What is a Flow?

A high-level overview of the concept of Integration and Automation Flows in FlowMate

All integrations and automations within FlowMate are controlled by a type of resource called a Flow. Each specific instance of an integration/automation is described by a unique flow.

Structure of a Flow

At its core, a flow describes a chain of connectors and their functions. When a flow is executed, the first in line of these connectors executes a specified function (usually by sending an API request to a connected system) and emits a data packet that is passed on to the next connector in line which then executes its own function with that data, and so on until all connectors in the flow have executed.

The classic example for a flow is a simple input -> output integration scenario: The first connector fetches some data from an application (e.g. new sales leads) and then passes it on to another connector that inserts this data into another application (e.g. a CRM system).

However, flows can also be much more complex. They can be understood as a graph where each node/connector can have several children. Branching behavior based on received data content is also possible using the FlowMate logic gateway.

Other Data in a Flow

In addition to the graph of connectors, a flow also contains all other information necessary for execution. This includes information on how data should be transformed when before it is passed to a connector, which stored credentials to use for each connector, and when and how it is to be executed. For the full data schema of a flow, please refer to our API Documentation.

Ownership of Flows

While resources like Templates and Components are shared and visible for every member of your FlowMate tenant, flows are unique to each end-user in your tenant. This way, each end-user can configure their own flows to suit their requirements.

Flow Creation and Modification

For advanced use cases, flows can become quite complex. In order to simplify this, flows are usually created and modified through the FlowMate Integration Center. The Integration Center offers a simple GUI and automates a number of functions necessary to create a valid flow and should be considered the primary way of creating and modifying flows. While it is perfectly possible to create and modify flow via API, this is a delicate operation that can lead to broken flows.