User Guide

One Sequence — How It Works

A structured visual planning canvas where cards hold reusable data, axes provide sequence and position, and visualizations turn structured card data into insight — all on the same workspace.

Mental model

One Sequence sits between a freeform whiteboard and a rigid project tool. More structured than sticky notes, less restrictive than traditional planning software. Structure is added gradually — not forced from day one.

Platform Roadmap

See what’s coming next — expanded AI grounding, formulas on cards, a live workshop facilitator, board-ready presentations, and more. View the roadmap.

Workspace

The workspace is the top-level boundary for all content. AI agents, cards, axes, files, and collaborators all operate within a single workspace — content from other workspaces is never mixed in.

Collaboration

Invite team members, assign board roles, and work together in real time on the same canvas.

Snapshots

Capture the workspace at a point in time. Reuse snapshots as templates for repeatable frameworks.

Settings & Roles

Manage teams, data roles, exports, and workspace configuration from the settings panel.

AI & Chat

Chat with collaborators or invoke AI agents scoped to this workspace directly from the canvas.

Example uses

Standardise project reporting across teams using a shared workspace template
Run facilitated workshops where participants work within structured boards
Create a repeatable product design framework with built-in data structure

The Toolbelt

The toolbelt is the context-sensitive panel that adapts to what you have selected on the canvas. Select a card and it shows card tools; select an axis and it shows axis tools; select nothing and it shows workspace-level tools. Richer controls live here so the canvas stays uncluttered while every control remains one click away.

Footer vs toolbelt

The card footer keeps the lightweight, always-available shortcuts (documented in the Cards section). The toolbelt holds the richer, context-sensitive controls that appear based on what you select.

Se Ochi AI panel

Open the agentic AI interaction panel — your private, persistent conversation with Se Ochi.

Import / export board JSON

Save the full board structure as JSON and restore it into another workspace.

Files & References

Files and external reference links can be attached to a workspace from the Files & References panel. These resources are available to all workspace collaborators and can be imported as structured card data.

Upload CSV or XLSX spreadsheets to bulk-import structured data as workspace cards

Add external links as named references that appear alongside uploaded files

Se Ochi builds contextual understanding through her conversational memory — no separate file upload needed

Bulk Import from Spreadsheet

Import multiple cards at once from a structured spreadsheet. Each row becomes a card, and columns map to card attributes. This is the fastest way to populate a workspace from existing data.

Import guidelines

Supported formats: CSV and Excel (.xlsx)

The first row must contain column headers — these map to card attribute names

A "title" column is required — this becomes the card title

Additional columns become card attributes on each imported card

Import is available from the canvas tool belt under file options

Board Export

The canvas can be exported as a high-resolution image for sharing, embedding in reports, or archiving a point-in-time view. The export captures the full visible canvas including all cards, axes, and visualizations. Access the export option from the canvas tool belt.

Context-sensitive by design

If you don't see the control you need, check what's selected. The toolbelt only reveals the tools relevant to the current selection — keeping the interface focused and the canvas uncluttered.

Axes

An axis is the backbone of planning in One Sequence. It represents a sequence — a start, an end, and the intervals between. Cards attach to intervals on the axis, creating a spatial and meaningful relationship between content and sequence.

Date axis

Timelines with configurable year, quarter, month, and financial year markers.

Integer axis

Numerical sequences for ranking, stages, effort levels, or any ordered scale.

Alphabet axis

Categorical sequences using letter-based labels for flexible ordering.

Axis interaction

Drag from an interval or node to create a card tethered to that exact point

Display horizontally (timeline) or vertically (annotation column)

Point, click, drag, expand, truncate, reposition, and style directly on the canvas

Label size

Toolbar

A three-step toolbar control that sets the size of axis tick labels and card text across the canvas for readability:

small

medium

large

Axis toolbelt — add an axis

Always visible

Drag any of these from the toolbelt onto the canvas to create a new axis of that type.

