> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.callivox.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Building a flow
> A walkthrough of the automation builder: the canvas, the block palette, connecting steps, passing data between them, loops, and publishing.
The builder is where you assemble an automation. You drag blocks onto a canvas, connect them in the
order they should run, and configure each one in the settings rail on the right.
## Opening the builder
From **Automations → Flows**, click **New automation** (or **Create your first automation** if the
list is empty) to start with a blank canvas. Click any existing flow row to open it for editing.
The top bar holds everything you need while building:
| Control | What it does |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Flows** | Goes back to the list. If you have unsaved changes you will be asked first. |
| Name field | The automation's name. A new flow starts as **Untitled automation** — rename it now so it is findable later. |
| Status chip | **Draft**, **Published**, or **Published — unsaved changes**. |
| **Variables** | Opens the workflow variables panel, with a badge showing how many you have. |
| **Save** | Saves your edits. Only active once something has changed. |
| **Publish** | Saves, then makes this version the live one. |
## Step 1 — Add a trigger
A new canvas shows **"Start building your automation"** / *"Drag a trigger from the left to begin,
then add actions and logic."*
Until a trigger is on the canvas, the palette shows **only triggers**, under the heading **Choose a
trigger** and the line *"Pick what starts this flow."* Search for one, then drag it onto the canvas
or click it to add it.
Once a trigger exists, the palette flips: triggers disappear and every action and logic block
becomes available under **Add a step** / *"Drag onto the canvas, or click to add."*
[Triggers](/automations/triggers) covers each trigger type in detail.
## Step 2 — Add actions from the palette
The palette sorts every block into two buckets:
One section per connected product: **Callivox**, HubSpot, Bitrix24, Dynamics 365, Monday.com,
Business Central, Salla, Drupal Commerce, JotForm, Microsoft Forms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google
Sheets, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Asana, ClickUp and Airtable.
The building blocks that belong to no particular app: **Webhook**, **Schedule**, **Logic &
Flow**, **HTTP**, **Variables**, **Data**, **Date & Time**, **Text** and **Numbers**.
Only the **Callivox** section is expanded when you arrive. Use **Expand all** / **Collapse all**, or
the search box (**Search steps…**), to find things quickly; the sections you leave open are
remembered next time.
Blocks are colour-coded by what they are: triggers green, actions blue, control blocks amber,
utilities violet.
## Step 3 — Connect the steps
Drag from a block's output handle to the next block's input handle. Some blocks have more than one
output — **If / Else** has **True** and **False**, **For Each** has **Item** and **Done**, and the
**HTTP Request** block has a separate error output — so which handle you drag from decides which
path a step sits on.
Other canvas controls:
* **Arrange** (top right) auto-lays the diagram out top to bottom and fits it to the view.
* Select a block or a connector and press **Delete** or **Backspace** to remove it. Deleting a block
you have already configured asks for confirmation first.
* The minimap and zoom controls help on larger flows.
## Step 4 — Configure each block
Click a block to open the settings rail on the right. With nothing selected it reads **"Nothing
selected"** / *"Select a block on the canvas to edit its settings."*, and a block with no options
reads *"This block has no settings to configure."*
Three things appear on most blocks:
* **A Connection dropdown** on any block that talks to an outside app. It defaults to
**— default connection —**. If you have not authorised that app yet you will see *"No {provider}
connections yet — add one from the Connections button on the Automations page."* — see
[Connectors and connections](/automations/connectors).
* **Choose… and Custom…** on dropdown fields. **Custom…** reveals a free-text box for values that
are not in the list.
* **Delete block** at the bottom of the rail.
Validation problems show as a red alert at the top of the rail.
## Passing data between steps
Almost every field can be filled from an earlier step instead of typed by hand. Use the **Use a
previous step** picker on the field. It offers a search box (**Search steps & fields…**) and lists
what is available, grouped by the step that produced it, plus a **Variables** group for your own
workflow variables.
This is how a flow carries data forward: the email captured by a form trigger becomes the email on a
**Create Contact** action; the order id returned by one step becomes the lookup value for the next.
### Workflow variables
Click **Variables** in the top bar to open **Workflow Variables** — your own named slots for holding
data across the flow. Empty, it reads *"No variables yet. Add one to store and pass data between
steps."*
Each variable has a **Name**, a **Type** (**Text**, **Number**, **True / False**, **List** or
**Object**) and an optional default value. Names must be unique and use letters, digits and
underscores, and cannot start with a digit.
Set and read them with the blocks in the **Variables** section of the palette: **Set Variable**,
**Get Variable**, **Increment Variable**, **Update Variable** and **List Operation**.
Renaming a variable updates every step on the canvas that referenced it, so you can rename freely
after you have wired things up.
### Reshaping lists
When a step hands back a list that is the wrong shape — too many columns, one row per day when you
want one per person, duplicates you do not need — use the blocks in the **Data** section to map,
filter, group, deduplicate and sort it before the next step sees it. See
[Working with data](/automations/working-with-data).
## Repeating steps with For Each
To do the same work once per item in a list — every row read from a sheet, every record returned by
a search — use the **For Each** block from **Logic & Flow**.
Drop **For Each** on the canvas and set its **Items** input. Pick a list variable, or a list
output from an earlier step, using the **Use a previous step** picker.
Connect the **Item** output to the first step of the work you want repeated. Inside the loop,
**Current item** and **Current index** are available to any field.
Connect the last step of the body back to the **For Each** block. Without that return connection
the body only runs once, and saving warns: *"This For Each loop never returns to the loop step,
so it only runs once."* For a simple straight-line body Callivox wires the return connection for
you.
Connect the **Done** output to whatever should happen once every item has been processed.
A loop can only be entered through the **For Each** block. If a step inside the loop also has a
connection coming from outside it, saving fails with *"This step is inside a For Each loop but also
has a connection from outside the loop."*
The other blocks in **Logic & Flow** are **If / Else** (branch on a condition), **Switch** (route
down one of several paths), **Loop** (repeat while a condition holds) and **End** (stop the
automation).
There is no wait or delay block. To do something after a period of time, use the **Schedule**
trigger on a separate flow.
## Step 5 — Save and publish
Click **Save** to store your work. You will see **"Automation saved."** A flow can be saved as often
as you like without going live.
Before it saves, Callivox checks the flow. Common messages:
* **"Add at least one trigger and one action."**
* **"Add a trigger to start the automation."**
* `{Field} is required.` for a required setting left blank
* **"Time must be in 24-hour HH:mm format (e.g. 19:00)."** on a schedule
* `Request body is not valid JSON.` on an HTTP block
If several problems exist you will see `Can't save — {first message} (and N more)`. Fix them and
save again.
When you are ready, click **Publish**. It saves first, so the live version is exactly what you are
looking at, then arms the trigger. The status chip turns **Published** and you will see
**"Automation published."** Edit a published flow and the chip becomes **Published — unsaved
changes** until you publish again.
Publishing makes a flow live; **Enable / Disable** on the flow list is the on-off switch you use
afterwards. A published flow that has been disabled will not run.
## Next steps
Every way a flow can start.
Authorising the apps your actions talk to.
Watching your flow execute, and diagnosing failures.
Flows, runs, folders and your monthly run allowance.