How to group nodes with a frame on the canvas?
When a scenario grows to dozens of nodes, it gets hard to tell at a glance where one logical block ends and another begins. A group frame lets you draw a colored outline with a title around related nodes — and move the whole block in one motion afterwards.
When you'll need this
- A large scenario with many nodes — you want to visually mark a logical block ("Registration", "Payment", "Support").
- You need to explain the scenario's structure to a colleague right on the canvas, without a separate diagram.
- You need to move several nodes together instead of dragging each one separately.
What you need to know
- Group frame — a colored rectangle with a title bar that groups nodes on the canvas. Technically it is the same note node, so it is saved together with the scenario.
- Membership is geometric: a node belongs to a frame when its center lies inside the frame's boundaries. This is checked fresh every time — the frame does not store a list of members.
- Drag a node past the frame's edge and it leaves the group. Drag or create a node inside the frame and it becomes a member, even if you did not select it on purpose.
- The frame is purely visual — it does not affect scenario execution, operator connection, or any other runtime logic.
- Frames can be nested: a smaller frame inside a bigger one becomes a member of it and moves along with it.
- Auto Layout (the toolbar button) rebuilds a frame around the nodes that were inside it before the layout, fitted to their new positions.
- There is no Undo — Scenario Builder does not have this feature at all. If a node accidentally ends up in the wrong group or leaves its own, move it back by hand.
- Collapsing a frame is not supported yet — a frame is always shown expanded.
Before you start
Steps
1. Select the nodes
Hold Shift and click the nodes you want, or hold Shift and drag a selection box over an empty part of the canvas. A floating action bar appears above the selection.
2. Create the group frame
Click the Group icon on the action bar. A colored frame with padding appears around the selected nodes — every node inside it immediately becomes a member of the group.
3. Rename the frame
Click the title in the frame's header (default — "Group"), type a new name, and press Enter or click outside the field to save it. Esc cancels the edit without saving.
4. Change the frame's color
Click the palette icon Change color in the frame's header. Each click cycles to the next color: yellow, pink, blue, green, purple, gray.
5. Move the frame together with its nodes
Press and hold the frame's header and drag it to a new place. Every node whose center was inside the frame when the drag started moves along with it.
6. Resize the frame
Select the frame by clicking its header, then drag one of the four corners (the top edge is hidden under the header, so to resize from the top use the top-left or top-right corner). Nodes whose center ends up outside the frame after the resize automatically stop being members.
7. Nest one frame inside another
Drag a smaller frame into a bigger one, or create a new frame from nodes that already lie inside a bigger one. The smaller frame becomes a member of the bigger one: moving the bigger frame carries the nested frame and all of its nodes along with it.
What happens next
The frame is saved with the scenario the same way a regular note is. It is visible in version history, C1 Flow and scenario export, but it is always ignored during execution — the bot never sees or accounts for it.
How to make sure it worked
- The selected nodes are outlined with a shared color and a title bar on top.
- Dragging the frame by its header moves every node inside it at the same time.
- The minimap shows the frame as a translucent colored rectangle.
Other ways
To remove the frame without deleting the nodes inside it, open the ⋮ menu in the frame's header and choose Ungroup. Only the frame itself is removed — the nodes stay in place.