Actions Examples

Practical examples and common workflow patterns for the Actions system

actionsexamplesworkflows

This page walks through common workflow patterns using the visual flow editor. Each example describes what the workflow does, what triggers it, and how to connect the blocks.

→ For step-by-step instructions on using the editor, see the Actions User Guide.

→ For building custom blocks, see the Actions Developer Guide.

Email notification when a record is created

What it does: Sends an email to an admin when a new document (or any other record) is created.

Setup:

  1. Add a Document Created trigger
  2. Add a Send Email block — configure: recipient, subject, body template
  3. Connect the trigger's output socket to the email block's input socket

Variations:

  • Use Text Replacer syntax (e.g. #{show data.title}) in the email subject and body fields to include the created document's values
  • Filter the Document Created trigger by collectionName to only notify for documents of a specific type

Multi-step data processing

What it does: Validates and transforms incoming data before saving it to a collection.

Setup:

  1. Add a Document Created or Webhook trigger
  2. Add a Data Mapper block — map fields from the trigger data to the target schema
  3. Add a Save Entity block — configure the target collection
  4. Connect: trigger → data mapper → save entity

Error handling:

  • The Save Entity block has an error output socket — connect it to a Send Email block to capture failures

→ See Data Mapper Block for field mapping configuration.

Chat platform notifications

What it does: Posts a message to Slack, Discord, or Microsoft Teams when a record changes.

Setup:

  1. Add a Document Created or Document Updated trigger (filter by collection as needed)
  2. Add a Send Chat Message block — configure: platform (slack / discord / teams), webhook URL, and message (supports Text Replacer syntax such as #{show data.title})
  3. Connect: trigger → send chat message

Tips:

  • Store the webhook URL in Application configuration rather than hardcoding it in the block
  • The block supports optional username and iconUrl overrides (both support Text Replacer syntax)

AI-generated summaries

What it does: Uses an AI model to generate a summary of a document and writes it back to a chosen field.

Setup:

  1. Add a Document Created or Document Updated trigger
  2. Add an AI Summary block — configure: targetProperty (e.g. aiSummary) and a prompt template that references #{show data} / #{show typeSchema} / #{show typeLabel}
  3. Connect: trigger → AI summary

The block reads the trigger's entity data, generates the summary, and updates the target property on the same document.

Scheduled workflows (cron triggers)

What it does: Runs a workflow on a recurring schedule — for example, a nightly data cleanup or a weekly report email.

Common cron expressions:

Schedule Expression
Every day at midnight 0 0 * * *
Every Monday at 8 AM 0 8 * * 1
Every hour 0 * * * *
Every 15 minutes */15 * * * *
First day of each month 0 9 1 * *

Setup:

  1. Add a Cron trigger — enter the cron expression
  2. Add the blocks for the recurring task
  3. Connect them

Example — daily reminder email:

  1. Cron trigger: 0 9 * * * (daily at 9 AM)
  2. Send Email block — send a reminder to the team with a fixed subject and body

Cron-triggered workflows fire on the schedule without any entity context, so downstream blocks work with configured values rather than queried data.

Document approval notification

What it does: When a document moves into pending_review, notify the approver by email.

Setup:

  1. Document Updated trigger — filter by the review collection
  2. Send Email block — configure subject and body with #{show data.title} so the approver sees which document needs review

Tips for building workflows

Start simple. Build and test the happy path first — a single trigger connected to a single output block. Add error handling and branching once the core flow works.

Use meaningful block labels. In the flow editor, rename blocks to describe what they do (e.g., "Notify admin" instead of "Send Email"). This makes complex workflows readable.

Connect error sockets. Blocks that can fail (for example Save Entity, Send Email, Send Chat Message, AI Summary) expose an error output socket. Always connect it to a notification block (such as another Send Email or Send Chat Message) so failures are visible.

Test with real data. Trigger your workflow manually with a known test record to verify the data mapping and conditions are working as expected before enabling it in production.

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