Integer axis

Alphabet axis

Date axis

Axis toolbelt — when an axis is selected

Context tools

Selecting an axis reveals these controls, split into axis configuration and chart/aggregation.

Properties & layout

Properties

Open the axis visuals dialog — thickness, colour, tick spacing, and label visibility.

Interval

Set major and minor intervals plus the min/max range for the axis.

Orientation

Flip the axis between horizontal and vertical on the canvas.

Aggregation

Chart config

Choose chart type, which attributes to visualise, and styling.

Summary card

Drop a summary card that running-totals preceding cards on this axis.

Rollup card

Drop a rollup card that aggregates a child axis onto this parent axis.

Child axes & rollups

A workspace can have multiple axes. Child axes nest under a parent, carrying detailed structures that roll up into parent-level views via rollup cards — keeping detail and summary separated without duplicating data. See the Cards section for a full walkthrough of how rollup and summary cards work.

Cards

A card is a customizable structured data container placed on the workspace. Cards balance visual flexibility with data consistency — they look like planning objects but hold structured information that drives analysis and visualization.

Attributes

Name-value pairs like Cost = 100, Status = Amber, Owner = Product Team. These drive visualizations.

Description

Rich free text for notes, rationale, user stories, and context. Does not drive visualizations directly.

Image

An AI-generated image associated with the card for visual framing and prompting thought.

Visual design

Control orientation, corner style, colour, banner layout, icon, and component arrangement.

Card anatomy

Every card is made up of four regions

Top bar

Drag handle, editing-presence indicator, and reaction counts (likes, questions, actions).

Banner

Template name, card title, and card icon for quick identification.

Components

The main content area — attributes, description, and/or image.

Footer

Show all hidden fields and lock or unlock the card.

Card footer actions

Bottom of every card

The footer is the slim action bar at the bottom of every card. These shortcuts stay directly on the card — everything else lives in the toolbelt.

Show hidden fields

Reveal any attributes currently hidden on the card. Appears only when hidden fields exist.

Save as template

Promote the current card into a reusable workspace template.

Bring to front

Raise the card above overlapping cards.

Send to back

Lower the card behind overlapping cards.

Lock / unlock

Prevent accidental edits to the card, or release it for editing.

Link / unlink to axis

Tether the card to an axis interval, or detach it to float freely.

Colour picker

Change the card accent colour.

Delete

Remove the card from the canvas.

Card context

Toolbelt

The card toolbelt adapts to your selection. A single card reveals the layout section — controls for the card's visual structure. Selecting two or more cards switches to alignment and distribution controls instead.

Single card selected

Layout section

Frame

Orientation

Size

Header

Banner

Attributes

AI image

Text

Multiple cards selected

Multi-select

Align

Distribute

Auto-arrange

Toolbar

A three-option segmented control on the toolbar that automatically lays out the selected cards relative to their axis:

Arrange both

Split cards evenly above and below the axis line.

Arrange above

Stack cards above the axis line.

Arrange below

Stack cards below the axis line.

When a card is selected

Toolbelt

Selecting a card reveals these toolbelt actions for creating related cards and capturing collaborator reactions:

New card

Create a new card from the current template, ready to place on the canvas.

Mark a card as liked — a quick endorsement captured as a reaction count on the card.

Question

Flag a card with a question reaction to prompt discussion or clarification.

Action

Tag a card with an action reaction to signal follow-up work or a next step.

Templates

Toolbelt & footer

Templates share structure, default attributes, values, and styling across many cards at once — keeping data consistent across hundreds of cards. Template controls live in the toolbelt and card footer.

Save as template

Promote the current card into a reusable workspace template from the card footer.

Template

Open the template picker from the toolbelt to create a new card from an existing template.

Edit template

Open the template attributes editor to change attribute definitions for a template.

Template propagation

Add a new attribute to a template and push it to every card already using that template — maintaining data quality across hundreds of cards in one action.

Rollup & summary cards

Aggregation cards

Two special card types aggregate numeric attributes from other cards so a single value can feed a visualization without manual totalling. Both are created by dragging an icon from the Chart section of the toolbelt.

