Nimbus FlowFlow app for Policy, LD & PF
Flow live, speech
doc included.
A free flowing app for Policy, LD, and PF. Insert a block as you flow, then send it to your speech doc with one button — no retyping between speeches.
Free for everyone · macOS, Windows & Linux
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Latest updates
Nimbus ships often and updates itself.
What's in it today
Built for policy, LD and PF. Smart blocks and custom formats headline 1.4 — plus partner flowing and the built-in speech doc.
Smart blocks
Upgraded in 1.5.0 · ExperimentalThe right block, suggested as they speak. Turn it on in Settings → Experimental.
- Upload your files for the round; as they make arguments, Nimbus suggests the blocks that answer them
- Insert drops the whole block into your next speech on that row, already linked
- Files follow your side: your 2AC file answers into the 2AC, your 1AR file into the 1AR
- Off-case pages can list every 2AC block for that position, in order
- Your 2AC in one click. With 2AC off-case on, every off-case page lists its 2AC blocks from your file, and “Send all to doc” puts every page’s 2AC in your speech doc at once, each under its page name. T goes first; drag the pages into whatever order you’ll read them.
- Overviews and File tabs, plus pinned files (T, theory, framework) loaded every round
- Matching runs fully offline
Flowing
- Excel-style grid: columns are speeches, rows are arguments
- Built for policy, LD and PF. Every feature follows the event you’re flowing: LD’s 1AR and NR, PF’s rebuttals, each event’s prep time and speech times on the timer, Contention pages, and PF’s crossfires.
- Keyboard-first, with autocomplete, extension arrows, and undo
- Aff/neg colouring and dropped, star, analytic, and card marks
- Policy, LD, and PF formats, or build your own and switch to it in one click
- Cross-ex sheets with question and answer columns, all under one CX tab
- New pages ask their kind (Advantage, Off-case, Overview, CX) and start at the right column
- A timer that pops out on top of CardMirror, with global shortcuts and a real alarm
Block answer chains
- Every part of an expanded block gets its own row, answerable in every later speech
- Parts are normal cells: mark, colour, star, and use any shortcut
Ctrl+Enteradds a row inside a block
Multi-view
- Stack flows with speech columns aligned, or side by side
- Pick, reorder, and resize the flows on your desk
Power tools
- Excel-style ribbon
- Custom keybinds with conflict warnings
- JavaScript macros
- Range select with the mouse or Shift+arrows, copy as TSV, bulk-mark
Partner flowing
- Join with a 6-character code, approved by email; runs on Nimbus’s own servers
- Share one flow or work separately; partner cells are read-only so nothing gets overwritten
- Choose which side your column sits on in split speeches
- Survives bad wifi: reconnects and keeps offline edits
- The partner button shows green when connected, grey when your partner has Nimbus minimized (still connected, nothing lost), yellow when your own connection is struggling, and red when you’re not connected
The speech doc: CardMirror, inside Nimbus
- Full CardMirror-schema editor with lossless
.docxround-trip - Sends blocks straight to CardMirror 1.5.0+, no plugin
- Send a cell, range, analytic, or whole speech from the flow; re-sending updates instead of duplicating
- Multiple docs, a starred speech doc, and Quick Cards
- Docs are saved per flow
- Answer numbers (experimental; policy, LD and PF). Your 2NC/1NR answers carry the number of the 2AC argument they answer (2AC1, 2AC 2-3), and your 2AC on advantages the 1NC’s. Sending puts them in number order under that heading, however you inserted them. Off unless you turn it on in Settings → Experimental.
Import .docx
- A 1NC becomes off-case sheets; AT/A2 docs match your flows
- Every card is banked for lookup
- CardMirror
.cmirfiles work everywhere.docxdoes;Ctrl+Kopens them from your library
Files and organisation
- Flows save as
.xlsxand still open in Excel - Everything lives in one Nimbus folder in Documents; tournaments are real folders you can drag between
- Delete a flow in one click, drag tournaments to reorder
- Export an HTML round report
Make it yours
- Light, Snow, Paper, Cream, Sky, Mist, Slate, Dark, and Dark · White Doc
- Custom colours, fonts, and sheet tab sizes
- First-run setup picks theme, format, and save location
- Auto-saves and survives updates
Learning Nimbus
- How do I…? The ? button in a flow answers in plain words. Type “drop”, “send to doc” or “two flows at once” and get the steps, your shortcut, and a button that does it for you.
