your workspace, beside Studio (the cluster everything starts in). Three ways to start one, and all three put it at the top and open it for you:

• New cluster on Home — type a name, press Enter
• The + next to Clusters in the sidebar — name it right in the sidebar
• ⌘K → "new project"

A new project opens on the same panel a first board does: paste or drag images in from any tab, or drop a whole folder or zip.

Importing folders and zips

Drag a folder from your computer onto a canvas and it becomes a cluster there, named after the folder. Each folder inside it becomes a cluster nested inside that one, the same shape your folders had, and every file goes to the Files of the cluster it was in, under its own name and with its own modified date. Nothing is laid out on a board for you: the canvas of each new cluster holds only the clusters nested in it.

A zip comes in the same way. Drop one and you are asked first: Unpack into clusters turns every folder in it into a cluster, or Add as a zip file keeps it whole, as one file in Files. A Google Takeout or Google Drive export that arrives in several parts becomes one tree when you drop all the parts at once.

You can start an import from:

• a canvas — drop a folder or a zip, or Add → Folder…
• Files — drop a folder or a zip into the list
• a cluster in the sidebar — drop it onto the cluster's row
• the sidebar's Upload menu — A folder…, or A zip or Google Takeout…, which go into the cluster that is open, or one you pick
• a zip already on the board — open it and choose Unpack into clusters, which unpacks it into the cluster it's in without asking

A phone's or a tablet's browser can't pick or drag a folder, so there you choose a zip instead. To bring files over from Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or iCloud, see Coming from another tool.

While it runs

Before anything uploads, the import counts what you gave it. If all of it fits your plan it starts at once; if not, you are asked first (see below). While it runs, a tray in the corner shows how many files are in and roughly how long is left, with Pause and Cancel, and folds into a small chip when you minimize it. Uploads run in the open tab, so keep it open — on a phone, keep it on screen. One import runs at a time; a second one you drop waits its turn.

If the page reloads or the tab closes part-way, the tray offers the stopped import the next time you open the app: Resume where the browser kept the folder (it asks to read it again first), or drop the same folder or zip on the same cluster again — either way, files already in are skipped.

When it finishes, Open and the cluster's name takes you there, and Remove this import moves every cluster it made to Trash, with an undo. Files that couldn't be brought in are listed with the reason, and Try these again retries them. A cluster made only of files gets a cover from its first pictures.

When it doesn't all fit

Each file is one card and takes its size from your storage. The clusters it makes cost nothing, as no cluster does. When the whole import won't fit your plan, it says how much would come in and how much would wait, and offers:

• Bring … now (or Keep it waiting, when nothing fits yet) — makes every cluster and fills them in folder order with what fits. The rest waits in the tray, and comes in by itself as soon as there is room — when you upgrade, add storage, delete files or empty the trash — for as long as the tab stays open. The cluster's Files says how many of its files are waiting for room.
• an upgrade, a trial or extra storage, where one would make room
• Cancel

Importing into someone else's workspace counts toward its owner's plan, and what waits comes in once the owner has room.

Putting files on the board

The canvas of an imported cluster offers to put its files on the board: Put them on the board lays photos out in rows and anything else in a grid, in one undo step, and Choose in Files lets you pick. One press places up to 500 files; the rest stay in Files to place from there. Files that are still uploading aren't placed until they finish. In Files, select files and choose Put on board at any time — see Not on board.

Limits

• One import reads up to 50,000 files; files past that are left out. It makes up to 5,000 clusters, and folders past that many, or nested more than 12 levels deep, are merged into the cluster above rather than left out.
• A folder with more than 2,000 files is split into several clusters.
• A compressed file inside a zip is unpacked in the browser, up to 4 GB a file — 256 MB on an iPhone, an iPad or another device with little memory. A bigger one is listed as too large to unpack; unzip it on your computer and drop the folder.
• The things a computer keeps in folders that are not yours to look at — .DS_Store, hidden files, app and project bundles such as a .logicx session or a Photos library — are left out, and so are files iCloud has not downloaded yet.

