Workflow Builder Overview

The workflow builder is Nembl's visual tool for designing how requests are processed. Instead of writing code, you drag and drop phases onto a canvas, connect them with transitions, and define what happens at each step. Workflows automate the path from request submission to completion.

What Is a Workflow?

A workflow is a series of steps (called phases) connected by transitions that define how a request moves through your process. For example, a "New Employee Onboarding" workflow might include phases for manager approval, IT setup, HR paperwork, and a welcome meeting.

Workflows are linked to service offerings. When someone submits a request for that offering, the workflow starts automatically and guides the request through each phase.

The Workflow Canvas

When you open the workflow builder, you see a canvas where you design your workflow visually. The canvas works like a flowchart editor:

• Phases appear as boxes on the canvas. Each phase represents a step in your process.
• Transitions are the arrows connecting phases. They define the order in which steps happen.
• The phase palette on the left lists every phase type you can drag onto the canvas: Start, Process, Approval, Decision, Parallel, Data, Subprocess, Cancel, End.
• The toolbar across the top has canvas actions: auto-layout, grid snap, zoom-to-fit, undo / redo, show-tasks toggle, import / export, and publish.
• The property panel on the right edits whatever is currently selected (a phase, a transition, or the workflow itself).

You can zoom and pan around, and multi-select phases for bulk operations.

Phase nodes are sized in multiples of 30 pixels (rectangular phases are 180×90, circular start/end phases are 90×90) so that every connection point — left, right, top, and bottom — sits exactly on the 15px grid. This makes snap-to-connector (see below) align automatically when Grid Snap is on.

Creating a New Workflow

1. Go to Admin > Workflows in the sidebar.
2. Click New Workflow.
3. Give it a name and an optional description.
4. The builder opens with a Start phase already on the canvas.

From here, you build your workflow by adding phases and connecting them.

Adding Phases

Drag any phase type from the phase palette onto the canvas, then position it where you want. The palette includes:

• Start / End — entry and exit points (Start is already placed; End phases you add yourself)
• Process — generic work step; supports automation types Timer, Webhook Callout, Script, API Call, and Data Transform (see Workflow Execution)
• Approval — explicit approve/reject gate with dedicated UI
• Decision — conditional branch (XOR gateway)
• Parallel — fork/join for concurrent paths
• Data — 10 sub-types for filter / sort / transform / enrich / validate
• Subprocess — embed another workflow as a child
• Cancel — dedicated cancellation handler (red circle with Ban icon; zero or one per workflow)

See Phases and Transitions for detailed config of each type.

Editing a Phase

Two ways to edit, both operate on the same saved data:

Quick-Edit dialog (fast)

Double-click a phase — or right-click → Edit Phase — to open the Phase Quick-Edit dialog. It focuses on the three most-edited fields:

• Name
• Description
• Task templates — add / edit / delete / reorder inline (for PROCESS, APPROVAL, and CANCEL phases)

Click Full Properties in the dialog to open the property panel for advanced settings.

Property panel (full)

Single-click a phase to open the property panel on the right. Full config: responsibilities, automation type, task templates, escalation deadline, accent color, canvas display toggles, and agent-specific fields (autonomy level, allowed actions, prompt override).

Canvas Shortcuts

Context menus

Right-click a phase: Edit Phase, Duplicate, Change Color, Delete.

Right-click a transition: Edit Condition, Swap Endpoints, Add Bend Point, Delete.

Right-click a bend-point on a transition: Remove Bend Point.

Connecting Phases with Transitions

To connect two phases:

1. Hover over the source phase until you see a connection handle.
2. Click and drag from the handle to the target phase.
3. Release to create the transition.
4. Optionally add a label to the transition to describe when this path is taken (for example, "Approved" or "Needs Revision").

Transitions define the flow. A request moves from one phase to the next along these connections.

Snap-to-Connector (zero-length edges)

When two phases are placed flush against each other — phase A's right side touching phase B's left side, or phase A's bottom touching phase B's top — Nembl snaps them to a connector and creates the transition automatically. Instead of a visible arrow, a small directional chevron (→ or ↓) appears at the shared connector to indicate the transition.