Summary card

Aggregates numeric attributes from the cards that precede it on the same axis — a within-axis running subtotal. Ideal for phase-to-date totals on a timeline.

How to create

1Select the axis the summary should total along
2Open the Chart section in the toolbelt
3Drag the Summary card icon onto that axis

Rollup card

Aggregates totals from a child axis onto a parent axis — cross-axis aggregation. Detail lives on the child; the rolled-up total surfaces on the parent without duplicating data. Visually distinct (purple).

How to create

1Select the child axis whose totals you want to roll up
2Open the Chart section in the toolbelt
3Drag the Rollup card icon onto the parent canvas
4It auto-links to the child axis and is named accordingly

How they update

Both recalculate automatically as the underlying card data changes

Both participate in chart visualizations like any other card

Each carries a single aggregated value at its interval

Visualizations

Visualizations project card attribute data onto an axis — giving spreadsheet-like insight without leaving the planning canvas. Only template-based card attributes participate in visualization logic.

Visual scale

Toolbar

A three-step toolbar control (1×, 1.25×, 1.5×) that scales visual elements — chart dots, stroke widths, and label pills — proportionally so visualizations stay balanced at any density.

Visual 1×

Visual 1.25×

Visual 1.5×

Quantitative

Bar, line, stacked area charts for numeric attributes like cost, effort, or score.

Categorical

Count and percentage breakdowns for text values like RAG status, sentiment, or risk.

Aggregated

Grouped totals or counts when a template should appear as a single summarised measure.

Projection types

Recurring∞

Value is projected at every interval on the axis — ideal for ongoing costs or metrics.

One-off·

Value appears only at the interval where the card is connected — one-time events or expenses.

Interval∴

Value repeats on matching intervals — e.g. Q4 costs across multiple years.

Roll-ups from child axes

Totals calculated on a child axis can roll up onto the parent axis. Detailed cost breakdowns live on a child — the rolled-up total appears on the parent program timeline. Detail and summary, without duplicating data.

Workspace Environment

The canvas environment adapts to what you're working on. The toolbar provides global view, scale, and display controls; interface elements are context-sensitive — what you see depends on what is selected.

Toolbar visual reference

Navigation

Dashboard

Workspace

Owner controls

Settings

Files

Lock all

Present

Display

Hide cards

Hide graphs

Audit info

Board chat

Show headers

Hide headers

Revert

View

Zoom in

Zoom out

Center

Reset view

Amber chips are workspace-owner-only controls. The toolbar is always visible at the top of the canvas.

Display Toggles

Presentation mode

Hides the toolbelt and editing chrome for a clean canvas view.

Hide / show graphs

Toggle axis chart overlays on and off.

Hide / show toolbelt

Collapse the context-sensitive toolbelt to maximise canvas space.

Hide / show headers

Collapse card headers across the canvas for a compact view.

Hide / show cards

Temporarily hide card bodies to focus on axes and tethers.

Navigation & Interaction

Canvas

Right-mouse panning

Drag with the right mouse button to pan the canvas. Left mouse is reserved for selection.

WASD keyboard panning

Hold W/A/S/D to pan smoothly with acceleration. Diagonals are supported. Disabled while editing text or when a card/axis is selected.

Mouse-wheel zoom

Scroll to zoom in and out around the cursor position.

Marquee multi-select

Left-drag on empty canvas to box-select multiple cards at once.

Click empty canvas

Click on empty canvas to clear the current selection and close any open toolbelt.

Pan coordinates

Live readout of the current pan offset.

Why right-mouse panning?

Panning is bound to the right mouse button so the left button is always free for its primary job — selecting and dragging cards. This avoids the common conflict where clicking to pan accidentally starts a marquee selection.

Teams & Visibility

Teams let you control which users can see which card templates within a workspace. Rather than everyone seeing everything, you can organise users into named teams and restrict template visibility to specific teams — keeping views clean and relevant for each group.

