Creating Workflows
A workflow is a set of blocks you arrange on a visual canvas. One block starts the run, the blocks after it do the work, and the arrows between them decide the order.
This page walks you through building one: opening the editor, adding blocks, connecting them, configuring each one, and saving your work. For the full list of what each block does, see Blocks.
Workflows are an Admin feature. If you don't see Workflows in the sidebar, ask an administrator in your organization.
Start a New Workflow
- Open Workflows and stay on the Workflows tab.
- Click New workflow at the top right.
- Give it a name — for example, Weekly report generator.
- Click Create.
You land straight in the editor with an empty canvas.
Names must be unique. If the name is already taken, the message appears right under the field — just adjust it and try again.
You can also open an existing workflow at any time by clicking its card. See Workflows Overview for the card list, statuses, and search.
The Editor at a Glance
| Area | Where | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas | Center | Where your blocks live and connect |
| Side panel | Right | Switches between Copilot and Toolbar (the block palette) |
| Title | Top-left | Shows which workflow you're editing — click it to rename |
| Canvas controls | Bottom-left | Canvas mode, undo, redo, fit to view |
The side panel can be resized by dragging its left edge. Its header also holds Save, Run, and Variables — see Editor Toolbar for every control in detail.
Step 1 — Add Your First Block
An empty canvas shows a short launcher with two commands:
| Command | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| New Agent | ⌘⇧A | Drops an AI Agent block on the canvas |
| Search Blocks | ⌘K | Opens block search so you can type what you need |
Once the canvas has blocks, you can add more in any of these ways:
| Way to add | How |
|---|---|
| Drag | Drag a block from the palette onto the canvas and drop it where you want it |
| Click | Click a block in the palette — it drops in the center of the view |
| Right-click | Right-click a block in the palette and choose Add to canvas |
| Search | Press Ctrl/Cmd + K, type a name, and pick a result |
Step 2 — Find Blocks in the Palette
Open the Toolbar tab in the side panel. The palette has two parts:
- Triggers at the top — the blocks that start a run. You can drag the divider to make this section taller or shorter.
- Blocks below it — everything else, grouped into collapsible categories.
There's a Search… box at the top. While you're searching, both sections show flat results so you can grab anything by name.
Categories
| Category | What it's for | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Triggers | How a run starts | Start, API Trigger, Webhook, Telegram Trigger, Chat Trigger |
| AI | AI-powered work | Agent, Router, Evaluator, Knowledge, Image Generator, Vision, Speech to Text, Text to Speech |
| Logic | Direct the flow | Condition, For Loop, While Loop, For Each, Wait, Parallel, Function |
| Data | Shape and move data | API, Response, Variables, Table steps |
| Arketic | Arketic-native actions that need no connection | Knowledge base search, document search, web search, create/update tasks, start a Blueprint, send a notification |
| Integrations | External services | Slack, Gmail, Notion, Google Sheets, GitHub, Linear, and more |
| Notes | Annotate the canvas | Note |
:::tip Integrations open as provider cards Under Integrations, each service is a single card — click one (for example Google) to see its individual steps, and use the back row at the top of the list to return. :::
Step 3 — Start With a Trigger
Every workflow needs an entry point. Add one trigger block and build the rest of the flow after it.
| Trigger | Starts the workflow when… |
|---|---|
| Start | You click Run in the editor — the manual trigger |
| API Trigger | An external HTTP request comes in |
| Webhook | Another service sends a request to the block's own URL |
| Telegram Trigger | Your Telegram bot receives a message |
| Chat Trigger | Someone starts it from a conversation with an AI assistant |
The Start block also lets you define Input fields (a name and a type each). Those fields are the starting data for a manual test run, and later blocks read them as <input.NAME>.
See Running Workflows for how each entry point behaves, and Blocks for their full settings.
Step 4 — Connect Blocks
Drag from one block's connection point to another block to link them. The arrow shows the direction the flow runs.
- To remove a link, select it and press Delete.
- To flip a block's connection points between horizontal and vertical, use the Ports control in the block's hover tray.
:::info How the run follows your arrows Blocks run in dependency order — each one waits for what it needs. Logic blocks change that path: Condition and Router send the run down different branches, loops repeat a section, and Parallel runs branches at the same time and collects the results. :::
Step 5 — Configure a Block
Double-click a block — or hover it and choose Open details — to open its full-screen configuration view. You can also toggle this view with Ctrl/Cmd + \ (or Ctrl/Cmd + I).
