> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usecustory.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Customer journeys

> Design useful customer journeys, keep them current, and use them to guide decisions from real customer evidence.

Use this page when you want to turn a broad customer flow into a working map.

A journey gives your team one shared view of how a customer moves through the product. It is not a static diagram. It is a working map where the team captures what customers experience, what evidence supports that view, and what should happen next.

## What this is

A journey is one customer flow the team wants to understand or improve.

Good first journeys are narrow enough to maintain and specific enough to guide decisions.

Examples:

* New user onboarding
* Activation
* Trial to paid
* Support escalation
* Renewal

Avoid a broad first journey like "entire lifecycle." It creates too much structure before the team has a working habit.

## How to build one

Create the journey in this order:

1. Add the major stages
2. Add the key customer steps inside each stage
3. Add items that explain what is working, what is breaking, and what matters most
4. Link personas when the journey serves a specific customer type

## How the hierarchy works

Custory uses the same core hierarchy across the product:

`Workspace -> Journey -> Stage -> Step -> Item`

Example:

* Workspace: `Acme`
* Journey: `Trial onboarding`
* Stage: `Setup`
* Step: `Customer connects Slack`
* Item: `Insight about setup friction`

Read the [Glossary](/glossary) for term definitions, or [How Custory works](/how-custory-works) for the full product model.

## Use clear stage and step names

Write names from the customer's point of view.

Better:

* Customer connects Slack
* Customer invites teammate
* Customer asks for help

Worse:

* Activation workstream
* Onboarding internal handoff

## Keep the map current

A journey stays useful when the team revisits it during real work:

* Product reviews
* Support reviews
* Planning
* Release follow-up
* AI-assisted analysis
* Automation design

When the product changes, update the journey so it stays aligned with the current customer experience.

## Create journeys from real source material

You do not need to start from a blank page.

Custory supports:

* Blank journeys
* Template-based starts
* AI-powered imports from connected sources such as GitHub, Notion, and Figma when available in your workspace

Imports help you draft the first structure quickly, but you should still review and refine the result before treating it as a working map.

## Connect journeys to the rest of the workspace

Journeys become more valuable when they stay linked to:

* Personas
* Comments and discussions
* Files and evidence
* External tasks
* Notifications
* AI runs
* Automations

That connection keeps the map close to the decisions the team is actually making.

## Shareable journey and item links

Journeys and items now use cleaner slug-based URLs that are easier to read and share.

Examples:

* Journey: `/{workspaceSlug}/journey/onboarding`
* Item in building blocks: `/{workspaceSlug}/metrics/trial-to-paid-conversion`
* Item focused inside a journey: `/{workspaceSlug}/journey/onboarding?item=trial-to-paid-conversion&view=grid`

Older ID-based links and previous slugs still resolve, so bookmarks and pasted links keep working after renames.

## Reuse items across journeys

When the same evidence or metric belongs on more than one map, maintain it in [building blocks](/building-blocks) and attach it to each journey instead of creating duplicates.

From a journey step, use **Link item** to place an existing block, or **Delete from journey** when the placement should be removed but the reusable record should stay in the library.

## Delete a journey carefully

Deleting a journey is not the same as deleting its reusable content.

When you delete a journey, choose:

* **Delete journey** — remove the map and placements, but keep reusable blocks in building blocks
* **Delete journey and items** — remove the journey and delete the items from the repository

Use the first option when the structure is outdated but the evidence still matters elsewhere in the workspace.

## Next step

* Read [Your first journey (step by step)](/build-your-first-journey) for a concrete walkthrough.
* Read [Journey templates](/journey-templates) if you want a faster starting structure.
* Read [Building blocks](/building-blocks) when the same items should stay reusable across journeys.
* Read [Journey editor](/journey-editor) to review and maintain the map once it exists.