Workspace access roles

Per workspace

Every workspace grants each user one of three access roles. These roles control what a user can do and see within that specific workspace — separate from the tenancy-level permission flags managed on a user's profile.

Owner

Full control. Create, edit, and delete cards, axes, and templates, plus manage workspace settings, take snapshots, and assign access roles to other users.

Contributor

Full editing. Create, edit, and delete cards, axes, and templates on the canvas, but cannot manage workspace settings or change other users' access.

Viewer

Read-only. Open and navigate the workspace, read all visible cards and charts, and follow board chat — but cannot drag, edit, delete, or change any content.

Teams

Create named teams within a workspace and assign users to them. Every workspace automatically includes an Everyone team that all users belong to.

Template visibility

Each card template can be restricted to specific teams. Cards created from that template are only visible to users in those teams.

Everyone team

Team ID 0 is the built-in Everyone team. Templates set to Everyone are visible to all workspace users — this is the default behaviour.

Se Ochi visibility

Se Ochi's board session is pre-computed from your team memberships. She only reads card templates and cards that your teams are allowed to see.

How visibility works in practice

A Finance template restricted to the Finance team is invisible to other users — even if they open the same workspace
Removing a user from a team immediately revokes their visibility of that team's restricted templates
A user can belong to multiple teams and will see the union of all templates visible to those teams
Admins always see all content regardless of team membership

Permissions

One Sequence uses a granular, flag-based permission model. Rather than assigning broad roles, administrators assign individual permission flags to each user — meaning two users with the same base role can have very different access capabilities.

Manage Workspace

can_manage_workspace

Create, archive, and delete workspaces from the workspace dashboard, including taking snapshots, archiving, and restoring workspaces where appropriate.

Manage Billing

can_manage_billing

Access subscription settings, enter or update payment details, and view invoices. Intended for a dedicated billing contact rather than general users.

Manage Users

can_manage_users

Invite users, adjust team memberships, enable or disable accounts, and modify user licence allocations.

Manage Licences

can_manage_licences

View and adjust user seat counts, manage user licence and AI agent licence subscriptions, and control how many users and agents can be active within the tenancy.

Snapshots

A snapshot is a frozen, read-only copy of a workspace captured at a specific point in time. Snapshots are used to preserve state, build reusable frameworks, and create new live workspaces from a known starting structure.

Creating a snapshot

From the workspace settings, take a snapshot to capture all axes, cards, templates, and layout configuration at that exact moment.

Read-only preservation

Snapshots cannot be edited directly. They serve as an immutable record of the workspace state when the snapshot was taken.

Restore to a live workspace

Any snapshot can be used to create a new live workspace. The new workspace is a fully editable copy — the snapshot itself is not affected.

Reusable templates

Build a well-structured workspace once, snapshot it, and reuse it as a consistent starting point for future projects, workshops, or clients.

Snapshot lifecycle

Snapshots are visible in the Dashboard alongside your live workspaces
A snapshot tracks its source workspace — you can always see which workspace it was captured from
Deleting a snapshot does not affect the original workspace or any workspaces restored from it
Workspaces in a deleted state are retained for 90 days before permanent removal

Agentic AI

One Sequence includes a built-in AI agent called Se Ochi — a board reader and orchestrator that understands your workspace structure, reads your cards and axes, and helps you think through what the board is showing. When specialist thinking modes are active, Se Ochi applies that expertise to her analysis — giving you deeper, context-aware responses tuned to your function or industry.

One Sequence AI understands both your workspace and the application itself. It can read the structured data already in your workspace — such as cards, axes, templates, timelines, relationships, projections and rollups. It has also been guided by the same product concepts and user guidance available to users, so its support is aligned to how One Sequence is designed to work.

This means you do not need to export data, upload files, paste information into another tool, or repeatedly explain the structure of your work. AI assistance is available in context, inside the place where the work already lives.

Read the C4 AI Framework

Interaction Panel

Private

Your personal, persistent 1:1 conversation with Se Ochi. She builds memory of your goals and board over time. Only you can see this conversation — other users have their own completely separate session.

