Flow Control
Use built-in Flow Control actions for approvals, branches, loops, waits, and other workflow logic.
Flow Control is the built-in app for workflow logic. It does not need a connection. Use it for approvals, branches, loops, waits, and calling other workflows.
Triggers such as Manually Run also belong to Flow Control; those are covered in Triggers. This page covers actions you add after the trigger.
Add a Flow Control action
- Click + on a node (or on a connection line) to open the action picker.
- Under Popular, open Flow Control.
- Pick an action, or use Search to jump to a name.
What you can build with
Group by job (not every action needs its own page):
Approvals and human input
| Action | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Request Approval | Pause until eligible people approve or reject (four-eyes / dual control) |
| Get Input Data | Wait for a user to enter custom data, then continue |
| Manually Decide Path | Wait for a person to pick which branch to take |
| Pause | Stop until someone continues the run manually |
Approvers work from the Approvals inbox in Automate when a run is waiting.
Branches
| Action | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Conditional Paths | Split the flow when conditions match |
| Merge Paths | Wait for branches to finish before continuing |
| Manually Decide Path | Let a person choose the branch at runtime |
Loops
| Action | Use it to |
|---|---|
| For Each | Run the following steps once per item in a list |
| Repeat | Repeat a block a fixed number of times or until a condition |
| Loop Collector | Collect results from a loop body |
| String List Loop | Run another workflow for each item in a comma-separated list |
Time
| Action | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Wait | Pause for a duration (for example 30 minutes), then continue |
| Schedule | Resume at a specific time or offset |
If a Wait is longer than two minutes, the execution status moves to Scheduled until it resumes.
Call other workflows and finish
| Action | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Run Workflow | Start another workflow from this one |
| Output Workflow Data | Return data for an agent or a parent workflow |
| Stop and Delete Execution | End the run and remove it (requires typing DELETE to confirm) |
Example canvas
A simple Flow Control chain might look like this: start manually, request approval, then wait before the next step.
Tips
- Prefer Manually Run while you learn, then add Flow Control actions one at a time and Save & Test where available.
- Yellow warning icons usually mean missing required fields. Open the node and complete them.
- Flow Control actions do not need an integration connection. App actions under Apps often do.
- For how runs start, see Triggers.