Core concepts
Flomation is built from a handful of ideas. Once you know what each one is for, everything else in the app, and every other guide, makes sense. No technical knowledge needed.
- You will
- Learn the words used across Flomation, and what each thing is for
- Time
- About 12 minutes. Dip in and out: each section stands alone
- You need
- Nothing. You don't need an account to read this
01Flomation in one minute
Flomation does repetitive work for you. You describe the job once, as a flow, and Flomation carries it out every time it's needed.
A flow is like a recipe card: when this happens, do these things, in this order. You build it by placing boxes on a canvas and joining them with lines. You don't write any code.
Almost everything else in Flomation is there to support your flows: a safe place for passwords and app accounts (environments), a record of every time a flow runs (executions), and a way for people to start flows just by asking (agents). The rest of this page takes each idea in turn.
02Flows
Find it: Automate›Flows
A flow is one automated job, from start to finish.
You build flows in the editor, a canvas where each step is a box. To make one, open Flows and click New. You can start from a template or from a blank canvas.
- It saves as you go. There is no Save button. A note at the bottom of the canvas tells you when your changes are stored.
- You can run it straight away. Every new flow already has a Manual Trigger on the canvas, so you can run it whenever you like with Execute Flo.
- You can keep them tidy. Group related flows into projects, which work like folders. Click New project on the Flows page.
- Its settings are one click away. The Settings button in the editor opens Flow Settings, where you choose the flow's environment and who gets an email when it succeeds or fails.
New flows are called "Untitled Flo" until you rename them. Click the name at the top left of the editor and call it after the job it does, such as Send new sign-ups to Slack. You'll thank yourself when you have twenty.
03Nodes: the steps in a flow
Find it: in the editor, Add Node
Each box in a flow is a node. A node is one step: it does one job, then hands over to the next.
Click Add Node, or right-click the canvas, to see everything you can add. Search for an app or a task, or browse groups such as Messaging, Documents, Calendars, Finance and AI & agents. There are thousands of ready-made actions to choose from.
Nodes come in a few kinds:
| Kind | What it does | For example |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Starts the flow | Form Trigger, Schedule Trigger |
| Action | Does one job in an app or service | Send Email, Append to Sheet |
| Logic | Makes a decision, repeats steps, or waits | If, Switch, For, Wait |
| Output | Sends a result back out of the flow | Set Output, Web Response |
Lines set the order. Drag from the small handle on the right of one node to the handle on the left of the next. The line means do this, then that.
Click a node to set it up. Its settings open at the side, with the fields that step needs, such as who to email or which spreadsheet to use. If something is missing, the node shows a warning icon; hover over it to see what's wrong. A flow won't run until every warning is sorted.
An If node has a T (true) exit and an F (false) exit. Loops have Loop and Done. Connect each exit to the steps that should happen in that case.
04Triggers: how a flow starts
A trigger decides when a flow runs. Every flow starts with one.
Triggers are nodes, so you add them from Add Node like any other step. The most common ones are:
| Trigger | Starts the flow when… |
|---|---|
| Manual Trigger | you press Execute Flo. Every new flow has one. |
| Schedule Trigger | a time you choose comes round, such as every weekday at 9am. It can skip UK bank holidays. |
| Form Trigger | someone fills in your form |
| QR Code Trigger | someone scans your QR code |
| Email, Slack, Teams, Telegram | a new message arrives |
| App triggers | something happens in another app, for example in Shopify, Stripe, Calendly or Zendesk |
| Webhook Trigger | another system sends Flomation a message, called a webhook |
| Web Trigger | someone calls a web address you choose, and waits for a reply |
Build and test with the Manual Trigger, so the flow only runs when you say so. Add the real trigger once everything works.
05Decisions, repeats and waiting
Logic nodes let a flow make choices, repeat steps and wait, just as you would if you did the job by hand.
| Node | What it does |
|---|---|
| If | Goes one way or the other depending on a question, such as "is the order over £500?" |
| Switch | Sends the flow down one of several paths, such as one per department |
| For | Repeats the steps inside it a set number of times |
| While | Keeps repeating the steps inside it while something stays true |
| Wait | Waits a set time, then carries on by itself |
| Human Approval | Asks a person to decide, then carries on based on their answer. They can reply from Slack, Telegram or a web link. |
| On Error | Runs its own steps if something goes wrong. One per flow. |
| Start Flow | Runs another one of your flows |
| Invoke Sub-Flow | Runs a reusable set of steps and uses what comes back |
Give every important flow an On Error node. It can tell you or a colleague the moment something fails, including which step failed and why.
