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Workflows

Workflows turn a process you or your organization repeat into a reusable, visual template. Instead of a plain list of steps, a workflow is a graph you build on a canvas: steps connected by arrows, with decision points that branch the path based on what happens along the way. A step can attach an agent, force a tool to run, pull from your collections, and ask the person running it for input.

Once built, a workflow can run on its own in the background or be driven one step at a time so you can review and correct each result before moving on.

Finding Your Workflows​

Click Workflows in your sidebar. The page lists your workflows grouped into sections:

  • Your Workflows — the ones you created.
  • Shared with You — workflows other people have shared with you.
  • <Organization> Workflows — workflows shared across your whole organization.
  • Third Loop Workflows — ready-made templates provided by Third Loop.

Use the search bar to filter by name, or the view toggle to focus on a single section.

Creating a Workflow​

Click New. A Name Your Workflow dialog opens with two ways to start:

From scratch​

Enter a name (required) and click Create. You start with a blank canvas and build the graph yourself — full manual control from the first node.

With AI​

Fill in the description field and click Create with AI. Clove reads your description and generates a starter graph for you. Review it and adjust anything — Clove takes its best guess, but you are always in control, and every node, connection, and setting can be edited afterward.

The Builder Canvas​

The builder is a zoomable canvas where you lay out and connect your workflow.

  • Add nodes — drag the Node or Decision tile from the floating toolbar onto the canvas.
  • Connect nodes — drag from the edge of one node to another to draw a connection. The direction you drag is the direction the workflow flows.
  • Move around — pan by dragging the canvas, and use the zoom-in, zoom-out, and fit-to-view controls in the corner.
  • Edit a node — click it to open its editor in the right-hand panel.
  • Delete — select a node or connection and press Delete.

How connections work​

Clove keeps the graph valid as you build. A few rules apply:

  • A workflow has exactly one starting step — the node with no incoming connection. Nodes are labeled Start, Node, or End based on how they are wired.
  • Every node must be connected into a single, joined-up workflow — no stray, disconnected pieces.
  • You can draw a connection back into an earlier step to create a retry loop.

When you save, any problems (a missing instruction, an unconnected node, an incomplete decision) are collected into an issues menu in the top-right. Click an issue to jump straight to the node it concerns.

Steps​

A Node (step) is a single unit of work. Select it to configure:

  • What should this step do? — the instructions for the step. This is the one thing every step needs.
  • User inputs — questions or file requests the workflow asks the person running it. Add a question for text or a file input for an upload. These are collected when the workflow runs.
  • Agent — attach one of your agents to handle the step with its own instructions and tools.
  • Tool — force the step to call a specific tool.
  • Collections — attach collections or individual documents so the step can search them for relevant, cited information.
note

A step uses either an agent or a tool, not both. Attaching one disables the other until you remove it.

The node on the canvas shows small chips summarizing what you've attached — the number of inputs, the agent or tool name, and how many collection sources are in play — so you can read the shape of a step at a glance.

Decisions (Branching)​

A Decision node routes the workflow down different paths depending on what happened in the preceding step.

To build one: drag a Decision onto the canvas, connect a single step into it, then draw one connection out for each possible path. A decision needs at least two outgoing branches, and the step feeding it must lead only to that decision.

Every decision has a routing mode that all of its branches share:

  • Natural language (the default) — describe, in plain language, when each branch should be taken (for example, "User is on Pro and based in the US or Canada."). Clove reads the situation and picks the matching branch.
  • Conditions — build a precise, deterministic rule with a guided sentence builder. This mode is available only when the preceding step attaches a tool that produces structured output, so there are concrete fields to test against. If there's no such output, the decision routes by natural language.

Branches are evaluated in order, top to bottom. The last branch is always the fallback — the Default route, taken when none of the others match. It needs no rule of its own. Reorder branches to change which one is the fallback, and add or remove branches as your logic changes.

Saving​

Click Save to store the workflow. The first time, you'll be asked for a name (it must be unique among your workflows). New workflows are private until you choose to share them. You must save a workflow before you can run it, and saving is paused while a run is in progress.

Running a Workflow​

Click Execute to open the Run setup panel. Before starting, choose how the run should behave with the Run options:

  • Step through — pause after each step's output so you can review it, then continue or re-run the step with feedback.
  • Review collection sources — for steps with a collection attached, pause before the step generates so you can curate which retrieved sources are used.

You can turn on either, both, or neither.

Autonomous run (both options off)​

This is the default. The panel collects every input the workflow needs up front, then click Run workflow. Clove executes the whole thing in the background — you can leave the page and come back. The panel shows each completed step's output as the run progresses, highlights the active step on the canvas, and lets you Stop at any time. When it finishes, you can Start chat from this workflow to continue the result as a normal conversation.

Interactive run (either option on)​

With Step through and/or Review collection sources enabled, click Start. Clove drives the workflow one step at a time, collecting each step's inputs as it reaches them and pausing where you asked it to:

  • Review a step's output and Continue, or re-run it with natural-language feedback until it's right.
  • Curate the sources a collection-backed step will use before it generates.

Every step is visible and correctable before the workflow moves on. When the run ends, you can start a fresh New run or Start chat from this workflow.

tip

Closing an interactive run doesn't cancel it — the run pauses and stays resumable. Reopen the workflow and use Resume run in the action bar (or open it from the Workflows list) to pick up where you left off. Use the explicit Stop control to cancel a run outright.

Execution History​

Every run is recorded. Open a workflow's history from the History button in the builder, or the clock icon on its card in the Workflows list. History lists past runs and lets you drill into any one to see each step and its output.

Cards also show a status at a glance: a Running indicator while a run is in progress, or a Paused badge for an interactive run waiting to be resumed.

Managing and Sharing​

Open the menu (the ellipsis) on any workflow card:

  • Edit — open the workflow in the builder to change its graph.
  • Edit Details — rename it or update its description.
  • Share — share the workflow with specific people. You can also make it available to your whole organization.
  • Make a copy — copy a shared, organization, or Third Loop workflow into Your Workflows so you can customize your own version.
  • Delete — remove a workflow you own.

Workflows shared with you are read-only unless you were given edit access; when you can't edit one, Make a copy gives you an editable version of your own.

Tips​

  • Start with the happy path. Lay down the main sequence of steps first, get it running, then add decisions and loops for the exceptions.
  • Give each step one job. Small, focused steps are easier to review in step-through mode and easier to reroute with a decision.
  • Attach an agent for judgment, a tool for a specific action. Use an agent when a step needs reasoning; force a tool when it must perform one exact operation.
  • Use Conditions when you need certainty. If a step's tool returns structured output, deterministic conditions route the same way every time — natural-language routing is best when the decision is judgment based.
  • Step through the first few runs. Run interactively while you're refining a workflow, then switch to autonomous background runs once you trust it.