Use this for dense, sequential chains where the long arrows between phases would be visual noise — especially stacked DATA phases (Filter → Sort → Transform → Aggregate) or tight approval pipelines.

How to use it:

1. Turn on Grid Snap (toolbar magnet icon) — phases will align to a 15px grid.
2. Drag a phase next to another phase so their edges line up.
3. When close enough, the dragged phase snaps exactly to the connector and a chevron appears between them.
4. The new transition is labeled with the target phase's name by default. Click the chevron to select the transition and edit its label, condition, or other properties in the right-side property panel.

Key behaviors:

• Direction — left-to-right on horizontal adjacency, top-to-bottom on vertical. Reverse directions require explicit separation and reconnection.
• Non-destructive separation — pull a snapped phase away and the transition stays (it just becomes visible as a regular arrow). The chevron reappears if you snap them back.
• Ambiguity guard — snap-to-connector only fires when neither of the involved connectors is already carrying a transition. If you've drawn an explicit edge from phase A's right handle, butting phase B against it won't overwrite that edge.
• Auto Layout preserves chains — running Auto Layout on a workflow with snapped pairs keeps them tight; Dagre places everything else and the compact chains are re-snapped afterwards.
• Undo in one step — Cmd+Z reverts both the phase placement and the auto-created transition together.

Saving and Publishing

Workflows have two states:

Draft

When you first create or edit a workflow, it is a draft. You can save your changes at any time without affecting anything else. Drafts are only visible to administrators.

Published

When your workflow is ready to use, click Publish. Publishing creates an immutable, numbered version of the workflow. This version is what runs when requests come in.

Important points about versioning:

• Editing a published workflow creates a new draft. The published version continues to run unchanged.
• Requests that are already in progress stay on the workflow version they started with.
• New requests use the latest published version (or a specific pinned version, if the offering pins one).
• You can publish as many versions as you need. Each version is numbered and saved.
• Published versions can be retired to hide them from the picker without affecting in-flight work.

For the full lifecycle (DRAFT / PUBLISHED / RETIRED states, the LATEST resolver, TEST vs PRODUCTION instances), see Workflow Versioning.

Leaving the Editor

The top-right toolbar has three exit points:

• Cancel — discards unsaved changes and returns to the workflow's detail page. If there are unsaved changes, a confirmation dialog appears: Keep editing / Discard changes. If the workflow is already saved, Cancel navigates immediately.
• Save — writes the current draft state. You stay in the editor.
• Publish — creates a new published version from the current draft.

There is no separate Back button — Cancel covers the "leave the editor" case for both clean and dirty states.

Tips for Building Workflows

• Start simple. Begin with a straightforward linear workflow and add complexity as needed.
• Name phases clearly. "Manager Approval" is better than "Step 2."
• Use descriptions. Add details to each phase so the person working on it knows exactly what to do.
• Use APPROVAL phases for explicit gates rather than a PROCESS phase — the dedicated approve/reject UI makes intent visible to both workers and auditors.
• Add a Cancel node on long-running workflows so cancellations route through a controlled cleanup flow with the option to resume.
• Use task templates for repeatable checklists on PROCESS, APPROVAL, and CANCEL phases; toggle Show Tasks on Nodes in the toolbar to see them on the canvas.
• Assign responsibility matrices at the workflow level to keep RACI consistent across all phases — see Responsibility Matrices.
• Test with a sample request using Run Workflow on the workflow detail page — you can override the responsibility matrix for the test run.
• Review before publishing. Once published, a version cannot be changed (only new versions can be created).

Next Steps

• Learn about the different phase types and how to use transitions. See Phases and Transitions.
• Set up decision points and parallel paths for more complex processes. See Decisions and Parallel Paths.
• Understand how workflows execute once they are live. See Workflow Execution.
• Use templates to get started quickly. See Templates.