Automations (workflow builder) have just been launched. We've tried and tested it, but if you have any suggestions or issues with automations, please let us know in the chat!
Automations allow you to create a sequence (or workflow) of events that is executed based on a specific trigger. Workflows consist of triggers and steps.
Here's an example of a workflow that is triggered when a button is clicked and then it either creates a record in Airtable or shows a notification based on whether the "Yes/No" condition is met.
Overview
The workflow builder consists of several key parts:
(1) Triggers determine when (on what condition) the workflow will run. For example, this might be a button click or a row click in a table.
(2) Steps consist of actions, which run in a sequential manner when a workflow is triggered, and rules, which allow you to branch the sequence based on certain conditions. An example of an action would be "Updating a record in Airtable" and an example of a rule could be "If condition" that will divide a workflow into two branches.
(3) You can add new steps before or after any step, just click the "+" icon
(4)Workflow result closes the sequence and can be used to configure the workflow outputs
(5) The configuration tab that opens up when you select a trigger or a step
When to use it
For the most part, you'll need a single action, such as changing a status or making a refund. However, in specific cases, you'll need a whole sequence of actions to be executed, often involving conditional logic.
Typical tasks for workflows might include:
Changing a user's status and sending a notification via Sendgrid
Showing an error notification and sending a notification with details in Slack
Getting to a specific page after submiting a form and downloading an attachment
Making a refund via Stripe and: a) for transactions marked as "wrong item", create a new record in the "Coupons" Firebase collection and notify a manager via Slack b) for the rest change the status in the "Customers" collection
Build Automation
Learn how to build and test automations with dedicated sections:
Also, check the sections which are not part of the workflow builder but can help you automate even more:
Approval Workflow
Approval workflow is a built-in functionality that for any chosen action, allows to inject the intermediate step of approval before the action is executed. You can assign different people as the approval owners - they'll receive approval requests in their feed.