Workflows are an automation feature from Text that connects different apps and services to automate tasks. Instead of building custom applications, you create workflows that respond to events and perform actions automatically — and Text hosts everything for you.
Core concept
Every workflow consists of two parts: a trigger (the event that initiates the workflow) and actions (the tasks it performs).
For example, when a chat receives a bad rating, your workflow can automatically pull the chat transcript, create a ticket with the details, and send a Slack notification to your support manager.
Available Triggers and Actions
Every Workflow consists of one trigger and at least one action. You can find all available triggers and actions under the “+ Add trigger” and “+ Add action” options when you start creating your Workflow.
Triggers
Available triggers include:
Manual triggers
Scheduled triggers
Event-based triggers from Chats, Tickets, and external services such as Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Slack
Each trigger includes a description that explains exactly when and how it is activated.
Some helpful triggers you can use when building your Workflows include:
Chat rated
Triggers every time a customer rates a chat. You can specify which rating should activate the Workflow.Specific keywords in chat
Automatically detects when a keyword is sent in a chat (by either an agent or a customer) and runs actions based on that keyword.Ticket created
Triggers when a new ticket is created.
Actions
Actions define what happens after a trigger is activated. They include:
Built-in controls, such as conditional logic, parallel execution, delays, and webhooks
Chat and Ticket actions
Integrations with external services, including HubSpot, Mailchimp, Slack, and OpenAI for text analysis
Webhooks, which make an HTTP request to an external API.
Each action is described in detail, so you always know exactly what will happen when it is executed.
Helpful Actions
The possibilities are almost endless. Here are some commonly used actions:
Conditional paths
Executes different branches of a Workflow based on defined conditions.Webhook
Sends an HTTP request to an external API.Get chat details
Retrieves conversation details for later use.Summarize text
Converts long conversations or messages into short summaries.[Slack] Send message
Sends a message to a private or public Slack channel—useful for automatically escalating chat or ticket cases.
Many more actions are available, and you can choose the ones that best fit your needs. To explore all available triggers and actions, visit Workflows in Text App and start building a new Workflow.
Working with variables
Variables capture outputs from previous workflow steps. When an action completes — for example, Get chat details — it returns data you can use as variables in later steps.
To use these variables in a later step, click the {⋯} button next to any input field. Common patterns include pulling customer email from chat to create HubSpot contacts, inserting chat transcripts into ticket messages, or including ticket IDs in Slack notifications.
Advanced workflows with Conditional logic
Use if/then statements to create different paths based on specific conditions. For example, you can check the email address associated with a newly created ticket and automatically mark tickets from certain email addresses as Urgent.
Steps:
Set up a trigger — Choose the trigger that runs when a new ticket is created
Check whether the sender is a VIP using Conditional Paths (Built-in actions) to determine whether the ticket originated from a specific email address.
You can also select how conditions are evaluated: trigger the action when all conditions are met or when any condition is met.
Update the ticket — if the email matches:
Use Update ticket to set the ticket status to Urgent.
If there’s no match: end the workflow.
Troubleshooting
You can access execution logs to view when workflows ran, which triggers activated them, which actions ran, their success or failure status, and any error messages.
1. If your workflow won’t publish or activate:
Check for validation errors in action configurations
Verify you’ve filled all required parameters
Ensure you have proper permissions for all actions
2 . If actions fail during execution:
Confirm your authentication credentials are valid
Verify mapped variables contain expected data
Check that external services are accessible
3. If the workflow executes but produces wrong results:
Review your variable mappings between tasks
Check your conditional logic conditions
Test with different input scenarios
Frequently asked questions
1. Do I need coding skills?
No, Workflows is a visual no-code builder. Understanding basic logic (like if/then conditions and variables) is helpful but not required.
However, if you plan to use Workflows with webhooks, some technical knowledge is needed—mainly to set up and connect the webhook endpoints correctly.
2. Can I collaborate with team members?
Currently, workflows are visible to everyone in your organization, but only the author can edit them.
3. What happens if an external service is unavailable?
The workflow fails for that execution. Check the execution logs to see failure details and retry manually if necessary.
4. Can I test without affecting live data?
Yes, use manual triggers and test with sample data. Create test accounts in connected services to avoid impacting production.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this article, feel free to start a chat with one of our Support Heroes. They are available 24/7 and always ready to provide additional information on adjusting your Text App license.