Core concepts
Soleil Clusters has four nested ideas. A workspace holds your clusters. A cluster is a board, which holds cards and can hold other clusters without limit. A card is a single thing on that board — an image, a note, a document, a file. Every cluster can be viewed as an infinite canvas or as a file list, and both views show the same contents.
Four ideas, nested inside each other. Once these are straight, the rest of the product is discoverable.
Workspace
A workspace is the outermost container. It holds clusters and it holds people.
Your personal workspace is created for you automatically — the first time you sign in, and also the first time you create a board through the API without naming a workspace. You never have to set one up.
You can belong to more than one workspace. The switcher at the top of the sidebar moves between them, and separates ones you own from ones shared with you.
Cluster (board)
A cluster is the unit of work: a moodboard, a scene, a project, a shot list.
The interface calls it a cluster. The API, the database and the developer pages in these docs call the same object a board. This is a naming change that landed in the product before it landed in the code, and rather than pretend otherwise, both words appear here — cluster when describing the interface, board when describing an API payload.
Clusters nest without limit. A cluster inside a cluster is just a card on the parent's canvas that happens to open into its own canvas. This is how a project becomes a folder tree without anybody deciding to build a folder tree.
Nesting is cycle-safe. Dragging a cluster into one of its own descendants is refused rather than silently creating a loop.
Card
A card is one thing on a board. Images, notes, links, documents, PDFs, video, audio, colour palettes, shapes, grids, schedules, votes, and other clusters are all cards.
Cards carry a position, a size and a stacking order, which is what makes the canvas a canvas rather than a list. Everything else about a card depends on what kind it is — see Cards.
The free Demo plan allows 100 cards in total across every cluster you create. Clusters themselves are unlimited, and so are collaborators.
Two views of the same cluster
Every cluster has two views, and they are not two places:
- Canvas — the infinite surface. Position matters. This is where you arrange, connect, draw and compare.
- List — the same contents as a sortable, searchable file browser with table and gallery modes. This is where you find a specific thing.
Switching views does not move or convert anything. A cluster is one set of contents with two ways to look at it, which is why the product describes every cluster as also being a drive.
What is not a container
Two things look like containers and are not:
Groups are a selection on a canvas given a name and an outline. They travel together and can be commented on and tagged as a unit, but they do not have their own inside — the cards remain cards on the same board.
Tags cut across everything. A tag is not a location; the same card can carry several, and a tag's detail view gathers every board, group and card that carries it from anywhere in the workspace.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a cluster and a board?
Nothing. They are the same object. The interface says "cluster" and the API, database and these developer docs say "board". The word changed in the product before it changed in the code.
How deep can clusters nest?
There is no depth limit. A cluster can contain clusters that contain clusters, as far as you want. Cycles are prevented — you cannot make a cluster its own ancestor.
Do I need a workspace before I can make anything?
No. A personal workspace is created for you the first time you need one, including the first time you call the API.
Machine-readable: /docs/concepts.md · /llms.txt