Flows and the flow builder

A flow is a chatbot. It starts when a customer sends a keyword, like menu or price, and then replies by itself: it can send messages, show buttons, ask questions, take bookings, tag the contact and hand the chat to your team. No coding needed.

Flows are under Automation → Flows. Only admins can see and change them.

What's on the Flows page?

• Flows: how many flows you have.
• Active: how many are turned on.
• Times run: how many times flows have started for customers.
• Failed runs: how many runs stopped with an error.

Each flow's card shows its name, when it was last edited, whether it's Active or Inactive, its trigger keywords, and its Runs and Failed counts. Click Edit flow to open it in the builder.

How do I create a flow?

1. Go to Automation → Flows and click New flow.
2. Under Start from, choose Blank flow or one of the starter flows. Starters show a "To do:" note of what you need to change.
3. Type a Flow name, like Main menu or Book an appointment.
4. Click Create and open builder (or Use this and open builder for a starter).

The builder opens with a Start step on the canvas.

How do I use the builder?

The builder is a canvas of cards. Each card is one step. Lines between cards show what happens next.

Set the trigger

Click the Start card. The side panel lets you choose what starts the flow: a keyword, or a new contact's first message. See Start a flow.

Add steps

• Click the + on the right of any card to add the next step. A menu opens with every step type, grouped as Send, Ask, Logic, Contact and Finish. The new step is placed and connected for you.
• Or click Add step at the top left of the canvas to add a step that isn't connected yet.

Steps with choices, like Reply buttons and List menu, have a + next to each choice, so every answer can lead somewhere different. A Condition has a Yes and No path, and an API call has Worked and Failed.

Edit a step

Click a card to open it in the side panel on the right. Change its text and settings there. A phone preview at the bottom shows what the customer will see. Click ✕ to close the panel.

To insert the customer's details into a message, use the small buttons under the text box: Name, Phone, and your contact fields. They add values like {{name}} or {{attr.city}}.

Connect, disconnect and rearrange

• Connect two existing steps: drag from the dot on the right of one card to another card. Each path leads to one place, so a new connection replaces the old one.
• Remove a connection: click the line and then the small ✕ in its middle.
• Move a card: drag it.
• Tidy up: click Tidy up at the top left to line all the steps up neatly from left to right.
• Zoom: use the + and − buttons at the bottom left, or your mouse wheel or trackpad.

Copy or delete a step

Each card has two small icons at the top right: Duplicate (copy) and Delete. You can also delete from the bin icon in the side panel. The Start step can't be deleted.

Save

Click Save, or press Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on a Mac). "Unsaved" appears at the top while you have changes. If you try to leave with unsaved changes, your browser warns you.

What does "N things to fix" mean?

The builder checks your flow as you work. Steps with a problem show a warning triangle, and the top bar shows 1 thing to fix or N things to fix. Click it to jump to the first problem. The side panel shows what's wrong in red.

You can save a flow with problems while it's turned off, but you can't turn it on until everything is fixed. See Test and turn on a flow.

How do I turn a flow on?

Click Save and turn on at the top right. The badge changes to Active and you'll see "Flow is live". Click Turn off to stop it. See Test and turn on a flow.

How do I rename a flow?

Click the name at the top of the builder, type the new name and save.

How do I delete a flow?

On the Flows page, click the bin icon on the flow's card and confirm "Delete flow "…"?". This can't be undone.

How many flows can I have?

There's no fixed limit. Keep in mind that when two active flows have the same keyword, the one created first wins. See Start a flow.

Can I see what happened in a run?

The Flows page shows how many runs a flow had and how many Failed, but not the details of each run. If a flow keeps failing, check Why didn't my flow reply?, or ask the KiliChat team and we'll look up the reason for you.