Build Your First Workflow

Now that your workspace is set up, let's build your first workflow. You'll see how Rills combines triggers, AI agents, approval steps, and actions into an automated process where nothing executes without your say-so.

What is a workflow?

A workflow in Rills is a series of connected steps that runs automatically:

Trigger — An event that starts the workflow (new email, scheduled time, webhook)
AI Agent — Analyzes the trigger data and proposes what to do
Approval — You review and approve the proposed action
Action — The approved action executes (send email, update CRM, create task)

AI does the monitoring and analysis, you make the final decision, and over time the system learns which decisions you consistently approve.

Create your workflow

Let's walk through building a simple workflow step by step.

1. Start a new workflow

From your workspace dashboard, click New Workflow in the top right corner. You'll see the workflow builder, which is a visual canvas where you drag and drop steps.

2. Name your workflow

Give your workflow a descriptive name that explains what it does. Examples: "Prioritize support emails", "Follow up on leads", "Schedule meetings from requests". Good names help you manage multiple workflows later.

3. Add a trigger

Click Add Trigger to choose what starts your workflow. There are three trigger types:

Manual -- Start a workflow run by clicking "Run" in the builder or calling the API. Good for testing and on-demand tasks.
Webhook -- Start automatically when an external service sends data to your workflow's webhook URL. This is how email, calendar, and form integrations trigger workflows -- the external service sends a webhook when something happens.
Schedule -- Start on a recurring schedule using cron expressions (e.g., every hour, daily at 9 AM). Timezone-aware.

A single workflow can have multiple triggers active at the same time. For your first workflow, try a manual trigger so you can test it immediately, or a schedule if you want it to run automatically.

4. Add an AI agent step

Click the + button after your trigger and select AI Agent. This is where Rills' AI analyzes the trigger data and proposes what to do.

Configure your agent:

Prompt — Tell the AI what to analyze and what decisions to make. Example: "Review this email and determine if it requires an urgent response based on keywords and sender importance."
Model — Multiple Claude and GPT models are available, including Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4. Select the model for each AI node in the configuration panel.
Output — Define what the agent should return (suggested priority, proposed reply, recommended action)

The agent runs whenever the trigger fires, analyzes the data, and prepares a proposal for your approval.

5. Add an approval step

Click the + button after your agent and select Approval. This is where you review what the AI proposes before anything executes.

The approval step shows you:

What triggered the workflow
What the AI agent analyzed
What action it recommends
A confidence score (how certain the AI is about this recommendation)

You'll review this in your approval queue, which we'll cover in the next guide.

6. Add an output action

After the approval step, add the final action that executes when you approve. Click + and choose an action type.

Built-in actions are available in every workspace:

HTTP request -- Call any API endpoint
Send email -- Send an email directly from Rills
Custom code -- Run JavaScript or Python in a sandboxed environment
Data transformation -- Reshape data between steps
Array filtering -- Filter collections based on conditions
Set variable -- Store a value for use in later steps

Integration actions depend on which services you've connected to your workspace. Once you connect an integration (Gmail, Slack, HubSpot, etc.), its actions appear in the action menu -- create calendar events, send messages, update CRM records, and more. See integrations for setup.

Configure the action with the details it needs. You can reference data from earlier steps using variables (the workflow builder shows available variables for each step).

7. Save your workflow

Click Save in the top right corner. Your workflow is now active and ready to run when the trigger fires.

Workflow templates

If building from scratch feels overwhelming, Rills provides pre-built workflow templates for common use cases:

Email triage and prioritization
Lead qualification and follow-up
Meeting scheduling from requests
Social media monitoring and response
Invoice processing and approval

Click Templates in the workflow builder to browse and customize these starting points.

Next steps

Your first workflow is live. Now let's connect your integrations so your workflows can interact with your real tools and services.