Automations
Workflows automate the repetitive work: update records when something changes, send notifications, call other systems, or run whole processes like an import. You build them visually as a flowchart of steps, test them safely, and watch every run in a searchable history.
Where to find them
Open Workflows from the navigation. The list shows every workflow in your space with its name, trigger, and status. Click one to open it in the visual builder — a canvas of connected steps you can pan, zoom, and edit (with the right permission).
How a workflow starts
| Trigger | Fires when |
|---|---|
| Record event | A record is created, updated, or deleted in a chosen table. |
| Schedule | A time-based rule, like every night at 02:00. |
| Webhook | Another system calls a URL belonging to the workflow. |
| Manual | You press the run/test button yourself. |
Test before you trust: "Test on this record"
You never have to guess what a workflow would do. On any record's detail page, the Test workflow on this record button sends that real record through a chosen workflow in test mode — the workflow runs for real, but every side effect is captured instead of executed. When it finishes, the Test Report shows exactly:
- Would have written — every record it would have created, updated, or deleted, with a
side-by-side diff against the current values.
- Would have emailed — recipients, subjects, and body previews.
- Would have notified — who would have received which notification.
- Would have called — every external call it would have made.
webhooks) never fire test versions of a workflow, so a test can never surprise your live data.
there are no surprises on the bill. See Billing & Plans.
Run history
The Run history view lists every run with live updates — a colored connection dot in the header tells you whether you are seeing live pushes or a polled snapshot.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Status | Queued, running, waiting, completed, failed, dead-lettered, canceled, or quota-exceeded — each a colored chip. |
| Workflow | Which definition ran; click through to its canvas. |
| Trigger | What started it (webhook, schedule, record event, manual). |
| Attempts | 1 for a clean run; higher numbers mean automatic retries happened. |
| Duration | How long the last attempt took. |
| Error | A short summary for failed runs; expand the row for the full trace. |
Expanding a row shows the step-by-step trace: every step, its inputs and outputs, and where an error occurred — and from there you can replay a run that is dead-lettered, or one that failed and has no retry still pending.
Ending a run that is still queued, running or waiting happens on the row itself, and there are two ways to do it, each its own permission. Stop lets the step that is running now finish and then stops the run — whatever that step already saved stays saved; if the run is being carried out by another process, it finishes the step it is on and stops at the next one. Force stop ends the run at once, in the middle of its step: the step does not finish, any sub-runs stop too, and it cannot be undone. Both ask you to confirm first, and both say plainly what actually happened. If you may see a run but hold neither permission, the row names the permission you need instead of leaving a blank.
responsible for reviewing failures) receives a notification automatically — failures do not sit
unnoticed. You can tune these in your notification preferences.
Good to know
- Runs are metered: each finished run counts toward your plan's workflow usage, and heavy workflows
can be granted bigger time or memory budgets by an administrator.
- Imports are workflows under the hood, so everything on this page — run history, retries,
notifications — applies to import runs too. See Importing & Exporting.
- Workflow permissions are separate for viewing, editing, and running — see
Where to find it
| Screen | Where it lives | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
Workflows — /admin/workflows | Settings → Automation → Workflows | definitions, runs, dead letters and approvals |
Opening it needs the workflow view permission; saving a definition needs the manage permission, which is a level-2 key — you will be asked for your password.
Two other surfaces install or start workflows, and both are worth knowing about when a workflow appears that nobody wrote: a scheduling bundle installs its own workflows (and can repair or uninstall them) — see Scheduling — and a phone workflow routes a live call into one, gathering keypad digits and recordings for the rest of the workflow to use, under The Phone System.