Adding a cluster inside one

• + New cluster, after the cluster's name at the top of the window — name it and press Enter. With nothing picked it goes beside what is already on the canvas and opens; with cards picked, they move into it and you stay where you are, with an undo
• The Cluster tool (the folder) on the left rail, or C — then click where it goes
• Double-click or right-click empty canvas → Cluster (or Add → Cluster), under your cursor
• On a phone, New cluster at the top of the sheet the + opens

There is no limit on how many clusters you make, and they cost none of your cards: a cluster's card on its parent's canvas is free on every plan. Only what is inside it counts toward the free Demo plan's

1. A linked cluster — a reference to a

cluster that lives elsewhere — counts as a card like any other.

Making a cluster from cards you already have

Cards that belong together can move into a cluster of their own in one step, and one undo puts them back and removes the cluster:

• Pick two or more cards, right-click → New cluster from N cards
• Right-click a card → Move to cluster… → New cluster… — there even when this is your only cluster
• Right-click a group → Turn into cluster… — the group moves in whole, and the cluster takes its name
• In Files, pick files and press New cluster on the selection bar

When Studio has gathered a pile of loose cards, it offers once, on a later visit, to move them into a cluster: Move them into a cluster names one and moves the pile; the × dismisses the offer for good on that device. And when you paste or drop new things onto a board that already holds a pile from a few hours ago, the toast may ask New idea? — New cluster gives them a cluster of their own. Nothing moves until you ask.

Nesting

A cluster inside a cluster appears as a card on the parent's canvas that opens into its own canvas. There is no depth limit.

This is how structure emerges without anybody designing it: a film becomes scenes, a scene becomes setups, a setup becomes a reference wall — each a real board you can open, share and work on independently.

Moving a cluster: drag it in the sidebar tree (on a touch screen, hold the row first — a swipe scrolls the list), drag it onto another cluster's card on a canvas, or right-click it → Move to cluster…. Moves are cycle-safe — dragging a cluster into one of its own descendants is refused rather than creating a loop. Cards move the same way — see Cards.

Linked clusters are different: a reference to a cluster that lives elsewhere, placed on this canvas. The board itself does not move. Use it when something belongs in two places.

Side by side

Two clusters can be open at once, in a split view with a draggable divider.

• The ⧉ Pin alongside button in the topbar
• ⌘K → "Open split view"

Then pick the cluster for the right-hand side. Close it with the × at the top-right of that pane, or the same topbar button.

Each side navigates itself. Opening a nested cluster on the right moves the right side only — the left stays where it was. The same holds for what you drop, link and edit: it lands on the side you did it on.

One toolbar, and it follows you. There is no second bar inside the split. The breadcrumb at the top always describes the side you last clicked into, so it is where you go to see where you are and to climb back a level; Back and Forward move that side too, and the sidebar highlights that side's cluster. The active side is outlined in gold.

Access is per side too. If the right pane is showing a cluster someone shared with you as view-only, it is read-only there, exactly as it would be full screen.

The split — both clusters, both breadcrumbs, and the divider position — is remembered, so a reload puts you back in it. It is a desktop feature; there is no split on phones.

A document docked beside the canvas uses the same right-hand pane, so opening one closes a cluster split, and vice versa.

Thumbnails

Every cluster gets a thumbnail rendered from what is actually on it — a miniature of the board, not a generic icon. It updates as the board changes.

To override it, right-click the cluster:

• Cover colour — a flat colour instead of a render
• Upload custom thumbnail — your own image, with a 16:9 crop and reposition step
• Reset to auto thumbnail — back to the generated render

A custom thumbnail is respected — editing the board afterwards will not silently overwrite the image you chose.

Views

Every cluster has two views of the same contents:

• Board — the infinite canvas, where position means something
• Files — a sortable, searchable file browser, as a grid or a list

A cluster's files are always listed in the sidebar; press F, or ⤢ there, to fill the screen with them. Switching does not convert anything. Settings → Card defaults sets which view new clusters open in.

Finding clusters

• Home lists your projects, newest work first, with the clusters you were last in under Jump back in
• The sidebar tree opens on your projects, most recently worked on first, and expands lazily, so a deep hierarchy stays fast
• All clusters at the bottom of the sidebar's list searches every cluster and opens the one you pick
• ⌘K searches cluster names alongside everything else
• Shared with me groups clusters other people have invited you to, by whose workspace they came from

Deleting

Deleting a cluster is a soft delete. It goes to the trash and stays restorable for 30 days. See Trash and recovery, which also covers version history and rolling a whole workspace back to a point in time.

Machine-readable: /docs/clusters.md · /llms.txt
What changed and when: /changelog