Introduction
How workflows work
A workflow is an automation you build in the Filmo app. One trigger starts it; the steps that follow do the work, one after another.
The parts
Link to this section: The parts| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| Workflow | One trigger and the steps that follow it, with a name, a status and a creator. |
| Trigger | What starts the workflow. Every workflow has exactly one. |
| Step | One unit of work: send an email, create a task, call a URL, wait, decide. Steps are atomic, composite (they contain other steps) or a capability of Filmo. |
| Run | One execution of a workflow, from the moment it is queued to the moment it ends. |
| Version | A frozen, numbered copy of the workflow that you published. Runs use a version, never the draft you are editing. |
| Draft | What you see in the editor. It is saved as you edit, but it does not run until you publish it. |
| Live | The switch that lets the automatic triggers (schedule, webhook, event, signal) start runs. |
| Variable | A value a step or the trigger hands on to the steps after it. You pick it from a list; there is no formula syntax to type. |
| Signal | A named message that one workflow fires and others listen for. |
| Template | A ready-made workflow you start from, with the blanks you still have to fill. |
From trigger to finished run
Link to this section: From trigger to finished runWhen a trigger fires, Filmo does not run the steps at that moment. It queues a run that points at the published version of the workflow, and a worker picks it up a moment later. Steps then run strictly in order; there are no parallel branches.
Insert a run:
queuedA button, the API, a schedule, a webhook, an event or a signal. The run points at the published version of the workflow, never at the draft.
Kick:
executeThe minute tick is the safety net: a lost kick is picked up on the next minute.
The worker claims the run: state
running, a lease of 300 secondsReplay the journal, then run the steps. Every unit of work is recorded once; a resumed run replays what it already did instead of doing it again.
completed·failedTerminal. A failed step ends the run as failed; there is no automatic retry of a step.
waiting+ a wake-up timeA wait step, or a retry backoff after an engine error. The next tick after that time sends it back to the queue.
pausedThe platform stopped it before a step: no credit left, or a payment problem. Only Resume brings it back.
Each unit of work is recorded as it completes. That record is what lets a run stop in the middle, for a wait or a retry, and continue later without repeating what it already did.
Draft, version, Live
Link to this section: Draft, version, LiveEditing and publishing are separate. The editor saves your changes as you work, but a version is only created when you press «Publish». Switching «Live» on or off does not create a version; it only decides whether the automatic triggers fire. Read Versions for the details, including what you cannot do (there is no version history and no restore).
Edit the canvas: autosave
Saved after a short pause. It writes only the draft and marks it as «Unpublished changes». What runs does not change.
«Publish»
Freezes the draft as a new numbered version and rebuilds the triggers. New runs use it; runs already in flight keep theirs.
«Live» on: automatic triggers (schedule, webhook, event, signal) fire and start runs of the published version
«Discard»
The draft goes back to the published version. There is no way back to an older one.
«Run workflow»
A manual run uses the published version. If the draft has unpublished changes, the editor publishes them first.
Who a run acts as
Link to this section: Who a run acts asA run does not act as the person who clicked «Run workflow», or as the owner of an API key, or as the person whose change triggered it. Every step that uses a capability of Filmo runs with the permissions of the creator of the workflow, checked again at each step.
What it costs
Link to this section: What it costsA run uses credits: one for every action step that completes, plus extra credits for steps that call the AI. Conditions, loops, switches and failed steps are free. See Limits and credits.
What workflows are not
Link to this section: What workflows are not- Steps never run in parallel, and no step has a "continue on error" option: a step that fails ends the run as failed, unless you put it inside a Try step, which lets the run carry on.
- A step that starts another workflow or fires a signal does not wait for the result; the other workflow is a run of its own.
Where to go next
Link to this section: Where to go nextStart from a template, publish it and watch a run.
The seven ways a workflow starts, and the traps of each.
How a step reads what an earlier step produced.
States, the run viewer, cancel, retry and resume.
Related pages
Link to this section: Related pagesIntroduction
Quickstart: run a workflow from a template
In about ten minutes you will create a workflow from a template, publish it, run it once by hand and see what happened, step by step.
Run
Versions
A workflow has a draft that you edit and a published version that runs. They are different on purpose, and the way they differ is where most surprises come from.
Run
Workflow permissions
Two questions get mixed up: who may manage a workflow, and what a run is allowed to do. The first is about administrators. The second is about one person: the creator.
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