Lite Mode and Workflow Mode

Gen6 gives you two ways to work: Lite Mode for fast, conversational building and Workflow Mode for full visual workflow control. Both modes use the same Gen6 foundation, but they are designed for different levels of structure, visibility, and production readiness.

Lite Mode is the fastest way to ask, prototype, and iterate. Workflow Mode is the full builder for designing, debugging, deploying, and operating production workflows.

Overview

Lite Mode is a chat-first workspace. You describe what you want, attach files or skills when needed, and let Gen6 help you build from a simple conversation. It is designed for quick tasks, exploration, and users who do not want to manage a canvas directly.

Workflow Mode is the complete workflow builder. You work with blocks on a canvas, connect data between steps, configure execution paths, inspect logs, use the built-in copilot, and deploy workflows through APIs, chat interfaces, webhooks, and schedules.

Both modes are part of the same product experience:

Lite Mode emphasizes speed, conversation, and guided assistance
Workflow Mode emphasizes structure, control, repeatability, and production readiness
Switching modes lets you move between simple prompting and detailed workflow engineering
Mobile workspaces use the Lite experience to keep the interface focused and usable on smaller screens

Lite Mode

Lite Mode is the simplest way to use Gen6. Instead of starting with a blank workflow canvas, you start with a chat. You can ask Gen6 for help, describe a task, attach context, and keep a history of conversations inside the workspace.

What Lite Mode Is Best For

Lite Mode is ideal when you want to move quickly:

Quick AI tasks - Ask questions, draft content, summarize information, or reason through a problem without building a full workflow
Early workflow discovery - Describe the automation you want before deciding how it should be structured
Guided building - Let Gen6 help you turn plain language into a more concrete plan
Skill-based assistance - Attach selected skills to a message so the agent receives additional instructions and domain context
File-assisted work - Include relevant files in a message when the task needs more context
Lightweight iteration - Start a new chat, revisit previous conversations, and refine the request over time

Lite Mode Workspace

In Lite Mode, the workspace is centered around conversation:

Chats

Message Area

Skills

Artifacts

How Lite Mode Handles Work

Lite Mode keeps the interface intentionally direct. The agent stays in an ask-oriented experience, so the conversation remains the main control surface. This is useful when the task is still exploratory or when you want Gen6 to help before you commit to a full workflow design.

Describe the outcome you want in natural language. This can be a simple question, a draft request, an automation idea, or a workflow concept.

Attach files or selected skills when the agent needs more information about your domain, process, or expected output.

Refine the result through follow-up messages. Lite Mode keeps the flow conversational so you can move quickly.

When the task needs a repeatable workflow, visual block configuration, debugging, or deployment, switch into Workflow Mode.

Lite Mode Safety Model

Lite Mode is designed to keep high-impact actions clear. Read-only actions such as searching, listing, retrieving, or fetching data can run with less interruption. Mutating actions such as creating, updating, deleting, sending, posting, uploading, or changing environment variables are treated more carefully.

This keeps Lite Mode useful for fast work while making important changes visible before they happen. Examples include:

Read operations - Search documentation, list files, read documents, fetch data, or query existing information
Write operations - Send an email, update a document, append rows to a sheet, create a calendar event, post to Slack, or change external systems
Unknown operations - Actions that are not clearly read-only default to a more cautious path

Lite Mode is best for guided interaction and fast iteration. For complex workflows, repeated production runs, or detailed data routing, use Workflow Mode.

Workflow Mode

Workflow Mode is the full Gen6 workflow builder. It gives you direct access to the canvas, blocks, connections, templates, logs, debugging tools, deployment controls, and workflow configuration.

In Workflow Mode, you are not only asking Gen6 for an answer. You are designing how a system should run.

What Workflow Mode Is Best For

Workflow Mode is ideal when your work needs structure:

Production workflows - Build repeatable automations with explicit inputs, outputs, and execution paths
Visual orchestration - Connect blocks on a canvas and control how data moves between them
Multi-step logic - Add conditions, routers, loops, parallel branches, APIs, functions, tools, and response formatting
Deployment - Expose workflows through APIs, chat deployments, webhooks, and schedules
Debugging - Run workflows step-by-step, inspect block outputs, and understand where a workflow succeeds or fails
Monitoring - Review logs, performance, cost, and execution history
Templates - Start from pre-built templates or publish workflows for reuse
YAML and JSON editing - Edit workflow structure directly when a text-based representation is more efficient

Workflow Mode Workspace

Workflow Mode exposes the full builder environment:

Workflow Canvas

Control Bar

Blocks Panel

Copilot Panel

Template Library

Logs and Debugging

How Workflow Mode Handles Work

Workflow Mode makes the workflow explicit. Each block has a job, each connection controls data flow, and each execution can be inspected through logs and block states.

