Describe it and let Flow build it

Instead of placing steps by hand, you can describe an automation in a sentence. Flow’s AI Automation Generator builds the steps and trigger for you, and you review the result in the editor. When the work needs more than one automation, Plan it first lays out the pieces before anything is built.

Build an automation from a sentence

1. In the Flow sidebar, select Home. The page asks What do you want to automate?

2. In the box, describe the automation in one sentence. Say what starts it, what it should do, and where the result goes, for example: “Every weekday at 8 AM, list yesterday’s failed runs and post a summary to the ops channel in Teams.” You can also select one of the suggestions under the box to fill it in.

3. Press Enter, or select the Build it arrow button.

   

4. Flow creates the automation and opens it in the editor with the AI Automation Generator panel already working on your sentence. The automation’s name is taken from the first words of your sentence.

5. Watch the canvas fill in. If the generator asks you a question, answer it in the box at the bottom of the panel (“Continue the conversation…”) and press Ctrl+Enter (⌘+Enter on a Mac) or the send button.

6. When it finishes, you see an AI Generation Complete notice and a Done (N steps) button. Select Done to close the panel.

Caution

When generation finishes, Flow saves the automation, creates its trigger and publishes it. A generated automation with a Schedule or Webhook trigger can start running right away, before you’ve reviewed it. Check the steps and the trigger as soon as the generator is done. To stop it from running, turn its trigger off under Triggers in the toolbar.

Check what was built

1. Select each step on the canvas to open its panel and check what it does.

2. Select Triggers in the toolbar and check what starts the automation.

3. If a yellow notice says This automation cannot run yet, it lists what’s missing, usually an app to connect. Set up those connections, then come back.

4. Select Test, then Run Test, to try it. See Test and publish.

If the generator stops before it’s done, for example while it waits for your answer, the panel offers Close instead of Done. Closing leaves the automation unfinished.

If the generator needs something set up before it can start, it shows Setup Required with the steps to take.

Change it by describing the change

You can keep talking to the generator. In the editor toolbar, select Generate with AI to reopen the panel, then describe the change, such as “Also post the summary to email”.

Plan it first

Some work needs several automations that share data. For example, one automation sends requests out, a second takes the replies when another system calls back, and both read and write one shared table. Plan it first shows you those pieces before any of them is built.

1. On Home, type your description in the box.

2. Under the box, next to “Needs more than one automation?”, select Plan it first.

3. Flow lays out an Automation Plan and opens it. Each card is one piece, marked with its kind:

   • Automation: starts on its own, from a schedule, an event or a record appearing.
   • API automation: starts when another system calls in.
   • Data collection: a table the automations read or write.

4. Read each card. To change one, select Edit this card. To drop one, select Remove this card.

5. Select the card’s build button, Build Automation, Build API Automation or Create Collection. Flow creates that automation and opens it in the editor with the generator already running, as in Build an automation from a sentence.

6. Come back to the plan and build the next card. A built card shows Open instead of a build button. If a build fails, the button changes to Try Again.

To find your plans later, select Plans at the top of the Automations page. Deleting a plan keeps any automations it already built.

When to use which

You want	Use
One automation, and you can say what it does in a sentence	Build it on Home
Several automations that work together or share data	Plan it first
Full control over every step and setting	New Automation on the Automations page, then build by hand. See Build your first automation.
A change to an automation you already have	Generate with AI in the editor

The Automations page offers the same two paths: select AI Assist to open the Automation Architect, which also has Plan it first.

Next steps

The editorAdd, connect and change steps by hand.

Automation PlansMore on plans and how their pieces share data.

ConnectionsConnect the apps your automation needs.

Test and publishTry a draft, publish it, and go back to an earlier version.