Watchflows is on Setapp: what the Setapp edition includes

Watchflows is on Setapp as of today. If you are a Setapp member, open the Setapp app, search for Watchflows, click Install, and you have the same app I ship on watchflows.app: the canvas, every node, the Flow Builder, triggers that keep running with the window closed. The one thing it adds is Setapp AI, so the AI parts work with nothing to set up but a sign-in.

This post is the long version: what Setapp is, what the Setapp edition includes and leaves out, how Setapp AI is paid for, how the pricing compares with buying direct, and who to ask when something goes wrong.

What Setapp is

Setapp is a subscription from MacPaw. One membership gives you a catalog of Mac apps, installed from the Setapp app and updated by it. None of the apps asks for its own licence key or account. Plans start at $14.99 a month for one Mac, every plan comes with a 7-day free trial and a monthly allowance of AI credits, and the current plans are on setapp.com/pricing.

If you already pay for Setapp, Watchflows is now part of what you get. If you do not, the direct download is still $49 once, and nothing about it changes.

What is the same

It is one codebase. The engine, every node, the triggers, the canvas, Forms, the Flow Builder, AI Agents, the MCP server and the Community Flows screen are the same in both editions, and a flow built in one opens in the other. Your own AI providers work in both: Ollama and LM Studio on this Mac, Apple Intelligence, a Claude or ChatGPT subscription through its own command line tool, or an API key from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google or OpenRouter.

What is different

Three of those deserve a sentence.

Updates. The Setapp edition has no update checker of its own. Setapp delivers new versions the way it does for every app in the catalog, and Settings, General says so where the direct download shows its last check.

The public webhook relay. The direct download can take a webhook from the internet through our relay at hooks.watchflows.app, which is part of Watchflows Cloud. The Setapp edition has no Cloud, so the Public Webhook trigger is not in its palette. The plain Webhook trigger, which listens on your Mac or your local network, is in both.

Community Flows. The Setapp edition browses the catalog and installs flows from it. Submitting your own flow to the catalog needs a direct licence, so that button is not there. The Editions page in the docs keeps the full list current.

Setapp AI

Setapp AI is MacPaw's hosted AI gateway. In the Setapp edition it is an AI provider like any other, with one difference: there is no key to paste. You sign in with your Setapp account once, and from then on the Flow Builder and every AI node can use it.

What it costs is credits, not dollars. Every Setapp plan includes a monthly allowance of AI credits, and a run that uses Setapp AI draws on them. Watchflows shows the credits available on the provider tile, and a flow's cost line reads "Setapp credits" instead of a dollar figure. If the membership runs out, the AI step stops with "No Setapp AI credits on this membership." and a link to add more; the rest of the flow is untouched. Point that node at a local model such as Ollama and it keeps working with no credits at all.

You pick the model on the tile. Setapp AI offers models from several providers, named with the provider in front, so openai/gpt-5-mini and a Claude or Gemini model sit in the same list. Change it per node in the inspector, or change the default for every new node in Settings.

Installing it, and the first run

1. Open the Setapp app.
2. Search for Watchflows.
3. Click Install.

Watchflows lands in your Applications folder like every Setapp app and opens on its first run. There is no trial pill and no plan screen: your membership is the licence.

The first run looks around your Mac for AI you already have. In the Setapp edition the scan lists Setapp AI first, and because Setapp is signed in, it is already green.

Click Connect Setapp AI, approve the sign-in, and Watchflows asks the model one short question to prove the connection works before it moves on to building your first flow. You sign in once. After that, every AI step can use it.

Where to get help

Two companies are involved now, so here is who handles what.

• Setapp support handles your membership: billing, plans, AI credits, installing and updating apps, and signing in. Reach them from the Setapp app or at support.setapp.com.
• Watchflows handles the app itself: a node that does not do what the docs say, a flow that errors, a feature request. Help, Send Feedback inside the app sends straight to me. The Setapp edition never asks for your email on that form (a Setapp rule), so if you want an answer, write to hello@watchflows.app instead, or ask in the Discord from Help, Join the Community on Discord.
• The docs are the same for both editions at watchflows.app/docs. A page about a direct-only feature says so under its title.

If you bought Watchflows directly

Nothing changes for you. The direct download stays exactly as it is: $49 once, updates through the app, your licence key, the public webhook relay, Community Flows submissions, and Watchflows AI if you want our hosted AI. Your flows open in either edition.

If you would rather pay monthly and get a few hundred other Mac apps with it, Setapp is now a way to run Watchflows. Pick the one that fits how you buy software.

A first flow to try

Here is the one I would build first with Setapp AI connected. Every PDF that lands in Downloads gets read, summarized in five bullets, and filed as a note in Apple Notes under the file's name. Paste this into the Flow Builder:

Watchflows drafts the five nodes, wires them, and explains each one. Turn it on and the next PDF you download has a note waiting.