Concepts

Workflows are the heart of Flint. They're automated processes that run on your behalf, handling repetitive tasks so you can focus on more important work.

What is a Workflow?

Think of a workflow like a recipe. It has:

1. A trigger - What starts the workflow (like "when I receive an email")
2. Steps - Actions that happen in order (like "extract data from attachment, then fill a form")
3. Conditions - Decision points that change what happens next (like "if the total is over $1000, get approval")

Here's a simple example workflow:

Key Concepts

Triggers

A trigger is what kicks off your workflow. Examples include:

• Webhook - When another system sends data to Flint
• Scheduled - At a specific time or interval (daily, weekly, etc.)
• Manual - When someone clicks "Run" in the platform
• Email Received - When an email arrives at your Flint address
• EDI Transaction - When an electronic data interchange transaction is received

Steps

Steps are the actions your workflow performs. They run in sequence, one after another. Examples include:

• Extract Document - Pull data from a PDF or image
• Fill Document - Populate a template with data
• Send Notification - Alert team members about something
• HTTP Call - Send data to or get data from another system
• Generate Text - Use AI to write content
• Delay - Wait for a specified time before continuing

Conditions

Conditions let your workflow make decisions. They check something and then take different paths based on the result.

• If/Else - "If this is true, do A. Otherwise, do B."
• Switch - "Check this value and go to different steps based on what it is"
• Filter - "Only continue if certain criteria are met"

Here's an example with a condition:

Interventions

Sometimes you need a human to review or approve something before continuing. That's what interventions are for.

When a workflow reaches an intervention step:

1. The workflow pauses
2. A task appears in the Interventions queue
3. Someone reviews the data and makes any needed changes
4. They approve or reject the intervention
5. The workflow continues (or stops, if rejected)

How Data Flows Through a Workflow

Each step in a workflow can use data from previous steps. This is done using variables.

For example:

• The trigger might receive an email with an attached invoice
• Step 1 extracts the invoice amount: $1,500
• Step 2 uses that amount to fill a form: "Invoice Total: $1,500"
• Step 3 checks if the amount is over $1,000 and routes to an approval step

Variables use a special format: {{steps.step_name.field_name}}

You don't need to type these yourself - the visual editor helps you select available variables.

Workflow States

A workflow run can be in different states:

Example: Invoice Processing Workflow

Here's how a real invoice processing workflow might look:

What's Next?

Ready to build? Head to Your First Workflow to create your first automation step by step.

• Your First Workflow — Create your first automation
• Triggers — All the ways to start a workflow
• Actions — Everything workflows can do
• Interventions — Human review in workflows