Entry Node
TLDR: Entry nodes generate the agents (customers, products, patients) that flow into your simulation. Configure who they are, how often they arrive, and how they look on the canvas.
Who Arrives?
The top section of the Entry properties panel controls the identity of arriving agents.
- Avatar & color: Click the colored circle on the left to pick a color. This is the color agents from this entry will appear as on the canvas.
- Agent type: If your simulation has defined agent types (e.g., "Customer", "Patient"), a dropdown appears on the right to select which type this Entry generates. If there's only one agent type, it's selected automatically.
Use multiple Entry nodes to model different kinds of agents entering your system — for example, walk-in customers from one Entry and appointment customers from another.
How Often?
The timing card controls how frequently agents arrive. In its simplest form, you see:
"[number] arrivals per [second / minute / hour]"
Type the arrival rate and pick a unit. For example, 15 arrivals per hour.
Below the simple rate, two links offer more advanced options:
- "Have real data? Fit my arrivals" — opens the Distribution Detective to automatically fit your historical data
- "Arrivals vary by time of day?" — switches to Schedule mode with a time-period grid
For full details on all four timing modes (Simple, Fitted, Schedule, and Replay), see Time & Distributions.
When you enter a simple rate, the engine uses an exponential distribution behind the scenes. This is the most realistic model for random arrivals — it captures the natural clustering and gaps you see in real customer traffic.
Path Control
Only visible when 2 or more outgoing connections exist.
If your Entry connects to multiple downstream nodes, a routing section appears with these options:
- Random — equal chance to each path
- Custom Split — set percentage weights (e.g., 70/30)
- Shortest Queue — send to whichever downstream node has the shortest queue
- Priority — fill the first path until full, then overflow to the next
- Conditional — route based on agent attributes
A hospital might use three Entry nodes: "Walk-in" at 8/hour, "Ambulance" at 2/hour, and "Scheduled" using a time-of-day schedule. Each feeds into Triage with different agent types and colors, making the simulation easy to read.