Flows overview
Automate messaging with a visual canvas, with triggers, actions, logic, and timing.
A flow is an automation: a contact enters through a trigger, then moves through a sequence of actions (messages, list changes, tags, webhooks) with waits and branching logic in between. Build one welcome flow and every new lead gets the same great follow-up, forever.
The Flows page in the sidebar lists your automations grouped into Active and Inactive, each row showing status, creation date, and conversions with attributed revenue.
Create a flow
Click Create flow. Helios creates a draft (named Draft - {date}, rename it in the settings panel) and drops you into the editor.
The editor is a canvas with a left panel:
- Blocks: the palette of steps. Drag a block onto the canvas, or click the + buttons between nodes to insert a step. Blocks are grouped into Actions, Time, and Logic.
- Exit triggers: conditions that remove a contact from the flow early (same options as entry triggers).
- Delivery window: restrict when messages send: toggle Limit delivery hours and set hours per day, with Apply to all days and Weekdays only shortcuts. A message that comes due outside the window waits until it reopens.
- Additional options: the flow’s Name and its Re-entry policy: Unlimited entries, Once per contact, or a Custom limit.
Anatomy of a flow
- Entry trigger: what causes a contact to enter: an incoming keyword, a form submission, being added to a list, or a customer event. See Triggers.
- Steps: any mix of actions (send text, send email, add tags, webhook…), waits, and logic nodes (filter, if/else). See Actions and Logic and timing.
Saving and activating
- On a draft or inactive flow, Save changes stores your edits. The flow does nothing until you activate it.
- On the flow page, Start automation activates it, and entry triggers start being evaluated immediately. Pause automation stops new entries.
- Editing an active flow starts a draft: your changes don’t affect the live version until you click Publish changes and confirm Publish now. If contacts are mid-flow, a banner shows how many are in progress.
A validation bar flags issues (“2 issues need to be fixed before saving”), for example an action missing its list, or a message with no body.
Monitoring a live flow
The active flow page shows the canvas read-only with a Flow overview sidebar:
- Contacts entered, with % completed and % drop-off
- Counts for In progress, Completed, Failed, and Exited
- Statistics: conversions, revenue, messages sent, SMS segments, and opt-out rate
Click any step to open Step contacts: the people currently at (or who passed through) that step.
Next steps
- Triggers: every way a contact can enter a flow.
- Actions: everything a flow can do.
- Logic and timing: waits, filters, and if/else branches.