Workflows (automation)

In the Tenant Plane, Workflows are ordered automation definitions you create under AUTOMATE → Workflows. They chain steps (runbooks, approvals, conditions, notifications, delays, and report generation). Execution is driven by the execution job system when you click Run, or when another flow starts an instance (for example from an incident).

This is not the same as ITSM approval workflows used on service catalog requests. For that distinction, see ITSM approval vs automation workflows.

Where to open it

Sign in to the Tenant Plane.
In the sidebar, open AUTOMATE and choose Workflows.
The canonical URL is /workflows. If you land on /workflow (singular), the app redirects to /workflows.

Screen layout

The page has two main tabs:

Tab	Purpose
Definitions	Create, edit, delete definitions and Run them manually.
Instances	See running or completed workflow instances, open detail, and Approve or Reject steps that are waiting on a human gate.

Step 1 — Create a workflow definition

Go to Workflows → Definitions.
Click Add workflow.
Enter a Name (required).

Step 2 — Edit steps (choose an editor mode)

You can switch between three modes while editing. Saving always validates the full step list before the API accepts it.

Steps mode (default)

Best for runbook steps:

Each row is one step in order. Drag the handle (⋮⋮) to reorder steps, or use ↑ / ↓.
For each Runbook step, pick a runbook from the dropdown (Select runbook…). The list is loaded from your tenant’s runbooks.
Click Add step to append another runbook step.
Use Remove to delete a step.

Runbooks must exist first — see Runbooks.

Canvas mode

Click Canvas to open the visual graph (nodes and edges).
Arrange and connect steps graphically. The canvas stays in sync with the underlying ordered step model when you save (graph is converted to steps).
Use this when you prefer a visual layout; complex step types are still easiest to verify in JSON.

JSON mode

Click JSON to edit the raw array of step objects.
Use this when you need step types beyond the simple runbook row UI, for example:

`type`	What it does
`runbook`	`ref` = runbook id to execute.
`approval`	Pauses for human approval (see Instances tab to act). Optional `approvers`, `timeout_minutes`.
`condition`	`expression` against workflow variables; optional `skip_steps`.
`notification`	`message` and optional `channel`.
`delay`	`delay_seconds` wait before the next step.
`generate_report`	`report_definition_id` and optional `format` (`json` / `html`).

Invalid JSON or invalid steps show an error when you click Create or Save changes — fix the message and try again.

Step 3 — Save the definition

Click Create (new) or Save changes (editing).
If validation fails, read the error (missing runbook ref, bad condition, etc.), fix in Steps, Canvas, or JSON, then save again.

Step 4 — Run a workflow manually

On Definitions, find your workflow in the list.
Click Run.
A banner shows Running workflow… — execution can take up to a couple of minutes.
When finished, Last run result shows a JSON summary of the job output (or an error payload).

Manual runs call the execution API with job_type: workflow and your workflow_id.

Step 5 — Work with instances and approvals

Instances appear when a workflow run creates trackable state (for example steps that include approval or engine-managed instances tied to an entity).

Open the Instances tab.
Click View on an instance to see status, definition name, linked entity (entity_type / entity_id), and step results.
If a step shows pending and your process uses approval gates, use Approve or Reject on that step.
Click Close on the detail card when you are done.

If the list is empty, start a run from Definitions or trigger a workflow from another part of the product (for example an incident-driven flow, when configured).

Edit or delete a definition

Edit — Opens the same form with Steps / Canvas / JSON. Save when done.
Delete — Confirms first; removal cannot be undone.