A few people have asked me about the name. Where does 'flowvi.be' come from? Is it 'Flowvi' or 'Flowvibe'? Why the unusual domain?
First, a bit of history.
The project started in February 2025 as a weekend experiment I called 'Mood Engine' - a way to automatically sort my music library by energy and mood. At the time, I was working through some ideas around algorithmic playlist generation and wanted to see if I could build something useful without relying on cloud services or AI.
Early prototypes were very short-lived as I was learning about music and playlists in general. The research was fascinating, and I was learning quite a lot about things like energy, drops, and trying to create a narrative.
One of the biggest challenges was the fact that flowvi.be would eventually have to be able to do that in an automated, programmatic way. In other words, the project was touching on trying to find an algorithm to describe what 'feels' good in a playlist.
Once the Mood Engine started taking shape and I began working on wireframes and a link with my Apple Music library, I decided it was time for a codename. The very first name of the app that I chose was Kara.
It sounds a bit random, but actually it goes back to 2013 and a PS3 Tech Demo shown at GDC 2012:
That short film made a strong impression on me years ago - a story about an android discovering consciousness while being assembled on a factory line. I liked the metaphor: something mechanical becoming something more. That was what I wanted the app to do - take a mechanical process (sorting tracks by metadata) and turn it into something that feels personal and alive.
Flowvi.be
Eventually, the shipping name of the app came together from two words: flow and vibe.
'Flow' because the app is about getting into a state of flow - whether you're working out, focusing, or unwinding. The right music removes friction and lets you stay in the moment.
'Vibe' because it's about creating a mood and beyond just a playlist, it's about tweaking the environment to match a specific emotion.
Put them together and you get 'flowvibe'. I thought it would be cool to also have a domain which matches the name of the app exactly, something short and memorable.
Since I'm based in Belgium, the .be TLD was an interesting choice: flowvi.be. It reads as both a domain and the full name of the app.
So yes, it's 'Flowvibe' (one word), written as 'flowvi.be'. And now you have the full story behind it.