Build a workflow from a template

A workflow is a trigger followed by a chain of steps: send a message, ask a question, branch on the answer, hand the contact to a person or an agent. It lives on the Workflows tab of Inbox.

A template hands you that chain already drawn and worded in your name. You edit it instead of starting from a blank canvas.

Open the gallery

To start from a template:

1. Open Inbox, then Workflows.
2. Press the arrow beside Add Workflow.
3. Pick Start With A Template.
4. Press Use Template on the card you want.

On a tab with no workflows yet, Start With A Template is a button of its own under You don't have a workflow yet.

The template is saved as a draft the moment you press the button, named after the template, and the builder opens on it.

What the 38 templates draft

They sit under 7 headings, and the search box above them reads the description as well as the name, so chase finds the three templates that chase somebody whatever they are called.

Heading	What is in it
New leads	What happens the moment a lead lands on your sheet: the first message, the three-try chase, qualifying, the after-hours holding reply, the lead magnet
Greeting and away	The first thing somebody hears when they write in: welcome, away, business hours, chat menus, the holding reply for a day of meetings
Following up	The quote ladder at day 1, 3 and 6; chasing documents; waking a lead who went quiet
Sorting and routing	Language, what they are asking about, existing clients, how soon they need it, and a lead your AI agent tags hot
Meetings	The reminder the day before, what to bring, the recap after, and the no-show
People you already look after	The annual review nudge, the referral ask, and the claim that should interrupt everything
Consent and housekeeping	Privacy consent, unsubscribe, wrong number, and asking how it went

Most start on Chat Starts. Several start when a lead lands on your sheet (New Lead Arrives), several when a tag such as quoted, waiting-docs or review-due is added, and several when a lead reaches a stage such as Booked or a chat is closed.

Those last two kinds start whether the change is made by you, by a colleague or by an AI agent. Tagging a contact in the CRM or moving a lead to Booked by hand starts them, usually within a minute.

Tip

The tag-triggered ones are the quickest win. After A Quote: Day 1, Day 3, Day 6 does nothing until you tag somebody quoted, so you turn a follow-up sequence on one lead at a time, by tagging them, and it stops the moment they reply.

Fill in what the template leaves open

A template can’t know your agents or your sources. While anything needs fixing, a red warning triangle sits in the top bar. Press it for the list, and press a line to open that step.

Only one template ships with a real error in it, and 3 more leave you a line to replace:

• New Lead: Reply Branches and AI Hand-over has a Hand to an AI Agent step with no agent picked, so it reads Choose an AI agent. Nothing else will not publish as it stands.
• New Lead First Message carries a sample branch labelled Luckin. Point it at a source from your own sheet.
• Simple Chat Menu and Chat Menu: Main Menu answer with lines asking you to add your own wording. Replace them.
• Send The Guide They Asked For has a line telling you to attach the file or paste the link.

A template also can’t know how far ahead you book, so Remind Them The Day Before waits 2 days by default. Set that Wait to whatever your own booking lead time is. A whole run lives 7 days, so anything longer needs a separate workflow on a later trigger.

Change a step

Click a card and its settings open in the drawer on the right. Click Trigger for the trigger’s own settings, including Trigger Conditions, which takes up to 10 conditions.

Every + between two cards adds a step at that point, from the Add Steps menu. Steps ActivityTracker can’t run yet stay in the list, greyed and marked Not available.

Hover a card to copy or delete it. Deleting a step with others under it asks first, and names how many go with it. Undo and Redo sit with the zoom controls at the bottom left.

Save and test it

Save keeps the draft even with errors left in it. Test and Publish stay greyed until the error list is empty.

To test the workflow:

1. Press Test.
2. Pick a number under Channel.
3. Press Next.
4. Type what a contact would say, and press Send.

The test runs inside the dialog, with you playing Test Contact. Nothing in it goes out to a WhatsApp number.

Grey lines in the thread note anything a step did besides talking, such as an assignment. A Wait step offers Skip the wait, so you don’t sit through the real delay. Restart runs it again from the top, and End Testing closes it.

Contact fields changes the pretend contact’s fields and tags. Note that a change there applies from the next step on.

Publish

Press Publish. When your district’s Workflows switch is on, a dialog titled Publish this workflow? comes first and says what publishing changes for this trigger. Read it, then press Publish again.

A published workflow is read-only. To change it, press Stop, make your edits, and publish again.

Note

While Workflows is switched off for your district, a yellow notice above the list says so, and a district admin turns it on from District switches. See Turn texting, agents, rules or workflows off for the district.

FAQ

Can I describe what I want instead of picking a template?

Yes. The first card in the gallery is Describe your workflow. Type a sentence, press Build it, and Build with AI draws it into a new draft.

Why is Test greyed out?

An error is left somewhere. Press the red triangle in the top bar to find the step.

The test says the workflow did not start.

The trigger’s conditions didn’t match the pretend contact. Open Details the trigger brings (optional) before pressing Next, and fill in values that match them.

Can I delete a published workflow?

No. Delete stays greyed until you stop the workflow. Deleting can’t be undone.

Can I reuse a workflow somewhere else?

Yes. Clone in the row’s menu makes a draft copy. Export saves it as a file, and Import Workflow reads one back, up to 400 KB and 100 steps.