Building an onboarding branch with Theo

Updated 28 October 2026

Go to Onboarding Portal in the sidebar.

Theo drafts an onboarding branch from a plain English description. You chat with Theo on the left of the screen while the application your clients will see updates on the right. When a change is quicker to make yourself, you edit the draft's steps by hand on the same screen, then keep chatting.

Nothing reaches your portal until you select Save branch, so you can try ideas freely.

Before you start

You need the Manage Onboarding Portal or Manage My Onboarding Flows permission. With Manage My Onboarding Flows you work on your own branches only. If you can't open Onboarding Portal, ask an admin for access.
Theo must be switched on for your workspace. If Build with Theo isn't offered when you select New Branch, it isn't available to you yet.
Each message you send Theo uses AI credits from your workspace's monthly pool. Hand edits use none and keep working when credits run out. See Using the Lend1 AI copilot.

Start a new branch with Theo

Step 1: Choose Build with Theo

Select New Branch, then Build with Theo at the top left of the dialog. Theo opens straight away.
If you started a draft earlier, open Theo drafts in the dialog, select your draft, then Resume with Theo to pick up where you left off.

Step 2: Describe the branch

Under What are you building?, describe the product, who it is for, and anything to ask or skip. A suggestion such as Equipment finance for tradies fills the message box so you can edit it before sending.
Theo drafts the branch's name, flows and questions, and the preview shows the application as your client will see it.

Step 3: Refine it in the chat

Type a change in the Ask for a change box, for example "only ask for payslips if they are employees".
Each change comes with a card listing the steps added, changed, moved or removed, and any conditions in plain English.
When a reply includes a Theo assumed list, open it and select Change this beside an assumption to start a message that corrects it.

Change an existing branch with Theo

Open the tab of a branch you can edit and select Edit with Theo in the bar at the bottom of the page. Save or discard any unsaved changes first.
The draft starts as the branch is saved now. Ask for changes or edit by hand exactly as for a new branch.

Check the preview and outline

When the branch has more than one flow, use the flow picker above the preview to switch flows. The co-applicant flow isn't shown in the builder.
Switch between Preview, Outline and Edit. Outline lists the flow's steps in order, with conditions in plain English, and marks the last change's steps Added, Changed, Moved or Removed.
Move through the preview by answering it, or with the left and right arrow keys. Open in new tab opens it in its own browser tab.
When the draft changes, the preview keeps your answers and stays on the step you were looking at.

Edit the draft by hand

Step 1: Open the Edit view

Select Edit above the preview. It shows the normal flow editor for the flow in the flow picker.
Or, in Outline, select the pencil beside a step to open that step's settings in the Edit view.

Step 2: Make your changes

Use Configure, Add Step, drag to reorder and Delete Step, as on the Onboarding Portal page. See Customising your Onboarding Portal.
Select Save Changes in a step's dialog to keep that edit. The Edit toggle shows a dot while your edits are not applied.

Step 3: Apply or discard your edits

Select Apply changes to add all your edits to the draft as one change. If an edit isn't allowed, for example a condition that no longer works, the reasons are listed under the buttons.
Select Discard to drop them.

While edits are unapplied, the chat, Undo, Start over, Save branch and the flow picker are locked with the message Apply or discard your edits first.

Once applied, the chat shows a row reading You edited '[flow name]' by hand. with its own change card. Theo isn't told about the edit, but works from the draft as it is now, including your edits, so the next change builds on them.

Edit the step on screen

In Preview, go to the step you want and select Edit this step. Make the change and select Save Changes. It applies straight away and adds its own row to the chat.

When Edit this step is unavailable, hover over it to see why.

Below is a table of each reason and what it means.

Reason	What it means
Switch to Preview to pick a step	You are in Outline or Edit.
Theo is changing the draft	Wait for Theo's reply to finish.
Apply or discard your edits first	The Edit view has edits you haven't applied.
The welcome screen is edited in the builder after you save	The preview is on the welcome screen or the screen where your client picks a flow.
This step is not in the draft	The preview is showing a step the current draft doesn't have.

What you can't edit by hand

The welcome screen, the branch's name, description and icon, and adding or removing whole flows. Ask Theo, or change them on the Onboarding Portal page after you save.
A flow made with Create with Theo in the Add Flow dialog. Add it to the branch, then edit it in the normal editor.

Undo, start over or save

Undo steps back one change at a time, whether Theo or you made it.
Start over clears the chat. For a new branch it clears the draft; for an existing branch it takes the draft back to the branch as saved.
Save branch writes the draft to your portal. A new branch is saved switched off, so turn it on under Branch Status when it's ready. If the branch was changed elsewhere while you worked, a Branch changed dialog offers Reload, which loads the saved branch into the draft. Undo can still take you back to Theo's last draft.

Congratulations! Your branch is built, checked in the preview and saved, ready to switch on and share.