Building Automations

This guide walks you through building a flow in Automation Studio, from choosing a trigger to publishing and monitoring it.

The Builder

Automation Studio is a visual canvas. Each flow is a chain of steps:

1. Trigger — the event that starts the flow
2. Steps — actions that run in order, plus optional Condition steps that split the flow into Then and Otherwise paths

The toolbar above the canvas has Undo and Redo, panels for the Inspector, Runs, and Versions, and buttons to Enable automation / Disable automation, Run automation, and Publish automation.

Step 1: Create a Flow

1. Click Automation in the sidebar
2. Click Create flow
3. The builder opens with the name field ready — type a descriptive name

Choose a name that explains what the flow does:

• ✅ "Leads: enroll website leads in welcome sequence"
• ✅ "Docs: request approval when a doc moves to In Review"
• ❌ "Untitled"

Step 2: Choose the Trigger

On the first step of the canvas, click Choose trigger and pick one, or choose Browse all triggers… to open the full picker.

Then configure it in the inspector. For a Module trigger:

Example: Module = Leads, Event = Created

See Triggers for the Document, Outreach, Approval, Booking, and Schedule triggers.

Step 3: Add Conditions (Optional)

There are two places to add conditions.

On a Module trigger. After you pick the module and event, the inspector shows a Conditions section: "Only fire this trigger when these field checks pass." Add checks against the module's fields. If they don't pass, the flow doesn't run at all.

As a Condition step. Add a Condition step anywhere in the flow to split it:

• Steps on the Then path run when the checks pass
• Steps on the Otherwise path run when they don't

Group checks to require all of them or any of them:

(Status equals "Active" AND Deal value greater than 10,000)
OR
(Status equals "VIP")

Step 4: Add Actions

Click + below a step to open the Add a step picker, choose an action, and configure it in the inspector. Built-in actions are listed under Coherence actions:

To use values from the triggering record, insert placeholders such as {{trigger.fields.email}} or {{trigger.recordId}}. See Actions for every setting and placeholder.

Step 5: Publish

Click Publish automation in the toolbar. Publishing checks that the flow is fully configured — exactly one trigger, at least one action, every required setting filled in, and steps that can run together. If anything is missing, you'll see "This automation needs configuration before it can run." Fix the step and publish again.

Once published, the flow is enabled and runs whenever its trigger fires.

Editing a live flow

Your changes save automatically as a draft while a flow is off. To change a flow that's enabled, click Disable automation first, make your changes, then publish again. The Versions panel shows the current version number and when it was last published.

Step 6: Test and Monitor

Testing

• Module trigger flows run only on real changes. Create or update a test record that matches your conditions, then open the Runs panel.
• Other flows can also be started with Run automation. A manual run uses placeholder trigger data, so use it to check wiring rather than real outcomes.

The Runs panel

Open Runs from the toolbar to see recent runs. You can:

• Filter by status — Succeeded, Running, Waiting, Cancelled, or Failed — and by date
• See each step's status and duration
• See when a Waiting run will continue ("Waiting until …"), and why a run was Cancelled — for example, because the automation was turned off while it waited on a Delay
• Click View details for a full run record
• Click Retry to run it again

Pausing

Click Disable automation to stop a flow without deleting it. Click Enable automation to turn it back on.

Example: Complete Walkthrough

Let's build: Enroll new website leads in a welcome sequence, and request approval for large deals.

Setup

1. Click Create flow
2. Name it "Leads: website welcome + large-deal review"

Trigger

1. Click Choose trigger and pick Module trigger
2. Module: Leads
3. Event: Created
4. Conditions: Source equals "Website"

Steps

1. Enroll in Sequence
   • Sequence: New lead welcome
   • Email field: email
2. Condition: Estimated value greater than 25,000
   • Then → Request approval
     • Approval title: Review large lead {{trigger.fields.name}}
     • Resource type: record
     • Resource ID: {{trigger.recordId}}
     • Action type: review

Publish and test

1. Click Publish automation
2. Create a test lead with source "Website" and an estimated value of 30,000
3. Check that the lead was enrolled in the sequence and an approval appeared in Approvals
4. Open Runs to confirm every step succeeded

Troubleshooting

"This automation needs configuration before it can run"

• Make sure the flow has exactly one trigger and at least one action
• Fill in every setting marked with an asterisk
• Don't mix Coherence steps with integration steps in the same flow

"Pause this Automation before editing its configuration."

The flow is enabled. Click Disable automation, make your changes, then publish again.

The flow isn't running

• Check that the flow is enabled
• Confirm the trigger's module, event, and conditions match the change you made
• Look in Runs for failed runs and their failing step

A step failed

• Open the run with View details to see which step failed
• Check that the fields in a Module action exist in the target module
• For integration steps, check that the step's Connection is still valid

Related: Triggers | Actions | Workflow Examples