Create a workflow

Who can do this

Creating workflows requires Build mode access (enabled per account by an administrator). Running a workflow in your own private feature requires the User role; running or changing shared workflows requires Data Admin or membership in an admin workspace.

A workflow is a named, reusable job Ronja writes for you: it reads tables, computes, and produces tables, files, or reports. You never author one by hand — you describe it in a Build-mode conversation and Ronja builds it as a draft you can test before committing.

Build it

1. Click New Exploration and select Build on the start screen.
2. Describe the job — the product’s own example: “Create a workflow that calculates monthly churn from our events table”.
3. Watch the chat cards as Ronja works: Workflow created (a draft only you see), then File saved / File edited as it writes the code.
4. Ask Ronja to test-run it — the run card shows the result, plain-language timing, and a View trace button.
5. Ask Ronja to commit when you’re happy: Draft promoted to live publishes it.

Ronja creating, coding, and test-running a workflow in one conversation.

Tip

Be specific up front, and read the Plan Ronja writes before she starts coding. Correcting the scope in the plan builds the right workflow the first time and spends fewer credits than reworking a finished one.

Caution

In a shared feature the outcome depends on your role: a non-admin’s edit is Submitted for review and a Data Admin approves it, while a non-admin’s new workflow becomes a proposal (“Proposal submitted · awaiting admin approval”). See Propose and review changes.

Tables the workflow reads appear on its page under Inputs; tables it writes appear under Writes to. Ronja binds these automatically as it writes the code.

Parameters

Workflows can declare typed run-time parameters — text, number, date, and select (a select’s options can even load live from a table). Required parameters are marked with a red *.

1. Open the workflow from its feature hub row or a link in chat.
2. Fill in the parameter inputs below the run button.
3. Click the run button — labeled Run, Run pipeline, or Generate report depending on the workflow’s kind.
4. Watch the run appear at the top of the Activity list — see Monitor runs and traces.

Per-run approval gates

A workflow can carry an approval gate that pauses every run for a human decision before anything executes.

1. Run the workflow from a chat — the run pauses on the approval strip (“Run this workflow”) with the parameter values visible.
2. Decide: an approver on the gate’s list (or an Admin) clicks Approve or Reject, optionally with a comment. Non-approvers see “Awaiting approval from {names}” and can only reject.
3. Approvers who aren’t in the conversation receive the request by email or Slack with a decision link.

Caution

A gated workflow only runs from chat. The run button on its page — and any automation that fires it — is refused with “this workflow requires approval and cannot be run from this entry point”. Every run re-prompts; there is no “always approve”.

To add a gate to a workflow, ask Ronja in a Build session.