- Ask AI. Ask a question in your own words and get an answer from Nimbus’s own help. It only helps with using the app; it won’t write arguments or blocks. Free, and only your question is sent, never your flows or files.
- Try a sample round. A filled-in practice flow to click around in before your first real round.
Ctrl+V always works as a fallback if you'd rather paste by hand.
Paper’s strengths,
a laptop’s speed.
Everything paper does well, at the speed of a laptop.
- See the whole round. Put several flows side by side or stacked, and move arguments around the way you would on paper.
- Fast everywhere. Every action has a shortcut, it opens instantly, and it works fully offline, because tournament wifi can’t be trusted.
- Doc-aware. A full CardMirror speech doc is built in, and you can import
.docxspeech docs.
Get Nimbus
Mac
Apple Silicon by default. Running an older Intel Mac? Grab that build below instead.
Download for MacLinux
AppImage — download it, mark it executable, and run it. No install step.
Download for LinuxWhich system are you opening it on?
Opening Nimbus on macOS
- 01Open the downloaded
.dmgand drag Nimbus into Applications. - 02In Applications, right-click Nimbus and choose Open, then confirm.
- 03If macOS still says the app is damaged, open Terminal and run
xattr -cr /Applications/Nimbus.app, then open it again.
Opening Nimbus on Windows
- 01Run the downloaded
_x64-setup.exe. - 02If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click More info, then Run anyway. Builds aren’t signed yet, so this is expected.
Opening Nimbus on Linux
- 01Make the AppImage executable:
chmod +x Nimbus_*.AppImage(or tick “Allow executing” in its file properties). - 02Double-click it, or run
./Nimbus_*.AppImage.
Acknowledgements
Nimbus is built on other people’s work. Here’s who to thank.
Inspiration and credits
Nimbus’s speech doc is CardMirror, built by Anthony Trufanov. Its editor, .docx import and export, and document schema are used directly, so highlighting, underlining, emphasis and the lossless .docx round-trip behave exactly like CardMirror, because they are its code. Nimbus wouldn’t have a trustworthy speech doc without his work. If Nimbus is useful to you, please support CardMirror too.
Nimbus was also inspired by Halcyon and its creators, Jimmy Li, Russell Howard and Wallace Arney, whose idea of building tools directly off the flow shaped this project.
And thank you to everyone who tested Nimbus and sent feedback along the way. It’s a better app because of you.
License and notices
Nimbus is free to download and use, and is licensed for noncommercial use only. Because its speech doc is CardMirror, Nimbus follows CardMirror's PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0: you may use it at no cost, but it may not be sold or used for any commercial purpose.
Required notice: Copyright © 2026 Anthony Trufanov. CardMirror is built on ProseMirror, the rich-text editor framework by Marijn Haverbeke, used under the MIT License. ProseMirror's copyright notices are preserved in the project's node_modules/ and acknowledged in the README. The application's interface icons are from the Untitled UI free icons, © Untitled UI, used under their free license. Third-party attributions and license terms are collected in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.
Questions
Yes. Flow the round, insert blocks, and send them to CardMirror all from the same window, with no separate doc-building step between speeches.
Only if you want blocks sent into CardMirror desktop. Nimbus connects to CardMirror desktop directly (1.5.0 or newer) and sends blocks into whichever doc is open in that window, in the background while you keep working. No plugin to install.
Free for everyone, full stop — no trial, no paid tier.
No. Nimbus has a full CardMirror-style speech doc built in, so you can flow and build a ready-to-read doc without installing anything else. If you already use CardMirror, Nimbus works directly with it — no plugin required — so your blocks go straight into your active doc there too.
Only to keep a rough count of how many people use Nimbus, which helps decide what to build next. Your email is not used for anything else. See the privacy note for details.
Who's building this
Avi Sawhney
Founder, App Lead
Adam Haq
Development Lead
Reian Ghelani
Web Lead
Keep Nimbus free
Nimbus is free, and it’s staying that way. Partner flowing runs on servers that cost money every month. If Nimbus has helped you, you can chip in to keep them running.
Support Nimbus