Opens from the AI button in the canvas tool belt

Conversation history persists across sessions

Completely private — never visible to other users

Se Ochi reads the board to give contextual answers

Workspace Chat

Shared

The team chat sidebar. Type ! to open the agent picker and select Se Ochi. Her reply is posted as a chat message — visible to everyone in the workspace in real time.

Visible to all workspace collaborators

Se Ochi replies appear alongside team messages

Best for quick, shared questions about the board

Replies are brief — 1 to 3 sentences

Functional Thinking

— How your organisation works

Functional Thinking packs give Se Ochi deeper expertise in how organisations operate — covering process, finance, strategy, technology, and delivery. These packs apply regardless of your industry and are designed for teams that need to think across organisational boundaries.

Process Mapping

Analyses your board to surface process steps, decision rules, handoff points, and bottlenecks. Helps you model workflows, identify inefficiencies, and structure sequenced delivery logic.

Ideal when your board represents a process, workflow, or operational sequence that needs to be made explicit.

Service Design

Reads your board through the perspective of human experience — customers, staff, and supporting services. Maps touchpoints, pain points, and moments of truth across the canvas.

Best used when you are designing or reviewing service delivery, customer journeys, or staff-facing workflows.

Project Planning

Builds timelines, identifies milestone gaps, flags dependency risks, and surfaces scheduling conflicts across your axes and cards.

Use when your board is a project plan, delivery schedule, or milestone tracker.

Finance & Budgeting

Interprets cost attributes, budget allocations, and financial trade-offs across the workspace. Can identify over-allocation, summarise spend profiles, and frame investment decisions.

Applies when card attributes include financial data like cost, budget, ROI, or effort value.

Systems & Tools

Reads the board to explain system impacts, assess technology trade-offs, and help map upgrade or integration decisions to the timeline.

Use when your board includes technology components, systems architecture, or tool change decisions.

Executive Overview

Synthesises the full board into executive-ready briefings — surfacing priorities, unresolved risks, key decisions needed, and delivery confidence.

Use when preparing stakeholder updates, board papers, or governance briefings from your workspace.

Product & Roadmap

Analyses priorities, release sequencing, and product direction across your workspace. Helps frame decisions around feature value, delivery capacity, and strategic alignment.

Best for product teams managing roadmaps, backlogs, and release planning on a canvas.

Industry Thinking

— How your sector operates

Industry Thinking packs bring sector-specific knowledge into Se Ochi's analysis. Each pack is tuned to the terminology, workflows, and operational patterns of a specific industry — so the AI already understands your context without needing to be taught the basics.

Events & Catering

Understands event timelines, supplier coordination, staffing schedules, and on-day delivery logistics. Helps sequence preparation, resourcing, and client delivery across a canvas.

For event managers, caterers, and hospitality operators planning multi-stakeholder events.

Construction & Renovation

Reads build schedules, trade sequencing, milestone gates, and site coordination logic. Surfaces conflicts in trade timelines and helps plan stage-by-stage delivery.

For builders, project managers, and developers managing construction or renovation programs.

Trades & Field Services

Maps crew schedules, job assignments, materials lead times, and site visit dependencies across a work program.

For trades businesses and field service operators managing multi-job schedules.

Hospitality & Venues

Plans service flow, shift schedules, venue setup sequences, and operational run-of-show for venue-based operations.

For venue operators, restaurant groups, and accommodation businesses planning service operations.

Client Services & Agencies

Frames delivery scope, client milestones, handoff points, and inter-team coordination across client work programs.

For agencies, consulting firms, and client services teams managing concurrent engagements.

Information Technology & Digital

Understands systems evolution, digital transformation roadmaps, platform migrations, and technology enablement planning at the program level.

For IT teams, digital leads, and transformation programs managing technology change.

Custom Thinking Lenses

— Your own expertise, on demand

When the built-in Functional and Industry packs don't quite match how your team or sector thinks, workspace owners can define their own custom lenses. A custom lens behaves exactly like a built-in persona — Se Ochi applies its expertise to her analysis whenever it is enabled — but its focus and expertise are written by you.

