Creating Workflows

Build workflows when you need reliable automation with clear inputs, clear outputs and repeatable logic.

Before You Build

Define three things first:

1. Objective: What outcome should this workflow produce?
2. Input: What data starts the run?
3. Output: What should be saved, sent or returned?

If you skip this step, workflows become hard to debug and hard to maintain.

Build Flow

1. Open Workflows in Scout
2. Click New Workflow
3. Add an Input block — define the fields your workflow expects (text, numbers, objects)
4. Add processing blocks: conditions to branch logic, templates to shape data, AI blocks to generate content
5. Wire outputs to inputs by clicking a block’s output handle and dragging to the next block’s input
6. Run in Console with a real payload and check the results

Practical Build Pattern

Use this order for most production workflows:

1. Validate input — check required fields exist and have the right shape
2. Fetch context (Collections, APIs, integrations) — pull any data the workflow needs
3. Transform and decide (conditions, templates, AI) — shape the data and branch as needed
4. Take action (write data, send messages, call systems) — only after validation passes
5. Return structured output — keys and values, not a wall of text

Example: Processing a new support ticket

Say you’re building a workflow that receives a support ticket, categorizes it and routes it:

Input: { ticket_id, subject, body, customer_email }

1. Validate   → confirm ticket_id and body are present
2. Fetch      → look up customer record from your CRM Collection
3. Decide     → run an AI block to classify urgency (low / medium / high)
4. Act        → write classification back to the ticket, notify the right Slack channel
5. Output     → { ticket_id, urgency, routed_to, status: "processed" }

Each step is a separate block. If step 2 fails, steps 3-5 never run — so your external systems stay clean.

Use with Agents

If your workflow is exposed as an agent tool:

• Keep input schema explicit and small
• Return predictable output keys
• Include clear failure messages in output
• Avoid side effects before validation steps

Instruction snippet for agent tools:

When calling this workflow tool:

1. Confirm required inputs before execution.
2. Prefer the smallest valid payload.
3. On failure, return the error reason and next action.
4. On success, return concise output with IDs and paths.

Common Mistakes

• Overloading one workflow with too many jobs — split unrelated processes into separate workflows so each one is easy to test and maintain independently
• Writing to external systems before validation — move all writes to step 4 (after validate and fetch), so a bad input never creates a partial record
• Returning free-form text instead of structured outputs — return { status, result_id, message } rather than a paragraph; agents and downstream systems can’t parse prose reliably
• Skipping test runs with realistic input payloads — use the Console with actual data, not placeholder strings; edge cases show up fast with real values

Next Steps

• Blocks: Choose the right building blocks
• Logic and State: Pass data safely between blocks
• Console: Test and debug runs faster

Built with ❤️ by Scout OS