Flows

Start a flow

1. Open Flows and press New flow.
2. Choose a ready-made flow, or Blank flow:
   • Brief me on new projects: when you're added to a project, reads it and notifies you what it needs from you.
   • File invoices from email: when an email has a bill attached, creates a purchase from it and links the sender's contact.
   • Morning summary: on weekday mornings, notifies you of the day's events and tasks, invoices due and enquiries waiting on a reply.
   • Triage new enquiries: when an enquiry comes in, makes a draft quote for a sales lead, or says who it's from and what the person wants.
3. The flow opens on its canvas. A blank flow starts with a red Choose a trigger card: click it and choose what starts the flow.

A new flow is off until it's turned on.

Triggers

Each flow has one trigger:

• When I run it: only runs from Run now.
• When I receive an email: an email arrives in your centralOS mailbox. From limits it to Anyone, My contacts or Not my contacts, and Subject contains to emails with a word in the subject.
• When I'm added to a project: someone adds you to an existing project, or you add yourself. Creating a new project doesn't count.
• When an enquiry comes in: a new enquiry from the website's contact form.
• When an enquiry gets a message: someone writes again on an existing enquiry, such as replying to an email.
• On a schedule: on the Days and at the Time chosen.

Click the trigger card to change the trigger or its filters.

Add steps

Each step is an instruction for centralAgent.

1. Press + under the trigger card to add a step.
2. Click the step and write what centralAgent should do in Agent instructions on the right. Be thorough: what to look for, which records to find, link or create, how to reply, and what to tell you.
3. Press Save.

One step is usually enough, since centralAgent can do a whole job in one step. Add another step under it only to keep a later part separate. Each step sees what the steps above it did.

• A red step still needs instructions. A flow with red steps can be saved, but can't run or be turned on.
• Drag from a step's + to empty canvas to place a new step there, or onto another step to connect it.
• Delete step is at the bottom of a step's settings.
• Steps run top to bottom, and steps side by side under the same card run left to right.

Branches

To do different things depending on what happened, put two or more steps under one card. Each line from that card needs a condition: click the line and write it in When, such as "It's a sales lead" or "It's a complaint". Write "Otherwise" for when none of the others apply. Until it has one, the line shows Needs a condition.

When a run reaches that card, centralAgent decides which conditions apply and runs only those branches. More than one can apply.

A single line with a condition makes the step below it run only when the condition applies.

Build it by chat

The chat box at the bottom of the flow builds and changes the flow. Describe it in plain words, such as "When I get an email from a contact about a quote, link it to the client's project, draft a reply and let me know." It sets the trigger, writes the steps and names the flow. Changes show on the canvas straight away: press Save to keep the changes, or Undo to go back.

Test it

Press Run now to try a flow before turning it on. It saves any changes first.

• For an email, project or enquiry flow, Run now lists recent emails, projects or enquiries that match the trigger. Pick one to run the flow on it.
• A When I run it or On a schedule flow runs straight away.

While it runs, the canvas lights up the step it's on and the path it takes. To see what a step did, click it and press Open in chat.

Turn it on

The line above Run now shows whether the flow is On or Off, its trigger, and its last run. Click it and switch On. From then on the flow runs by itself every time the trigger happens. The Flows list has an On switch for each flow too.

The same popover changes the trigger and its filters, which save straight away. Changes to the steps only take effect when saved, so a flow that's on keeps running its saved version while it's being edited.

Runs

Every run is saved as a chat with centralAgent.

• Click the line above Run now to see recent Runs, each with its status: Queued, Running, Waiting for approval, Done, Failed or Stopped. Click a run to show its path on the canvas, or press Open in chat beside it to read the whole run and carry on talking to centralAgent about it.
• Run chats are hidden in Agents. Press Flow runs at the top of the Agents list to show run chats.

Approvals and notifications

A flow follows the same rules as a chat with centralAgent: it goes ahead with most things, and stops for approval before the same things a chat does, such as changing money or moving things to the bin. The run waits and sends a notification, Waiting for your approval. Open it and approve to carry on, or deny to stop the run.

A flow can email people who are already contacts straight away, from your own address with your signature. Emails to anyone else wait for approval. To check every email first, ask for a draft in the instructions, such as "draft a reply".

A run that finishes cleanly is quiet. To hear about it, say "notify me" in the instructions, and what to include. A run that fails or is waiting for approval always notifies you.

Business flows

Flows are personal: only the person who made a flow sees it. An owner can make a flow the business's instead:

1. Click the line above Run now and set Owner to Business.
2. Choose a teammate in Run as. The flow runs with that person's access, its emails go from that person's address, and its run chats belong to that person.

Business flows can use When an enquiry comes in, When an enquiry gets a message, On a schedule and When I run it. Everyone in the business can see a business flow and its runs, but only owners can change it.

Things to know

• Runs use the plan's AI usage, like any chat. When it runs out, runs stop until it resets.
• Nothing a flow does starts another flow.
• Once a flow has replied in an email thread, later emails in that thread don't start it again. Automatic emails, such as out-of-office replies, never start a flow.
• A flow starts at most 30 runs an hour.
• Move to bin in the flow's menu at the top turns it off and sends it to the Bin in the user menu, where it can be restored.
• Flows are made and changed in centralOS on a computer. On the phone, run chats and notifications open as usual, including approvals.