# Node-RED Flow X-Ray – a small tool for inspecting large flows

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-flow-x-ray-a-small-tool-for-inspecting-large-flows/101676>\
**Category:** Share Your Nodes\
**Created:** [23 August 2026 16:42 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-flow-x-ray-a-small-tool-for-inspecting-large-flows/101676 "2026-08-23T16:42:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

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**Author:** ![CincellaAiazzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@CincellaAiazzi](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/CincellaAiazzi)\
**Post date:** [24 August 2026 07:59 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/node-red-flow-x-ray-a-small-tool-for-inspecting-large-flows/101676/3 "2026-08-24T07:59:59Z")

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I agree. I think this is probably the main limitation of the current standalone approach.

The choice was deliberate for this first version: no installation, no changes to Node-RED, and the ability to analyse any exported project locally and read-only.

There is also a little bit of history behind that choice.

On 16 July I published **Find+** , a Node-RED editor plugin that provided a much more extensive search capability directly inside the editor.

[https://discourse.nodered.org/t/find-advanced-search-sidebar-for-the-node-red-editor/101479](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/find-advanced-search-sidebar-for-the-node-red-editor/101479)

It was specifically created to address what I still consider to be an objective limitation of the current built-in search, particularly when working with large projects and trying to locate exact values, strings or code patterns.

So in that case I did take the integrated approach.

The project received a few likes, but no technical feedback or evaluation — including from the maintainer — despite addressing a limitation of the editor itself.

For Flow X-Ray I therefore deliberately chose a different technical approach: keep it completely independent from Node-RED and make it usable simply by opening an HTML file and loading an exported project.

That obviously comes with exactly the drawback you pointed out: once X-Ray finds something interesting, you still have to switch back to the Node-RED editor and locate the node there.

An integrated editor/sidebar version would definitely provide a better workflow, and technically it is certainly possible — Find+ already demonstrated that approach.

If Flow X-Ray proves useful to people, editor integration could therefore be one of the most interesting directions for a future version.

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