Creating a Workflow
- How to navigate to the workflow creation form
- How to fill in each field: name, enabled toggle, log level, trigger, and steps
- How to save and test your new workflow
A workflow automates a series of actions that run on a schedule, in response to a system event, or when an employee starts it manually.
Step-by-step: create a new workflow
1. Open the workflows list
Navigate to Automations > Workflows in the sidebar. This opens the workflows list page, which shows all of your existing workflows.
2. Click the add button
Click the + icon button (tooltip "Add workflow") in the top area of the page. This opens the workflow creation form.
3. Enter the workflow name
In the Name field, type a name for your workflow, such as "Welcome message for new contacts" or "Daily appointment reminder."
4. Enable or disable the workflow
Use the Enabled checkbox to control whether the workflow is active. When checked, the workflow is enabled and will run when its trigger condition is met. The workflow must be enabled to run at all -- including on-demand test runs of manual or temporal workflows via the Run button, which is hidden while the workflow is disabled. (See Testing your workflow below for the recommended enable, run, then disable cycle.)
5. Set the log level
Select a Log level from the dropdown. This controls how much detail is recorded each time the workflow runs. A higher log level captures more information, which is helpful during testing and troubleshooting. A lower level reduces noise once the workflow is running in production.
6. Configure the trigger
Under the Trigger section, choose a Type from the dropdown. There are three options:
| Trigger type | When to use it |
|---|---|
| temporal | You want the workflow to run on a schedule (e.g., every morning, once a week) |
| hook | You want the workflow to fire when a specific event happens (e.g., a new message is received, a contact is created) |
| manual | You want an employee to start the workflow by hand whenever needed |
After selecting the trigger type, additional configuration fields may appear depending on your choice. See Trigger types for full details on each option.
7. Add steps
In the Steps section, click the Add step button to add your first step. Each step represents one action the workflow will perform. You can add as many steps as you need, and they execute in order from top to bottom.
The Steps section also has two utility controls:
- Start Debug (next to the section label) -- Runs every step through the real action loop so you can inspect how each one behaves. This is not a dry run: live HTTP calls, data writes, and outbound messages fire.
- The trash (clear all items) icon button -- Removes all steps at once
See Workflow steps for details on configuring individual steps.
8. (Optional) Set a return expression
If your workflow uses a manual or temporal trigger, an optional Return expression field appears (it is hidden for hook triggers). Enter a CEL expression here to compute a return value. After all steps finish, this expression is evaluated and its result becomes the workflow's return value -- what the Run modal displays, and what a parent or chaining workflow receives when it calls this one. Leave it blank if the workflow does not need to return anything.
9. Save the workflow
Once you have configured the name, trigger, and steps, save the workflow. After saving, the Run button appears for manual- and temporal-trigger workflows (when Enabled is checked), letting you execute them on demand.
Testing your workflow
The Run button only appears -- and only works -- when the workflow is enabled (Enabled checked), and only after it has been saved. To test a manual or temporal workflow on demand, enable it, save, run it, and then uncheck Enabled again if you are not ready for production. (Hook workflows have no Run button -- you test them by triggering the underlying event.)
- For manual workflows: Enable and save the workflow, then click the Run button to trigger it on demand.
- For hook workflows: Trigger the relevant event in the system (e.g., create a test contact) and then check the execution history to verify the workflow ran.
- For temporal workflows: The same Run button is available once the workflow is enabled, so you can trigger it on demand instead of waiting for the scheduled time. You can also wait for the next scheduled occurrence.
Use the Start Debug button in the Steps section to step through your workflow and inspect how each step processes data. Note that Start Debug executes each step for real (live HTTP calls, data writes, and messages fire) -- it is not a side-effect-free preview.