Add blocks to represent each step of the process. Use Agent blocks for AI reasoning, API blocks for external services, Function blocks for custom logic, and orchestration blocks for control flow.

Pass outputs from one block into another using variable references and connection interfaces. This creates a clear data path through the workflow.

Run the workflow manually, inspect outputs, use debug controls, and adjust block configuration until the workflow behaves correctly.

Deploy the workflow as an API, chat interface, webhook-driven automation, or scheduled job. Review logs and execution history as the workflow runs.

Key Differences

Lite Mode and Workflow Mode are not competing builders. They are different levels of control over the same platform.

Lite Mode uses a chat-centered interface where you interact through messages, files, skills, and conversation history.

Workflow Mode uses a visual workflow canvas where you place blocks, connect them, configure each step, and manage the full workflow lifecycle.

Lite Mode gives you a guided experience with fewer visible controls. It is optimized for speed and direct interaction.

Workflow Mode gives you detailed control over block settings, execution paths, variables, tools, deployment, logs, and debugging.

Lite Mode is best for asking, exploring, drafting, summarizing, attaching context, and shaping an idea before it becomes a workflow.

Workflow Mode is best for repeatable processes, complex automations, multi-step workflows, production endpoints, and anything that needs observability.

Lite Mode usually produces conversational answers, generated artifacts, or guidance that you can refine through follow-up messages.

Workflow Mode produces workflows that can be tested, deployed, reused, shared, monitored, and improved over time.

Lite Mode Emphasizes

Speed - Start working immediately without choosing blocks or configuring a canvas.

Conversation - Keep the request and result in a single chat flow.

Guidance - Ask Gen6 to help reason through the work before you build it.

Low setup - Useful when the task is still small, unclear, or exploratory.

Focused interaction - Especially useful on mobile and smaller screens.

Workflow Mode Emphasizes

Structure - Represent each step as a block with clear inputs and outputs.

Repeatability - Run the same process reliably through manual execution, APIs, webhooks, or schedules.

Observability - Inspect logs, costs, block outputs, execution status, and errors.

Control - Configure models, tools, prompts, response schemas, routing, loops, custom code, and integrations.

Deployment - Turn a workflow into a production-ready interface or endpoint.

When to Use Each Mode

Use Lite Mode when:

You want the fastest path from idea to result
You are still figuring out what the workflow should do
You need help drafting, researching, summarizing, or planning
You want to attach a skill or file to a specific request
You are working from a smaller screen
You do not need a reusable workflow yet

Use Workflow Mode when:

You need to build a workflow that runs more than once
You need exact control over each step
You need branching logic, loops, parallel execution, APIs, or custom code
You need to deploy the workflow for other systems or users
You need logs, debugging, cost visibility, or execution history
You want to publish, duplicate, export, or manage workflow templates

Switching Between Modes

The mode switch appears in the workspace header on desktop. In Lite Mode, the button switches you into Workflow Mode. In Workflow Mode, the button switches you back to Lite.

Switching changes the interface you are working in:

Switch to Workflow Mode opens the canvas-based workflow builder
Switch to Lite returns to the chat-centered experience
Lite Mode chats are kept separate from workflow-specific copilot chats
Workflow Mode pages focus on workflows, templates, logs, and builder controls

If you are on a mobile device, Gen6 uses the Lite Mode experience so the workspace remains focused and easy to navigate.

Block-Level Advanced Configuration

Workflow Mode also includes a smaller block-level concept: some blocks can switch between Basic Mode and Advanced Mode inside the block itself.

This is separate from the workspace-level Lite Mode and Workflow Mode switch.

Basic block configuration shows the most common fields for the block. It keeps setup fast and reduces noise when the default configuration is enough.

Advanced block configuration reveals additional fields for more exact control. These are often manual IDs, lower-level inputs, structured settings, or provider-specific options that are not needed for every workflow.

Examples of block-level advanced settings include:

Manually entering a Google Docs document ID
Manually entering a Google Sheets spreadsheet ID
Providing a Slack channel ID directly
Configuring structured starter input for manual runs
Exposing provider-specific identifiers that are useful in production systems

Workflow Mode gives you the full workflow builder. Block-level Advanced Mode reveals additional configuration inside an individual block. They are related, but they are not the same switch.

Recommended Workflow

A common pattern is to start simple and increase control only when the work needs it:

Use chat to describe the process, ask questions, attach context, and clarify what the workflow should accomplish.

Switch to the workflow builder when the process needs repeatable execution, multiple blocks, integrations, or deployment.

Add blocks, connect data, configure tools, define outputs, and test the workflow manually.

Turn on block-level Advanced Mode only where additional control is needed.

Expose the workflow through the right execution method and review logs as it runs.