06Passing information along
When a node finishes, it hands on what it produced. Later nodes can use that information in their own fields.
For example, a Form Trigger hands on each answer from the form. A Send Email node further along can then put the person's name in the subject line. A piece of information used this way is called a variable.
You don't need to type anything special. In any field, click the $ button (Use a variable) and pick what you want from the list. Or type ${ in the field to open the same list. The field then shows a placeholder like this:
Thanks for signing up, ${Form Trigger > name}!When the flow runs, Flomation swaps the placeholder for the real value: Thanks for signing up, Priya!
The list offers more than the steps before this one:
| In the list | What it is | Looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Earlier steps | Whatever the nodes before this one produced | a form answer, a new row's number |
| env | A property from the flow's environment | ${env.support_email} |
| secrets | A secret from the environment, such as an API key | ${secrets.stripe_key} |
| credentials | An app account connected in the environment | ${credentials.company_google} |
| flow | Details of this run, such as when it started | ${flow.start_time} |
| user | Profile details, such as the name, of the person the run is for. For a public form, schedule or web address, that's the flow's owner, not whoever filled in the form. | ${user.first_name} |
| var | A value you saved earlier with a Set Variable node | ${var.total} |
Store passwords and API keys as secrets, then pick them from the list. If a field looks like it has a password typed straight into it, Flomation won't run the flow until you move it into a secret.
07Environments
Find it: Configure›Environments
An environment is a safe place for the settings, passwords and app accounts your flows use, kept apart from the flows themselves.
Keeping them apart has two benefits. You can point a flow at a test account while you build it, then switch it to your real account without changing a single step. And passwords never sit inside a flow where anyone editing it could see them.
Each environment has three tabs:
| Tab | What goes in it | For example |
|---|---|---|
| Properties | Everyday settings you'd rather change in one place than in every flow | the Slack channel to post to |
| Secrets | Passwords and API keys. They're encrypted, and once saved the value is never shown again. | an API key from your accounting app |
| Credentials | Accounts you've connected by signing in to another app. See Connecting your apps. | your company's Google account |
A flow uses one environment at a time. Choose it in the editor under Settings›Environment. That setting only appears once you've created at least one environment. New flows start with No Environment, so pick one before you use properties, secrets or credentials.
Many teams keep two environments, such as Testing and Live, using the same names inside each. Moving a flow from one to the other is then a single click.
All its properties and secrets are removed permanently. Check which flows use it first.
08Connecting your apps
Find it: an environment's Credentials tab
To let a flow work in another app, such as sending email from your company's Google account, you connect that app once. The connection is called a credential.
Many apps, including Google, Microsoft, GitHub and LinkedIn, let you connect by signing in:
-
Open an environment
Go to Configure›Environments and choose the environment your flow uses.
-
Add a credential
On the Credentials tab, click Add and choose the app.
-
Name it and choose what it can reach
Give it a name you'll recognise later, such as
company_google. Use letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores only. Then choose what your flows may do in each part of the app, for example Read/Write for Sheets if a flow adds rows to a spreadsheet. -
Sign in and approve
Click Create & Authorise. The app's own sign-in page opens in a pop-up. Approve access there, and the credential becomes active.
Now, when you set up a node that needs an account, pick the credential you just made from its Choose a credential… field.
Apps that give you an API key instead. Some apps don't offer sign-in. They give you a key to copy. Save the key as a secret in the same environment, then pick it from the node's Choose a credential or secret… field.
Apps marked "Bring your own app". A few apps in the list carry this label. Before you can connect them, someone needs to register Flomation with that app and paste in the details it gives them. If that isn't you, ask whoever looks after the app at your organisation.
Flomation renews connections in the background, so normally there's nothing to do. If an app stops accepting a connection, for example because someone removed Flomation's access, the credential is marked Error or Revoked and flows using it stop working. Click the circular arrow (Re-authorise) on the credential and sign in again.
09Runs (executions)
Find it: Automate›Executions
Every time a flow runs, Flomation keeps a record of it, called an execution.
