Questions
Frequently asked questions
Everything you might want to know about Outwin — the free, local-first whiteboard for engineers who work with AI. No account, no servers, no surprises.
Cost & access
Is Outwin free?
Yes. Outwin is completely free, with no account, no payment, no trial, and no ads. Just open the canvas and start.
What's the catch — will it stay free?
There's no catch today: no account, no paywall, no upsell, and no ads. Because Outwin runs entirely in your browser, there are no servers holding your work and nothing to lose if anything ever changes — your boards live on your own device, and an exported board is a self-contained HTML file you keep forever. We'd rather be honest than promise specifics we can't guarantee, so: free, local, and yours.
Do I need to sign up or create an account?
No. There's no sign-up, login, or email required. The canvas opens instantly and your work saves automatically in your browser.
Privacy & your data
Where is my data stored? Is it private?
Your boards live only in your browser's local storage, on your own machine. There's no server and no account, so nothing you draw is ever uploaded to us — it's private by design. See the Privacy Policy for the full picture.
Does Outwin work offline?
Yes. After the first load, Outwin runs entirely in your browser, so it keeps working offline. Your boards are stored locally on your device, ready whenever you are.
Local-first means local-first. No telemetry of your diagrams, no cloud sync, no "share link" that quietly stores a copy on a server. The trade-off: clearing your browser storage clears your boards — so export anything you want to keep.
AI & exports
What does an "AI-readable export" mean, and how do I use it with ChatGPT or Claude?
An Outwin export is plain, open HTML that carries a machine-readable description of your diagram. You can drag that .html file straight into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to explain the system, generate Terraform, or write docs — no screenshots or plugins needed. More on AI export →
Can I re-open or import an exported board?
Yes — the HTML export round-trips. Open it in Outwin to keep editing exactly where you left off, and the very same file also opens as a clean, standalone page in any browser. One file is your editable source, your shareable artifact, and the version an AI can read.
Can I export a diagram as a PNG image?
Yes. Alongside the AI-readable HTML export, Outwin can export your board as a PNG image for slides, docs, or sharing.
How do I share a board with someone?
Export it and send the file. The HTML export opens in any browser and re-opens in Outwin for editing; the PNG export drops straight into slides, docs, or a chat message. There are no links or logins to manage — sharing is just sending a file.
Using the canvas
How do I add things to the canvas?
Press / anywhere to open the command menu and add text, boxes, lists, code, icons, link cards, and images. You can also paste a URL to create a link card, paste an image, or use the ghost suggestion pills that appear beside any block — click one and a connected child appears with the arrow drawn for you. The full list is on the shortcuts page.
Which icons are built in?
Outwin ships with over 1,100 official cloud service icons — 302 AWS, 628 Azure, and 216 GCP — plus 660 tech and brand logos such as Claude, OpenAI, React, and Postgres. Type / and search, or jump to a provider with /aws, /azure, or /gcp.
Does Outwin lay diagrams out for me?
Yes. Smart auto-layout keeps boxes from overlapping and tidies spacing as your diagram grows, so you can think about the system instead of nudging rectangles. Spawn a child from a ghost pill and the connecting arrow is drawn for you.
Platform & support
Which browsers does Outwin support?
Any modern desktop browser — Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari. Outwin is desktop-first and built around a real pointer and keyboard, so a laptop or desktop browser gives you the full experience.
Is there a mobile app, and does Outwin work on phones?
There's no mobile app — Outwin is a website that's desktop-first. It opens on phones and small tablets, but the full canvas is built for the precision of a real pointer and keyboard, so the experience there is limited.
Can I collaborate with teammates in real time?
No. Outwin is a single-user, local-first canvas — there are no accounts, shared rooms, or live cursors. To collaborate, export the board and send the file; a teammate can open it in any browser or re-open it in Outwin to keep editing.
Still curious? Just open it.
No sign-up, no install — the canvas loads in a second and your first diagram is a keystroke away.
Open the canvas