Internal guide · SearchFlex Studio
Everything the team needs to brief, build, review and publish a SearchFlex page — from opening the form to the moment it goes live.
Studio turns a brief into a finished, client-branded interactive page and publishes it at <name>.searchflex.com. You fill in a form at studio.searchflex.com, an AI builder writes the page (usually 15 to 20 minutes), an automatic QA check tests it, and you review it, request changes, then publish with one click.
Pitches, strategies, audits, reports, roadmaps, migrations and proposals that will be presented or clicked through.
For an internal note or a document people will edit, use a doc — not a Studio page.
Access is role-based, and Studio pulls real content from what you give it — so a bit of prep pays off.
Sign in with your @searchflex.com Google account. Other accounts are refused.
Studio is in pilot. Everyone at SearchFlex can see every page and leave amends on pages they edit, but only people on the builder list can start a build, send amends or publish. Ask Matt to be added.
The person who created it, people they invite on the page, or everyone if the owner ticks “Let anyone at SearchFlex edit this page.”
Have these ready before you open the form:
The client's website address. The builder pulls their colours, type, logo and live facts from it.
A clear overview of what the page is for and how it will be used. This matters more than anything else.
The client's logo as SVG or a transparent PNG, if you have it.
Source material: briefs, decks, sheets, PDFs — up to 25 MB each.
Real figures only. Anything the builder can't verify is flagged TBC, never invented.
Twelve steps from a blank form to a page that's building itself.
Go to studio.searchflex.com and click New page.
Fill in Page title, Client and Client website.
Pick the Page type: Pitch, Strategy, Audit, Report, Roadmap, Migration, Proposal or Other.
Fill in What's this page for? Describe the page and how it will be used. Be specific: this is the most useful thing you give the builder.
Pick Its one job (Win sign-off, Sell a strategy, Report results, Brief a team, Pitch new work) or type your own, and say who the Audience is.
Choose the Subdomain. Studio checks it as you type and shows a tick when it's free. Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only.
Choose the branding: Client brand, SearchFlex twist for pitches and strategies about their business, or Pure SearchFlex for agency-led programmes and pitches from us.
Choose the treatment: Polished (right for most pages) or Editorial (a flagship with one signature interactive moment).
Upload logo (the client's). If you skip it, the builder tries their website and asks you if it can't find one.
Drop your Source material files in, and add any Notes for the builder.
Choose who can see it once live: Anyone with the link or Only people I list. You can change this later.
Click Spin it up. Nothing is built until you do.
What a run costs, as an example: the Varley test build on 3 Nov took 17 minutes and about $4 of AI time. A publish takes about a minute and costs nothing extra.
When a build finishes you'll see “Version N is ready to review.” Every version has passed the QA check before you see it: no external files, both logos present, light and dark themes, no sideways scrolling on phone, tablet or desktop, and reduced-motion support.
Read the preview. Switch between Desktop, Tablet and Mobile, and Light and Dark.
Check anything flagged TBC on the Versions tab. These are figures the builder couldn't verify. Each one has two buttons:
Both go to the builder with your next batch of amends. Each item then shows its status: not sent yet, with builder, done, or not done. Clear every TBC before a client sees the page.
To ask for a change, click Comment, then click the part of the page it's about. Write the amend, attach a file if needed, and click Add amend. Press Esc to stop pinning.
Collect several amends first. One run handles them all.
Click Send N amends to the builder. It builds the next version. Each amend comes back marked applied or declined, with the builder's reply.
The page tabs:
Open and past amends.
Every version, its QA result and TBC list.
What you submitted, plus Add files for the next run.
Who can see it live.
Every run.
Only versions that passed QA can be published. To update a live page, send amends as usual, review the new version, then publish the latest one.
Open the page and click Publish (or Publish vN to update a live page to the latest version).
It takes about a minute. The page shows Publishing…, then the live address with Open live.
A brand-new subdomain can take a few minutes before it loads everywhere. If the log says the live check couldn't reach it yet, wait and try the link again.
Who can see it. Set this on the Access tab, then Save and apply:
Public on its subdomain. Right for most client pages.
Visitors get a one-time code by email. Add specific emails, or whole domains such as client.com. SearchFlex staff can always get in. Not switched on yet — see Admin below.
Published pages are hidden from search engines.
The Log tab lists every run with its status and error, which is the first thing to share when asking for help.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub pulled the build machine part-way through | GitHub's servers dropped the build. Nothing to do with your brief. | Nothing. Studio retries once by itself. If it happens twice, click Try again. |
| The build didn't finish / the builder hit an error | The builder stopped before producing a page. | Click Try again. It picks up from its notes. If it fails again, tell Matt. |
| The builder ran out of steps / may have hit its 45-minute limit | The brief was too big for one run. | Click Try again, or trim the brief and source files. |
| The page failed the QA gate (and the check names) | The page broke a house rule, for example a missing logo. | Click Try again; the builder fixes exactly that. If it's the client logo, add the logo file on the Brief tab first. |
| A … run is already in progress | Another run on this page hasn't finished. | Wait for it. A run stuck for over two hours is released automatically on your next try. |
| …searchflex.com is already in use | That subdomain belongs to another site. | Pick a different subdomain. Never reuse a client's existing live subdomain. |
| The Studio is in pilot: only allowlisted builders can start runs | You're not on the builder list. | Your amends are saved. Ask Matt to add you or send them. |
| Publishing didn't work (with a Cloudflare error) | The publish step was refused by Cloudflare. | Send the message to Matt. The previous live version is unchanged. |
Six rules that keep every page honest and safe to publish.
Give the builder real numbers and sources. Anything it can't verify is flagged TBC; clear every TBC before a client sees the page.
Every page carries the SearchFlex logo and the client's. A build without both fails QA.
If a page for that client already lives somewhere, choose a new subdomain.
Each run costs time and money, so send several changes together.
Don't put passwords, keys or private client data in briefs or notes.
Only click It's right if you have actually checked the figure. Your name is recorded against it.
Who to ask, and what's still pending.
Matt adds people to the builder list. Until then you can create and brief pages, leave amends and answer questions, and a builder sends them on.
Not switched on yet. Choosing “Only people I list” will fail to publish until Zero Trust Access permissions are added to Studio's Cloudflare token. Use “Anyone with the link” for now.
Finished or abandoned pages can be archived from the page's Housekeeping section. Archiving hides the page in Studio; it doesn't take the live site down.
Message Matt with the page's address and what the Log tab shows.