Flowing
What Flowing is
Flowing is a desktop writing environment for researchers and students working from reference PDFs. Its editor supports rich text and LaTeX with a live PDF preview, while imported PDFs are stored and indexed on the user’s device rather than uploaded in full by default. Recall surfaces relevant passages as cards linked to their original pages. Evidence Cards flag contradiction, direct support, or useful qualification in retrieved passages, although these checks do not guarantee completeness. A bibliography sidebar lets writers insert library citations with @. AI requests may send prompts, manuscript context, matched passages, and attached text or figures through Flowing’s backend to third-party models; the privacy page names DeepSeek and Kimi. Automatic web recommendations are off by default. Flowing runs on macOS and Windows, includes publishing tools and standard exports, and offers email and Discord support. Plans include Free and paid tiers from $5 per month.
Who it suits
Flowing is aimed at literature reviews, thesis chapters, and long-form academic writing where citations and source fidelity matter. It suits users working with PDF libraries on macOS or Windows.
What it does well
- Rich-text and LaTeX editor with PDF preview
- Stores and indexes PDFs locally by default
- Recall links passages to original pages
- Bibliography citations inserted with @
- Free plan available
What to know first
- AI requests can send manuscript context externally
- Evidence checks do not guarantee completeness
- Published retention commitments are not yet available
- Automatic web recommendations are off by default
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Go | $5/ mo · 1M AI tokens each month · everything in Free · Evidence Cards (10/month) | $5 a month |
| Pro | $10/ mo · 4M AI tokens each month · everything in Go · automatic Evidence Cards billed from monthly pool | $10 a month |
| Pro+ | $30/ mo · 16M AI tokens each month · strongest model options · automatic Evidence Cards billed from monthly pool | $30 a month |
| Free | $0/ mo · 120K AI tokens each month · local PDF library and on-device indexing · unlimited manual keyword search · limited AI features | Free |
| 3M token pack | $12 · 3,000,000 AI tokens · $4.00/M | $12, paid once |
| 10M token pack | $35 · 10,000,000 AI tokens · $3.50/M | $35, paid once |
| 1M token pack | $5 · 1,000,000 AI tokens · $5.00/M | $5, paid once |
As flowing.works lists them, read 11 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Verdict
Flowing combines source-linked retrieval, citation tools, and academic writing features in a desktop workspace. Review its AI data handling and evidence-check limits before choosing a paid tier.
Facts from Flowing's own pages
- AI processing
- AI requests can send prompts, manuscript context, matched passages, and manually attached text or figures through Flowing's backend to third-party models. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Audience
- Flowing is aimed at literature reviews, thesis chapters, and long-form academic writing where citations and source fidelity matter. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Compliance limits
- The maker says published retention commitments for request bodies and model providers, a DPA, and a full sub-processor retention schedule are not yet available. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Evidence checks
- Evidence Cards mark contradiction red, direct support green, and useful qualification yellow; checks cover retrieved passages and do not guarantee completeness. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Export formats
- standard · flowing.works, 22 Sept 2026
- Free plan
- Yes · flowing.works, 22 Sept 2026
- Integrations
- The maker's pages describe OpenAlex metadata verification for recommended works and Stripe processing for plans and prepaid token packs. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Local library
- Imported reference PDFs are stored and indexed on the user's device, and the full PDF library is not uploaded by default. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Models
- The privacy page names DeepSeek for keyword recall and Kimi (Moonshot) for Ask, polish, and figures. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Product
- Flowing is a desktop writing environment for researchers and students that grounds AI assistance in their selected reference PDFs. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Publishing tools
- Yes · flowing.works, 22 Sept 2026
- Recall
- Recall surfaces relevant PDF passages as cards linked directly to the original page. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- References
- Flowing provides a bibliography sidebar and lets users insert citations from their library with @. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Security
- Flowing says requests are proxied over HTTPS and that users do not add their own API keys. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Support
- The maker offers help by email and through its Discord community. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Web recommendations
- Automatic web paper recommendations are off by default; keywords are sent to the recommendation service, and paragraph text is sent only if the user opts in. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
- Writing
- The editor supports rich text and LaTeX with a live PDF preview. · flowing.works, 11 Oct 2026
Where Flowing stands on Freedom251
- Writing Apps#55 of 135