Inspect Flow evaluates a flow live, node by node, so you can see the JSON structure moving through it and catch errors and warnings before they reach your pro forma or diagram. Evaluating a flow this way has a real cost, so Giraffe doesn't do it all the time. Inspect Flow only evaluates the single geometry you have selected, and it switches off automatically when you leave the Flow Builder.
What you need before you turn it on
Inspect Flow needs two things to work: the flow open in the Flow Builder, and exactly one geometry selected on the map that already has that flow assigned to it. The Inspect Flow icon stays grayed out until both are true.
If Inspect Flow stays grayed out, check that only one geometry is selected on the map, and that the geometry has the flow you have open in the Flow Builder assigned to it.
Turn on Inspect Flow
Open the flow you want to check in the Flow Builder. See The Flow Builder for how to open it.
On the map, select a single geometry that uses this flow.
Click Inspect Flow, the stereo glasses icon, in the Flow Builder's top toolbar.
Giraffe evaluates the flow for the selected geometry and shows the result on every node. This live, per-geometry evaluation is also called Hypersonic Mode. Turn Inspect Flow off again once you're done. Leaving it on means Giraffe re-evaluates the flow every time you change something in the project, and it turns itself off as soon as you leave the Flow Builder anyway.
Read the evaluated nodes
With Inspect Flow on, each node's color exposes its status. A node turns red when it has an error. The flow fails to complete for the selected geometry. A node turns orange when it has a warning. The flow still completes. Part of its output may be missing.
| Warning node | Error node |
Node color | Orange  | Red  |
Does the flow still complete? | Yes | No, the flow fails for the selected geometry. |
What it means | The node ran, and part of its output may be missing or incomplete | The node failed to produce a result |
Effect on the map | No change to the geometry's color. The desired resulting geometries will not display or may display incompletely. | The affected geometry appears neon magenta on the map  |
How to see the message | Hover the node, or connect a Reader node to its Status output | Hover the node, or connect a Reader node to its Status output |
Hover over a node's title to open a popover with its inputs and outputs. If the node has a warning or an error, the popover also shows the message describing what went wrong.
See the JSON behind a node
Node color and the hover popover tell you a node has a problem. To see the actual JSON structure a node is working with, its features, geometry, or computed values, connect a Reader node to it. See Using the Status Output for how to read a node's Status output the same way.
For a full list of error and warning messages and how to fix each one, see Troubleshooting a Flow.