The controls reference
Every press,
accounted for.
The field guide teaches strategy; this page is the map. Every control in the app, what it does, and whether it spends. The rule is simple and never hidden: if a press makes the engine do generative work, it spends in proportion to that work — small checks cost little, full reads are the bulk. If it doesn't, it's free.
Journeys live in memory. Switching doors, opening Account or Help, or closing the tab discards the current reading — Copy or Share anything you want to keep. The Flint wordmark opens the marketing site in a new tab for exactly this reason, and if you try to close the tab mid-press, the app warns you first (a few mobile browsers skip this warning).
The doors
Four ways in, all free to switch between — but switching clears the journey in progress.
Start cold; Flint deals the collision.
FreeStart from a resource you're committed to.
FreeStart from a bleed worth solving.
FreeStart from an idea you already hold.
FreeStriking
Spark and Asset doors. A strike deals a pairing — Resource × Move — and the trio of altitudes under it.
Deals a resource, a move you wouldn't pair with it, and three altitudes to read at.
SpendsAsset door. Your resource is checked first; if it passes, the engine deals against it. A rejected input stops at the check.
SpendsOpening the picker is free; committing a different resource re-deals the trio.
DependsBrowsing and picking a move from the catalog is free until you read. Typing your own move gets a small check.
DependsThe trio
Every dealt instance arrives at three altitudes — Broad, Focused, Specific. The field guide explains when to read each.
Selects the altitude to read. Selection is free; the read is the spend.
FreeRe-deals that level and the levels nested inside it, holding the pairing and wider levels fixed.
SpendsThe level becomes the new Broad, with sharper angles dealt beneath it.
SpendsTyping is free; your phrasing gets a small check when committed.
DependsThe reading panel
Where a selected instance becomes a graded business.
Browsing verbs is free. Typing your own verb gets a small check.
DependsSets how the next read runs — the plain business or the surprising one. The toggle itself costs nothing.
FreeThe interpreter writes the business; the walled-off grader judges it cold. This is the core spend.
SpendsThe graded card
A verdict is a beginning. Everything below the grade is a hunt control.
Your market name is checked, then the same idea is re-judged against it. Edge is local.
SpendsRe-reads the same coordinates in the other register — the first rescue for a tame straight read.
SpendsFirst open translates the reading — a small spend. It's cached on the card, so reopening is free. Never re-reads or re-grades.
DependsTyping is free; applying re-grades exactly what you wrote, and the card is marked edited.
DependsFeedback only — it never changes a grade, and it never spends.
FreeTakes the reading with you. Journeys live in memory — use these before you move on.
FreeEvolve — the twist
One twist at a time, re-judged by the walled-off grader. Spark and Asset ideas can fuse or restructure; a pain-anchored idea restructures only — its pain is held, so there's nothing to fuse.
Browsing resource buckets and move families is free until something is applied.
FreePicking a bucket deals instances to fuse (a spend); its ↻ and ⤓ work like the main trio. Fusing one re-reads and re-grades the new collision.
SpendsSame ingredients, different architecture — who pays, who owns, when money moves — re-read and re-graded.
SpendsThe twist has its own Straight / Inventive toggle. Setting it is free.
FreeRemoving the twist you just applied is an instant, free revert. Removing an earlier twist re-reads with what remains.
DependsThe pain door
You hold the pain; Flint throws resources against it.
Your pain is gated for stranded fit — rooted in who, where, or what — before anything is dealt. A rejected pain stops at the gate.
SpendsDealt against the held pain at the same three altitudes, with the same ↻ / ⤓ / + controls. Swapping the bucket re-deals.
SpendsThe edited pain is re-gated and the resource re-thrown against it.
SpendsThe sharpener
The fourth door grades your idea cold, decomposes it, then offers three hunt moves — the field guide explains which to reach for when.
The cold grade plus the decomposition into load-bearing dimensions.
SpendsA fresh, more surprising angle on the same idea — holds the anchor, excludes what you've already seen.
SpendsTwo presses in practice: dealing alternative moves against the held dimension spends, and reading the one you pick spends again.
SpendsThe chooser opens free — pick the dimension to add; the added dimension's re-read and re-grade is the spend.
DependsYour rewritten idea is re-analyzed from cold.
SpendsHousekeeping
Nothing here spends.
Clears the current journey for that door.
FreeYour balance is always on screen; Buy credits opens the purchase page.
FreeFree — but Account and Help leave the app page, which discards an in-memory journey. Copy first.
FreeNow you know every lever.
The demo on the homepage plays a full hunt free. Your own hunt starts at a dollar.
Start for $1