Documentation

Your first workflow

Build, approve and run your first workflow from the Cockpit chat.

As of release v10.4.20
Chapters

Go from signing in to your first successful run. You describe a task in the chat, save the workflow, approve it, start it and read the result. It works the same in SubKit Cloud and on a self-hosted engine.

What you need #

  • A SubKit account in a workspace. - Cloud: https://subkit-cloud.mikebild.info - Self-hosted: https://<your-engine>/cockpit
  • Permission to create and run workflows. Ask your administrator if a button is missing.
  • An AI provider. Cloud provides one. A self-hosted engine uses the provider you chose in sk init.

Sign in #

  1. Open the Cockpit.
  2. Select Sign in with work account.

You land on Overview in your workspace. Self-hosted without an identity provider? Select Sign in with API key instead and enter your key.

Describe the task #

  1. In the navigation, open Chat.
  2. Select New conversation.
  3. Describe the task in plain words: what goes in, what should happen, what comes out. Example: "Fetch the open issues of my GitHub repository and give me a short list with title and link."
  4. Answer the questions SubKit asks. If the task needs a service, SubKit asks you to connect it or to sign in to it.

Good to know: a small task is easier to check. You can extend the workflow later in the same chat.

Save the workflow #

When the workflow is ready, SubKit shows a card Save workflow draft.

  1. Open What will change and read which steps and targets are included.
  2. Select Save inactive version.

Saving starts nothing. The workflow now appears under Workflows.

Approve what it may touch #

A new version does not touch anything outside SubKit until a person approves it. Without an approval, a run starts only as a preview without effects.

  1. Open Workflows and select your workflow. The status line shows Waiting for approval or Not approved.
  2. In the status line, select Approve….
  3. Check Environment, Validity and Operations and external targets.
  4. Confirm with Use change and allow runs. Put into service only puts the version into service without allowing runs.
Approval dialog for "Invoice export v1" with the environment "Development", validity, read access to the Sales reporting API as external target and the "Use change and allow runs" button (opens in a new tab)
Screenshot from build 10.4.12

Approving starts no run. An approval covers one environment and a duration. It also follows a new version whose boundary does not grow. You can revoke it at any time in the Approvals tab. You can also approve from the chat: select Review saved change and then Use change and allow runs.

FieldWhat it controls
EnvironmentWhere the runs are allowed, for example Production.
Operations and external targetsWhich services and addresses the workflow reaches.
ValidityHow long the approval applies: 7 days, 30 days or Until revoked.

Run the workflow #

  1. On the workflow page, select Run.
  2. Fill in the inputs if the workflow asks for any.
  3. Select Run to confirm. The dialog says Starts a run of the approved version.

You see Run started. If the button is unavailable, the hint says why, for example Enable the workflow before running it.

Check the result #

  1. On the workflow page, open the History tab. The newest run is at the top, with its status. Succeeded means the run finished.
  2. Open the run. You see every step with its output. A failed step shows Error in step "…" with the cause. Successful run of "CRM contact sync" from the history with one step, the requester "API" and the expanded result with one contact (opens in a new tab)Screenshot from build 10.4.12
  3. Optional: Select In the audit trail to see who started and approved the run.

You can check the same with the sk CLI:

sk executions list --limit 5
sk executions steps <run-id>
sk executions result <run-id>

sk workflows run <workflow-slug> --follow starts another run and streams its steps.

If something does not work #

What you seeWhat to do
The run result is headed Preview — not writtenThe version has no approval yet. Follow "Approve what it may touch".
"Not started (…): no valid approval covers this run."The approval is missing, expired or used up. Approve again or extend it.
"… must be reconnected"Sign in to the connector again under Connectors.
You do not have permission to run this workflow.Ask your administrator for a role that may run workflows.
A step failedOpen the run, read the error and describe it in the same chat. SubKit suggests a fix that you review again.

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