Flows and schedules

Flows are automations assembled in a visual builder. They connect models, agents, knowledge and data contexts, and external systems into processes that run in chat, through an API, or on a schedule.

Blocks

The builder offers 13 block types:

Block	Function
Input	Receives the payload from the allowed source: API, chat, or another flow.
AI model	Calls an allowed model directly, with a prompt and instructions.
AI over rows	Applies one AI step to many rows, in batches of up to 50 rows per call and up to 8 calls at once.
Agent	Sends the previous step's context to a published agent.
Decision	Branches on a field and a condition: equals, not equals, contains, greater than, less than, exists, or expression.
Transform	Maps, normalizes, or enriches payload fields.
Storage search	Retrieves chunks from knowledge contexts, with scores.
Data query	Reads rows from a data context with SQL.
Data write	Writes rows into a table of a data context.
Load files	Loads spreadsheets or CSVs from a Storage folder into a table.
Integration	Calls an HTTP connection registered in Integrations, with request body mapping.
Sub-flow	Runs another published flow, nested up to 8 levels deep.
Output	Defines the run's response.

AI blocks can return structured output, validated against a JSON Schema with closed values, ready to be written into a table. They can also set the model's reasoning effort.

Contract

Every flow has a contract:

Exposure: internal (as a sub-flow only), API, or chat.
Input schema and output schema, in JSON Schema.
Allowed origins and the endpoint token, when exposed through the API. See Flows API.

Input that breaks the contract makes the run fail and is automatically recorded as a data-quality irregularity.

Draft, publishing, and archiving

A flow starts as a draft, is published to run, and can be archived. Only published flows run. Flows can be exported and imported as JSON (aptabit.flow format), for example between installations.

How a flow runs

Source	How it is triggered
Chat	A flow with chat exposure appears as a conversation target in the workspace.
API	A flow with API exposure receives a `POST` on its own endpoint, with a bearer token.
Schedule	Any published flow, at a fixed interval.
Sub-flow	A flow with internal exposure, called by another flow's sub-flow block.

Runs take place in the API service, synchronously: the caller receives the result when the run ends. Each run produces a record with source, status (succeeded or failed), input, output, error message, and the trace of every block: inputs, retrieved sources with scores, and the decisions taken. A failed run keeps the trace of the blocks that did execute.

Runs are reviewed in Settings > Logs, together with the other interactions.

Schedules

In Schedules, a published flow runs on its own:

Interval in minutes, hours, or days, with a minimum of 60 seconds.
A fixed JSON input, sent on every run.
An optional maximum number of runs.
Pause and resume, with the next and last run visible.

Schedules use fixed intervals; calendar expressions such as "weekdays at 9am" are not available.

Flow templates

The Templates tab offers 30 flow templates in six categories:

Category	Examples
Credit and risk (8)	Individual and business credit analysis, KYC onboarding, AML screening, PEP and restricted list screening.
Documents and back office (7)	Invoice extraction, contract extraction, bank reconciliation, document classification.
Customer service (5)	Service chat with a knowledge context, ticket triage, service summary.
Compliance and legal (4)	Compliance review, supplier due diligence, audit report, data anonymization (LGPD).
HR and internal (3)	Résumé screening, internal policy assistant, employee onboarding.
Sales and market (3)	Lead qualification, commercial proposal, competitive analysis.

Planned capabilities

Planned: asynchronous execution of long flows with progress tracking, human approval steps, platform event webhooks with HMAC signatures, flow versioning, and separate development and production environments. These capabilities are not part of version 3.7.