KinoForms

What it is

KinoForms is a form builder that puts form fields and response validation into one schema. The company's pitch is "Schema-backed forms. Structured data. Validated responses." It is for two kinds of builder at once: operators who want a visual editor and no code, and developers or coding agents who would rather create forms by calling an API. Teams that screen applicants, triage client requests or collect compliance paperwork are the teams its examples are written for.

The company describes its product as form builder software for teams that need conditional logic, protected respondent flows, secure form submissions and controlled integrations. Its workflow pages cover controlled submissions, secure submissions, submission validation, role-aware access and multi-workspace setups, which shows who it is built for: teams whose forms feed a decision rather than a mailing list.

What you build and how

The company describes two ways to work and calls them equal: "Some people build forms with a mouse. Some build them with a script. KinoForms treats both as first-class."

The visual builder

For human operators the product offers a visual form builder with conditional logic, dependency rules and a review queue. You drag fields, set rules, publish and review submissions as they arrive. The feature list names a visual field editor with live preview, conditional logic (show, hide, require, filter), protected respondent flows using magic link or password, a submission review queue with status tracking, and branding, themes and custom domains. The page says "No code required", and adds that the schema is always there if you want to inspect it.

A form's structure is a plain definition. The home page shows a schema in which each field has an id, a type such as email, phone or select, a label, and optional settings such as required or a list of options. Because the builder and the API share that definition, what you see in the editor and what a script sends are the same thing.

Conditional logic

Logic is the feature the site spends most of its words on. The company says KinoForms can show, hide, require, disable, refine, filter options, clear stale values and validate fields as respondents answer. It describes the building blocks in two parts. Predicates match answers using equality, contains, ranges, regex, empty states and dates. Effects then act on the form: show, hide, require, filter options, set limits, clear values and set descriptions.

The conditional logic page works through a program application template to show this. Choose "Scholarship" as the application type, and a transcript field appears and becomes required. Choose "Research grant", and a research plan summary appears and becomes required. A guardian email shows only when the age rule marks the applicant as a minor. A country selection filters which program options are valid. The page lets you inspect the underlying definition as JSON and change values to watch the respondent view update in place.

A dependency builder strings these rules together. The examples on the page require eligibility details and reviewer context when the application type is Scholarship, show approval notes and route the response for review when a budget is above the review threshold, and filter program options and clear stale selections when the country changes. A conditional file upload can require a private transcript attachment only on the scholarship path and keep it hidden elsewhere.

Validation sits on top of the logic. The company lists pattern, min and max, length and option checks, and required fields that change with the respondent's path, so the stored data matches what the respondent was actually shown. Its example contract is an eligibility reason as a long text field, conditionally required, with a minimum length of 80 characters. Field kinds in the published definitions include select, number with minimum, maximum and step, file with an accepted type such as PDF, textarea and text. The practical benefit the company claims is data quality: conditional requirements and option filtering prevent irrelevant missing fields and stale values before submissions reach review.

The API and agent access

For developers the documented public API offers form creation and diff-based editing. You create a form with POST /papi/v1/management/forms and the forms:write scope, sending an API key in a header and the form's name and schema as the request body; the home page prints the full request as an example. API keys are scoped, with per-key permissions and no shared secrets. An OpenAPI schema sits at /papi/v1/openapi.json, a builder guide explains diff operations and response envelopes, and an llms.txt index exists so coding agents can discover the interface. The site also links an API reference.

Publishing and review

Once a form is built you publish it as a public link, an embedded form or through API-driven submissions. Protected flows use a magic link or a password. Submissions land in a reviewable queue with pending, partial and completed states, and you can filter, sort and export. The site also names Form analytics, Role-aware form access, Multi-workspace and Scoped API integrations as feature pages. The company says role-aware access maps workflows to team, workspace, respondent and integration boundaries.

Templates and use cases

The navigation names templates for client intake, vendor onboarding, event registration and an application review template. The conditional logic page also describes a client intake template with service-specific sections. Use cases listed there include scholarship applications with eligibility branches, client intake forms with service-specific details, research screening with inclusion criteria, and internal requests with budget approvals. Each template on that page carries its fields, schema and rules together. The vendor onboarding form branches on vendor risk, spend, data access and payment policy without separate forms. The research screening form keeps consent, age, participant type, risk notes and scheduling options aligned. An eligibility checker for benefits, grants and memberships changes its next questions by age, residency and prior qualification. A client intake triage form routes by service type, urgency, budget and available assets, and a quote qualifier turns volume, engagement model, support level and region into a visible quote band. A simpler project request template asks for a title, a request type of design, build or research, a preferred contact method and a budget estimate.

Plans and security

The pricing statement on the home page is "Free during early access." The site invites you to create an account to build forms, or to read the API docs to build with code. Paid plans and their limits are not yet set out alongside that offer.

On security, the product's own features carry the claims: protected respondent flows with magic link or password, scoped API keys with per-key permissions and no shared secrets, role-aware access, and a secure submissions workflow page.

Who it suits and who it doesn't

KinoForms fits a small ops or program team that runs intake with real branching: scholarship or grant applications, vendor onboarding, client triage, participant screening. The review queue makes it more than a way to collect answers, because the next step is judging them. It also fits a developer, or an agency with developers, who wants to generate forms from code or from a coding agent, since the API and llms.txt are published openly. Someone moving between the editor and a script gets the same schema either way.

It is a lighter choice for a plain contact form with a name, an email and a submit button. Branching logic and a validation model add setup you won't use. Its design controls are branding, themes and custom domains, so it is not pitched on visual flourish. The early-access label is the other caveat: the product is free to try now, and long-term terms will come later, so it suits piloting a workflow before committing an organization-wide process.