Flow Designer
Design Flows visually with a drag-and-drop canvas.
Canvas overview
The Flow Designer is where you build your Flow visually: drag stages onto the canvas, draw lines between them to set the order, and add decision points where the path should branch.
Key areas
- Blocks panel (left): drag stages and decisions onto the canvas
- Canvas (center): arrange your Flow and draw lines between steps
- Configuration panel (right): settings for whichever block or line you've selected
- Toolbar (top): save, publish, share, and undo/redo
Adding blocks
Open the Blocks panel on the left. Drag any block onto the canvas, or click it to drop it in the middle. The library is organised into three groups:
- Core, the everyday building blocks: forms, reviews, decisions, and outcome markers
- Multi-Instance: for cases where you need to score or compare several submissions at once (e.g., vendor bids or grant proposals)
- Automation, steps that run on their own: send emails, call other systems, do calculations, or save data
The Multi-Instance and Automation groups are collapsed by default to keep the sidebar tidy. Click a group header to open it.
Connecting blocks
Hover over a block to see its connection handles. Click and drag from a handle to another block to draw a line between them. That line tells the Flow where to go next.
- Each line is a path the Flow can take
- Click a line to give it a label or turn it into a loop-back
- You can connect any block to any other block
- Loop-back lines (sending work back to an earlier step) show up in orange and dashed, so they're easy to spot
Configuration panel
Click any stage to open its settings on the right. The panel is organised into tabs:
Tabs
- General: name, description, and an Advanced area for deadlines and display options
- Assignments: who handles this step (a specific person, a team, a role, or a rule), plus Advanced options for how the work is distributed
- Actions: the buttons reviewers see (Approve, Reject, etc.) and what they look like
- Form: create, pick, or edit the form attached to this step
- Visibility: on review stages, choose which pieces of information the reviewer sees
- Notifications: emails sent when this step starts or ends
Condition blocks (decision points)
A Condition Block is a decision point shaped like a diamond. When the Flow reaches one (say, "auto-approve if amount < $1,000"), it reads the data so far and picks the right path automatically.
- Each path has a name, a rule, and a priority order
- Paths are checked in order, and stepbase takes the first one that matches
- Either mark one path as the default fallback, or give every path its own rule
- Build rules with the visual Condition Builder: no code, just pick fields and operators
Undo and redo
The designer maintains a full undo/redo history. Use Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y (or Cmd on Mac) or the toolbar buttons. Every change to the flow definition is tracked.
Publishing
When your flow is ready, click Publish in the toolbar. stepbase checks it for common problems before going live:
- Every step has a line going out (otherwise the Flow would get stuck)
- Every decision point has a default path to fall back on
- Form steps actually have a form attached
- Every interactive step has someone assigned to it
Each time you publish, you create a new version. Flows already in progress stay on the version they started with, so your changes only apply to new submissions.
Import and export
Flows can be exported as JSON files and imported into other workspaces. This is useful for sharing templates and migrating between environments.
Automation blocks
Automation blocks run on their own as the Flow passes through them, with no human action needed. For example, after a form is submitted, an automation block can save the information to a table, email the team, or call an external system before the next person gets the task.
| Block | What it does |
|---|---|
| Data Block | Automatically read from or save to your company's data (employee records, budgets, vendor tables) |
| Transform Block | Calculate a value from earlier Flow data (totals, days elapsed, formatted text) and make it available to later steps |
| Notify Block | Send an email to a user, team, or external address |
| Connector Block | Call an external system: a CRM, HR platform, or any web API |
Testing a connector before you publish
Once you've set up a Connector block, click Test Connector in the configuration panel to make sure it works before going live. A dialog opens listing every value the connector needs:
- Fixed values are filled in automatically
- Values that normally come from earlier Flow steps will need a sample value to test with, because the Flow data doesn't exist yet at design time
- Click Run Test to call the connector with your sample values
- You'll see whether it succeeded, the response from the other system, and how long it took
AI flow chat
The AI chat bar at the bottom of the designer lets you generate or modify flows using natural language prompts.
- Describe a new Flow and AI generates the full flow definition
- Ask to add, remove, or reconfigure stages by describing the change
- Generated flows are loaded directly onto the canvas for review and editing
- Use undo (Ctrl+Z) to revert AI-generated changes