The view has three columns:
| Column | Shows |
|---|---|
| Input | The data coming into this block |
| Center | The block's own settings |
| Output | The result this block produces |
While you're in there:
- Fill in the settings. Every block has its own fields — a prompt, a URL, a table, an operation, and so on.
- Show more options. Blocks with advanced settings hide them behind a Show additional fields toggle (it becomes Hide additional fields once open).
- Rename the block. Double-click its name at the top of the center column, or click the pencil. Press Enter to save, Escape to cancel.
- Pick a connection where one is needed. Blocks that reach an external service have an Authentication (or Credential) field where you choose a stored connection. See Connections.
Close the view when you're done — your changes stay on the canvas until you save.
Arketic-native blocks and the Arketic AI model option need no connection at all, so they're the quickest way to get a first version working.
Reusing Data Between Blocks
Blocks don't just run in order — later blocks can read what earlier ones produced. You do that with a reference written in angle brackets.
| Reference | Reads | Example |
|---|---|---|
<input.NAME> | A field from the trigger's input | <input.email> |
<blockName.field> | An earlier block's output | <agent.content>, <start.input> |
<variable.NAME> | A workflow variable | <variable.threshold> |
Type the reference straight into a field — for example, put <agent.content> in a message body to send whatever the Agent block wrote.
:::caution Most run problems are data problems When a run fails, it's usually a reference pointing at something that isn't there — a renamed block, a missing input field, or an empty result. Open the run in Logs and check the failed step's Input and Output to see exactly what arrived. :::
To create and edit workflow variables, see Variables.
Step 6 — Name and Save
- Rename the workflow — click the title at the top-left, type the new name, then press Enter or click away. Escape cancels.
- Save — click Save in the side panel header, or press Ctrl/Cmd + S.
The Save button tells you where you stand: Save when there are unsaved changes, Saving… while it works, and Saved when there's nothing left to save.
Saving matters for more than safekeeping: Run stays disabled until your changes are saved, and the Copilot can't start until the workflow has been saved at least once.
:::info Coming soon Deploy (publishing a workflow) is on the way. For now you run workflows directly — see Running Workflows. :::
Keeping the Canvas Readable
As a flow grows, a few habits keep it easy to follow:
| Habit | How |
|---|---|
| Give blocks clear names | Rename them in the configuration view — the names show up in run logs and in your references |
| Explain tricky parts | Add a Note block; it takes markdown and sits on the canvas without joining the flow |
| Tidy the layout | Press Shift + L for auto-layout, or right-click the canvas and choose Auto-layout |
| See everything | Use Fit to view (⌘⇧F) in the bottom-left controls |
| Reuse a step | Hover a block and choose Duplicate, or right-click it and use Copy / Paste / Duplicate |
| Park a block without deleting it | Hover it and choose Disable — it stays on the canvas, dimmed, and is skipped |
Handy Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘/Ctrl + S | Save |
| ⌘/Ctrl + Enter | Run |
| ⌘/Ctrl + K | Search blocks |
| ⌘/Ctrl + Z | Undo |
| ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + Z | Redo |
| ⌘/Ctrl + D | Duplicate |
| Shift + L | Auto-layout |
| V / H | Pointer (select) / Hand (pan) mode |
The full list lives on Editor Toolbar.
Try It Out
When your flow is ready, click Run in the side panel header (or press Ctrl/Cmd + Enter). Run becomes available once the workflow is saved and has at least one block — if it's greyed out, hover it and the button tells you what's missing.
The run continues in the background, and every step is recorded so you can inspect it afterwards.
Let the Copilot Build It
If you'd rather describe the flow than draw it, open the Copilot tab in the side panel and say what you want — for example, "Add a Slack node and connect it to the trigger." It adds, connects, and configures blocks on the canvas for you, and you can undo its last change from a one-click Undo card (it asks you to confirm before reverting).
See Copilot.
Related Pages
- Blocks — what every block does and its settings
- Variables — workflow-scoped values you can reuse
- Connections — sign-ins your blocks use to reach other services
- Tables — structured data your workflow can read and write
- Running Workflows — manual runs, webhooks, and chat
- Schedules — run a workflow on a recurring schedule
- Logs — step-by-step detail of every run