Workflows builder

Workflows (Build group) is the editor for the organization's workflows. Describe what should happen step by step; the app compiles it into the platform's composition format, checks it with the platform, saves it as a version, runs it and follows the run on the steps. For what a workflow is, read Workflows and Virtual workflows; this page is about the editor.

The list is on the left, the open workflow on the right. Nothing you build is run for real until you press Run….

The list

The list shows the 200 most recent of each status; a note says so when you are near the cap.

Right-click a row: Duplicate, and for an unsaved workflow Delete Unsaved Workflow…, for an edited one Discard Unsaved Changes….

Filter and sort

Every option shows how many workflows it would leave.

Two views of one workflow

The Steps | Diagram switch in the toolbar changes how the same workflow is shown. Edits in one appear in the other, and undo/redo are shared.

Steps

A document read top to bottom.

The insert menu:

Data moves between steps as chips: a "Starts with" answer, an earlier step's result, or the current item of an enclosing For each. A text field can mix words and chips. A step's right-click menu has Only If…, For Each Item of a List…, Run at the Same Time as the Step Before, Stop Everything if This Fails, Add an Undo Step… (a rollback that runs if a later step fails), Duplicate, Move Up, Move Down, move in or out of a neighboring block, and Delete Step.

Diagram

The workflow as boxes and wires you can edit.

Full page (⇧⌘F, Esc to leave) gives the diagram the whole window.

Other shortcuts, in both views: ⌘S saves, ⌘Z undo, ⇧⌘Z redo (Ctrl+Y also redoes outside macOS).

Side panels

The toolbar icons open one panel at a time beside the editor.

Checking

The editor checks as you type and again with the platform once edits settle (about a second).

Saving, versions and live

Save (or ⌘S) stores a new version of the workflow. Unsaved edits are kept in this window until then.

Before saving an existing workflow the app checks two things and, when either applies, shows one sheet:

• Someone else changed it. If a newer version was saved while you edited, saving warns (Someone else changed this workflow) and Save Anyway saves yours as the newest; theirs is not merged.
• What the save touches. Who uses this workflow, and the questions found in it that the save will declare. If a dependent still uses an older version, the result lists it.

A workflow opened from a definition the editor cannot round-trip opens read-only with the reason. Edit a Copy duplicates it; Edit anyway unlocks it.

Discard (in the status line, or from the row menu) throws away unsaved changes and returns to the saved version.

Running

Run… starts the live version for real: steps that send, create or change things will do so. It is disabled until the workflow is saved live and has no unsaved changes ("Save your changes first: runs use the live version"). The sheet asks the "Starts with" questions (required ones marked), then Run.

A bar under the toolbar follows the run: Running…, Finished or Failed: , with the run's ID. Show result prints the Returns values when the workflow declares them, otherwise its state without internals. The cards show each step's result, and failures are marked in red on the step.

Schedules

With On a schedule chosen, saving creates the schedule. The editor then shows Scheduled every N min · next with Pause, Resume and a delete that stops the schedule but keeps the workflow.

Every scheduled run is paid for, even when it finds nothing to do. Pick the slowest interval that works, and see Keep scheduled compositions cheap for cron times, change triggers and skip-empty conditions.

The assistant

Discuss with the assistant opens a chat in the side panel about this workflow. Each message carries context: the workflow's outline (including unsaved edits), its saved version and, when you select boxes on the diagram and press Discuss, which steps you are asking about. The assistant loads the saved version, proposes a change in its own working copy and tells you what changed; it never saves. You review its version in the builder and save it yourself. Starter prompts: Explain what this workflow does, What could go wrong when it runs?, Add a step that…. The chat is remembered per organization and workflow.