Translation Guide

Translation converts diagram outputs into ready-to-use Nocarta configurations. When you analyze a diagram in a Notebook, Translation lets you turn the visual structure into actionable Nocarta objects with a single click.

What Is Translation?

After Nocarta analyzes a diagram (flowchart, process map, architecture diagram, etc.), Translation takes the structured output and converts it into one of several Nocarta configuration types. Instead of manually recreating what the diagram describes, Translation does it automatically.

Example: You photograph a whiteboard flowchart describing a login process. Nocarta analyzes the diagram, then Translation converts it into a fully configured Automation with navigate, fill, and click steps — ready to execute.

The "Convert to..." Menu

After a diagram has been analyzed, a "Convert to..." menu appears in the diagram output panel. This menu lists all available translation targets.

How to Use It

Open a Notebook and upload or capture an image containing a diagram
Run the diagram analysis (the AI will identify the structure, nodes, and connections)
Once analysis is complete, click the "Convert to..." button
Select your desired target from the dropdown
Review the generated configuration and save it

Available Targets

Target	What It Creates	Best For
Automation	A browser automation with steps derived from diagram nodes	Process flows, login sequences, multi-step procedures
Form Template	A form template with fields mapped from diagram elements	Data collection diagrams, form layouts, entity-relationship diagrams
Doc Prep Recipe	A Document Preparation recipe for processing PDFs and images	Document processing pipelines, extraction automations
Prompt Template	A prompt template with variables extracted from diagram nodes	AI prompt chains, decision trees, question flows

Browser Script Mode

For advanced users building API integrations, Translation supports Browser Script mode. This mode produces a NAL browser script — HTTP requests via http get/http post verbs — that runs in your browser and can interact with external APIs and web services.

When to Use Browser Script Mode

You need to call external REST APIs as part of an automation
The diagram describes an API integration flow
You want to generate HTTP requests from a sequence diagram
You need custom logic (variables, conditions, loops) between requests

How It Works

Analyze your diagram as usual
Select "Convert to..." → Automation
In the conversion options, enable Browser Script mode
The generated automation will be a NAL browser script with http requests, response parsing, and data transformation

Tip: Browser Scripts run directly in your own browser tab — no desktop app required — and send HTTP requests straight to the hosts you allow.

Where the requests go

HTTP commands in a Browser Script go directly from your browser to the target. The request itself is not relayed through Nocarta — the API you chose receives it from your browser, and Nocarta never sees the call or the response.

To be clear about what that does and doesn't mean: your notebooks and the text extracted from them are stored in your Nocarta account, as you'd expect. What stays out of Nocarta is the outgoing request — so if a script sends an API key along with your data, that key is never handled by our servers.

Two things follow from that:

The target has to allow it. Browsers block cross-origin requests unless the target opts in with an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. That is easy on an API you control, and impossible on one you don't — for those, use a desktop automation instead, which runs on your machine and has no such restriction.
You list the hosts. Each automation carries the hosts it is allowed to contact. Anything else is blocked before the request is made, so a script cannot quietly send your data somewhere you did not intend.

Execution Monitor

When running Browser Scripts, the Execution Monitor panel shows real-time step-by-step execution. You can inspect each request and response, see error classifications, and pause or stop execution at any point.

The monitor is especially useful for debugging API integrations — you can see exactly what data was sent and received at each step.

Tips

Clean diagrams work best — use clear labels, distinct shapes, and visible connections
Flowcharts translate naturally to Automations — each node becomes a step, each arrow defines the order
Entity diagrams map well to Form Templates — each entity becomes a field group
Review before saving — Translation generates a draft; always review and adjust the configuration before using it
Combine with secrets — after translating a login flow to an Automation, bind secrets for credential injection

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
"Convert to..." not visible	Ensure the diagram has been analyzed first. The menu only appears after analysis is complete.
Translation produces empty result	The diagram may not have enough recognizable structure. Try a clearer image with labeled nodes.
Wrong target type generated	Select a different target from the menu. Different diagram styles map better to different targets.
Browser Script has errors	Review the generated NAL script. You may need to adjust URLs or API endpoints for your use case.