What is a workflow?

A workflow is a list of steps GoRunner does for you, in order, each time something happens.

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A form starts the workflow. Add a row runs, then Big order? sends big orders to Send an email; the others go on with nothing more.

TriggerA form is sentForm

01Add a rowGoogle Sheets

02Big order?Branch

Amount over 1,000

03Send an emailGmail

Otherwise

The number is the step’s place in the order.

The trigger: what starts it

Every workflow starts with one trigger, such as:

someone sends a form (Form);
a set time comes round (Schedule);
an email arrives (Gmail);
another app sends data to the workflow’s address (Webhook);
you start it by hand (Manual).

Steps: what it does

Each step does one thing, usually in an app: add a row in Google Sheets, or send an email in Gmail. Steps run in order, from the top.

A step can use what came before it, such as the email address someone typed into the form. You write that as an expression: {{trigger.body.email}}.

Some steps choose the path. Branch takes one path or another, by a condition. Loop repeats steps for each item in a list.

Draft, test and publish

What you edit is the draft. Press Test to run the draft once and see what each step did.

Press Publish to make the workflow Live. From then on, its trigger starts it. Later changes stay in the draft until you publish again. Each publish is saved as a version you can go back to.

So a workflow is Draft (never published), Live, or Paused (unpublished).

Runs: each time it happens

Each time a workflow starts, that is a run. When a step fails, the run stops there:

Sync new orders Running· Today 08:52 Failed· Today 08:52· 20 ms

New orderTrigger · Waits for a request Worked–

Shape the order01 · Runs JavaScript Running Failed2 ms

This order has no total

Post to the ledger02 · Runs JavaScript Not run

Runs lists every run with its state, such as Worked or Failed. See Runs.

When a step fails

By default, the run stops there and is Failed. You can change that for each step, under Error handling › On error:

Stop the run, the default;
Continue with the next step;
Run error steps: take a path of their own, for example to email you.

Can a workflow run another workflow?

Yes. A Sub-flow step runs another workflow and waits for its result. The other workflow starts with the trigger When Called by Another Workflow.

Run another workflow

How many runs can happen at once?

As many as your account allows, unless you set a Concurrency limit in the workflow’s Settings. At the limit, new runs Wait in line, or Refuse turns them away. Tests from the editor never wait.

Limit runs at once

For developers

Over the API, a workflow is a tree in JSON: the trigger, then each step’s nextAction. A step’s settings live in config, including config.onError. See Workflow definition.