Creating a new automation

The hardest part of building your first automation is starting: a blank canvas appears and you have no idea where to click. This guide shows how a new automation is opened from scratch, which buttons to press in the first five minutes, and when the flow actually starts working.

⚠️ Note: Creating an automation needs edit rights. The New automation button is not shown at all to the agent and viewer roles. Taking the flow live needs publish rights on top of that.

Where an automation is created

Press New automation at the top right of the Automations screen. If you have no automations yet, the button in the No automations yet box in the middle of the list goes to the same place.

The page that opens is called New automation and offers two routes: start from a ready-made template or open a blank flow. At the very top there is a back link reading Automations; if you change your mind it takes you back to the list. Nothing is created, because an automation only comes into being when you press a card.

How templates are picked is a separate topic: Building an automation from a template.

Starting with a blank flow

A dashed card sits at the start of every category:

• Start blank — the card's heading.
• A blank flow with only the start step. — the card's description.
• Start blank — the button at the bottom of the card.

The moment you press the button the automation is created and the panel takes you straight into the flow editor. The new flow has a single box: the Start step, labelled When…. The automation is named Untitled automation.

💡 A blank flow can always be opened. Templates that do not fit your account's channel or your plan may refuse to install, but the blank card is never locked.

The first five minutes: getting the flow on its feet

A newly created automation is a Draft: it messages nobody and its triggers do not fire. To make it work, do the following in order.

1. Name the automation. Switch to the Settings tab, write a name that describes the job into the Name field ("Price question — Instagram", for example) and press Save. The name can be 80 characters at most.
2. Pick its folder. Choose a folder from the Folder list on the same screen, or leave it as No folder.
3. Go back to the Flow tab and click the Start box on the canvas. The editor opens on the right (in a sheet from the bottom on a phone).
4. Press Add trigger and choose what starts the flow. A start step can hold 20 triggers at most.
5. Use the Add step menu at the top left of the canvas to add your first step; usually a Message.
6. Connect the Then exit of the Start box to that step. A start with no connection goes nowhere.
7. Look at the issue button at the top left: if it reads No issues, you are ready to publish.
8. Press Publish at the top right. The automation is published as v1 and moves to the Live state.

Adding and connecting steps is covered in detail in Adding, connecting, moving and deleting steps.

Why the name matters

The name does not only appear in the list; the same name shows in the Logs screen, in the target list of the Another flow step, in the Also start field of global rules and in the Start an automation field of sequences. Names like "Untitled automation" or "test 2" tell you nothing a month later.

A naming pattern that works: topic — channel — state. Examples:

• "Price question — Instagram"
• "Comment to DM — summer campaign"
• "Appointment reminder — one day before"

💡 You can rename freely and it needs no publishing: change it on the Settings tab and press Save. The name is not part of the flow graph.

Starting by duplicating an existing automation

When a similar flow already exists, duplicate it instead of rebuilding:

1. In the automations list, click the three dots at the end of the source row.
2. Choose Duplicate.
3. A new record named "… (copy)" appears in the list.

A copy always arrives as a Draft: its steps, settings and folder match the source, but it has no published version and messages nobody. Open the copy, change the texts, fix the name and press its own Publish.

⚠️ Note: Duplicating copies the source's draft, not its live version. If the source has unpublished changes, the copy gets those.

When creating is blocked

A blank flow always opens, but in two situations the panel stops you and says why:

• The channel is off — A template written only for a channel you do not have (a WhatsApp template in an Instagram-only account, say) will not install.
• Your plan does not cover it — A template that uses a step your plan does not include will not install, and an upgrade window opens.

Both only concern templates. In a blank flow you can add a locked step from the menu: it lands on the canvas, its heading carries a lock icon and the flow stays publishable — but sessions that reach that step stop there.

A concrete example

A hair salon wants to greet "appointment" messages coming in from Instagram:

1. New automation → Start blank.
2. Settings → Name: "Appointment request — Instagram", Save.
3. Flow → the Start box → Add trigger → Keyword.
4. Into Keywords, add "appointment", "booking", "any slots" (each with Enter or a comma).
5. Add step → Message. Write "Hi {{contact.first_name}}, which day shall we look at?" into the text.
6. Connect the Then exit of the Start box to that message.
7. On the Test tab, type "appointment" into the simulator and watch the flow run.
8. Publish.

How placeholders such as {{contact.first_name}} work is covered in Variables and placeholders.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Creating the automation and forgetting to rename it. Several "Untitled automation" rows pile up and nobody can tell them apart.
• Never connecting the start to a step. The pre-publish check reports this as an error and blocks publishing.
• Trying to publish without a trigger. A flow without triggers never starts; that is a publishing error too.
• Forgetting to publish the draft. Everything you do in the editor is saved to the draft; going live needs Publish.
• Assuming the same job is set up in both accounts. An automation belongs to an account; if you need it in a second account you have to build it there as well.

Related articles

• Building an automation from a template
• The flow editor
• Automation settings
• Publishing, turning off and automation states
• Example: building a daily information flow