What you can create

Up to 3 custom Functional lenses and 3 custom Industry lenses per workspace
Each lens has a name, short description, icon, and accent colour
Lenses are managed from the AI Agents tab in workspace settings
Only the workspace owner can create or delete custom lenses

Grounding — the lens substance

Grounding is the free-text expertise you write for a lens — the instructions and perspective Se Ochi adopts when that lens is active. Think of it as the brief that tells the AI how to think for this lens.

Good grounding names the methods, vocabulary, and decision rules your team uses — Se Ochi then reads the board through that lens automatically.

How grounding works

1You enable one Functional and/or one Industry lens in the Interaction Panel or via workspace settings
2Se Ochi injects the active lenses' grounding text into her prompt before she reads your board
3She then analyses your cards, axes, and relationships using that specialist perspective
4Each interaction using a custom lens is counted as usage, so owners can see which lenses are most valuable

Plan availability

Custom lenses — together with the Functional and Industry add-on packs — are an Advanced AI feature. They are available on plans that include Advanced AI:

BusinessEnterprise

On the Free and Personal plans, Se Ochi remains available (where AI is enabled) but specialist thinking lenses are locked. Upgrade to Business or Enterprise to unlock custom lenses for your workspace.

Who can manage custom lenses

Only the workspace Owner can create or delete custom lenses. Contributors and viewers can still use any enabled lens in their own Se Ochi conversations, but the lens definitions themselves stay owner-controlled — keeping the shared expertise of your workspace consistent.

Use Cases

Project & program planning

Map milestones, work packages, dependencies, costs, risks, and statuses along a timeline while visualizing totals and trends.

Product design & roadmaps

Reusable templates capture features, assumptions, experiments, and delivery items in a repeatable structure across teams.

Workshop facilitation

Run consistent planning or discovery workshops where participants respond within a structured board rather than a blank whiteboard.

Portfolio modelling

Use child axes for detailed breakdowns and roll up outputs into higher-level portfolio or program views.

Scenario analysis

Model alternative timelines, structures, or grouped measures visually before committing to formal project tooling.

Operating plans

Track recurring metrics, costs, and statuses across teams using consistent templates and roll-up visualizations.

Billing

Billing in One Sequence follows a structured three-step setup process. Once your account is running, you can manage user and AI agent licences as your needs evolve.

All payment processing is handled securely by Stripe — a globally trusted payments platform. Card details are stored exclusively within Stripe and are never held on One Sequence servers.

Select a Plan

Start by completing your subscription profile — this tells us about your organisation type and lets you choose the plan that fits your needs.

Free — get started at no cost with limited users
Personal — for individuals or small teams needing more capacity and features
Business — for organisations requiring multiple users, higher capacity, and advanced controls
Enterprise — for large organisations with custom user counts, premium features, and dedicated support

Add Payment Information

Credit card details are entered securely and stored directly in Stripe — they are never held on the One Sequence platform. This step is restricted to the Billing role only.

Only users with the Billing role can enter or update payment details
Allows a dedicated billing clerk to manage financial information privately
Credit card information is held exclusively within Stripe — not on our platform

Add Users

Once payment is configured, administrators can manage user seat count. Licenses are purchased as a pool — invited users draw from that pool.

Increase or decrease the number of user licenses from the subscription settings
Licenses cannot be decreased below the number of currently active invited users
To reduce seats, disable user accounts first — then reduce the license count
Adding or removing users mid-period is charged at full price; removals take effect from the next billing cycle

Subscription Cancellation

When a subscription is cancelled, the following actions occur at the end of the current billing period:

Platform access is restricted for all users once the cancellation is processed
All subscriptions are cancelled — user licensing and AI agent licensing
Credit card information is permanently removed from Stripe — no company financial data remains outside the platform

Ready to start planning?

Open a workspace and start placing cards on an axis. Structure builds naturally as your thinking evolves.