Open an execution to see the flow exactly as it ran. Each node shows a tick if it worked or a cross if it failed, and paths the flow didn't take are greyed out. Click any node to see what went into it, what came out, and any error.
An execution moves through these states:
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Queued | Waiting to start |
| Allocated | Picked up and about to start |
| Running | In progress |
| Suspended | Paused until someone resumes it |
| Success | Finished, and every step worked |
| Failed | Stopped because a step went wrong |
| Cancelled | Stopped by someone before it finished |
Re-run, on a finished execution, starts the flow again from its trigger. It starts afresh: it doesn't reuse the information from the original run.
To hear about runs without checking, turn on Notify on success or Notify on failure in the editor under Settings›Notifications. Flomation emails you, or the people you list, when a run finishes.
What runs cost
Your plan includes a monthly allowance of execution minutes: the total time your flows spend running. The Usage card on your Dashboard shows how much you've used this month. If you go over, credits bought under Billing cover the rest.
10Agents
Find it: Automate›Agents
An agent is an AI assistant that chats with people where they already work, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, email or text message, and gets things done by running your flows.
Behind every agent is a flow of its own, called its orchestrator flow, which runs each time the agent receives a message. The trigger in that flow decides where the agent listens: add a Slack Trigger and people can message it in Slack; add a Teams Trigger and they can ask it in Teams.
When you click New Agent, Flomation creates the agent and a blank orchestrator flow for it. From the agent's page you can Start, Pause and Stop it, and see what it has been doing:
- Sessions: each stretch of the agent being awake, with the conversation it had and the work it set off.
- Memory: what the agent has learnt about the people it talks to, such as their preferences. You can pin, delete or export any of it.
- Plans: bigger jobs the agent breaks into steps. It drafts the plan and waits for your go-ahead before starting.
- Schedules: repeating jobs you've asked it to do, such as "check my tasks every morning at 8am".
A running agent keeps its old settings until it's restarted. After changing its settings, stop it and start it again.
11Organisations and teams
Find it: Manage›Organisation and Teams
Everyone has a personal workspace. To share flows and environments with colleagues, you work together in an organisation.
Switch between your personal workspace and your organisations from the top bar. Members of an organisation share its flows, environments and usage.
- Roles. Whoever creates an organisation is its admin. Everyone who joins by invite is a member.
- Teams. Admins group people into teams and give the whole team permissions at once, such as creating, editing and running flows, or managing environments. A new organisation comes with a Members team.
- Invites. On the Organisation page, click Create Invite and send your colleague the link. Invite links expire after 7 days.
Once an organisation has teams, a member who isn't in any team has no permissions. Add them to a team, or tick Auto-assign new members to this team on the team newcomers should join.
12Advanced features
You won't need these to get started. They're listed so you know what they are when you see them in the menu.
| Feature | Find it | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway | Automate | Turns your flows into web addresses that other apps and websites can call. Each address runs a flow that starts with a Web Trigger. |
| Embed SDK | Configure | Puts your flows and agents inside your own website or app. |
| Runners | Configure | The machines that carry out your flows. Flomation provides these for you. You'll only need this page if your organisation runs flows on its own servers. |
| Queues | Configure | Organisations only. Lines up work for runners on your organisation's own servers. |
13Quick reference
| Word | In plain words | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Flow | One automated job, from start to finish | Automate › Flows |
| Node | One step in a flow | Add Node, in the editor |
| Trigger | The node that starts a flow | Add Node, in the editor |
| Action | A node that does one job in an app or service | Add Node, in the editor |
| Variable | Information passed along from an earlier step, or from the environment | The $ button in any field |
| Environment | Where a flow's settings, secrets and app accounts live | Configure › Environments |
| Property | An everyday setting kept in an environment | Environment › Properties |
| Secret | An encrypted password or API key | Environment › Secrets |
| Credential | A connected app account | Environment › Credentials |
| Execution | One run of a flow, and the record of it | Automate › Executions |
| Execution minutes | The time your flows spend running, which your plan allows for | Dashboard, Billing |
| Agent | An AI assistant that runs your flows from a chat | Automate › Agents |
| Organisation | A workspace you share with colleagues | Manage › Organisation |
| Team | A group of people given the same permissions | Manage › Teams |
14Next steps
The quickest way to make these ideas stick is to build something. Your Dashboard has a Getting Started checklist that walks you through your first flow, and these guides go step by step:
Last checked against the app on .