Workflows

Workflows is Fiko's visual automation builder. It lets you design multi-step automations on a drag-and-drop canvas — combining triggers, action steps, conditional branches, and time delays into a single flow that runs automatically on your conversations.

Key Capabilities

Chain multiple actions into one automated flow
Add conditional branches that route conversations differently based on conditions
Insert time delays to pace your automation
Trigger flows from conversation events or manually from within a chat
Draft, publish, and disable workflows without losing your configuration
Search and manage all workflows from a single list view

The Problem It Solves

Fiko's simpler automations — Auto-Greeting, Auto-Assign, AI Auto-Reply — each handle one specific task in isolation. Real conversations often require several things to happen in sequence.

Without Workflows

Each new conversation requires an agent to manually tag it, assign it, and leave an internal note
Auto-Greeting sends one message, but cannot also assign the chat or add a tag
No way to route conversations differently based on content or context
Time-based follow-ups must be done manually

With Workflows

Chain tagging, assignment, and comments into a single automated flow on every new conversation
Mix any combination of actions: send a message, then assign an agent, then add a tag
Use Branch steps to route conversations differently based on conditions
Use Wait steps to delay messages or actions by any number of seconds

Workflows do not replace Auto-Greeting or Auto-Assign — they complement them. Use the simpler automations for their specific features, and Workflows when you need multi-step logic or conditional routing.

Use Cases

New Conversation Intake Flow

Common

Trigger: Conversation Opened

Add Tag — tag the conversation as "new-customer"
Assign Group — route to the general support group
Send Canned Response — send your welcome message template
Add Comment — leave an internal note: "Auto-routed on open"

Priority Routing with Branch Logic

Conditional

Trigger: Tag Added

Branch — check if the tag is "urgent"
True path → Assign Agent — assign to the on-call senior agent
False path → Assign Group — route to the standard support queue

Timed Follow-Up Message

Time-Based

Trigger: Message Received

Wait — pause for 1800 seconds (30 minutes)
Send Message — "We're still looking into your request. We'll update you shortly."

On-Demand Agent Action

Manual

Trigger: Manual (agent-triggered)

Add Tag — tag as "escalated"
Assign Agent — reassign to senior agent (round robin)
Send Canned Response — send escalation acknowledgement to the customer

How It Works

Every workflow is made of three building blocks: a trigger, steps, and edges.

Trigger

The event that starts the workflow. Every workflow has exactly one trigger at the top of the canvas. You configure which conversation event activates it.

Steps

Actions and controls that execute after the trigger fires. Each step is a node on the canvas. You can add as many steps as needed.

Edges

Animated arrows that connect nodes and define the execution order. Branch steps produce two edges: one for the True path and one for the False path.

Steps run in the order they are connected on the canvas. The workflow pauses at Wait steps and forks at Branch steps, following either the True or False path based on the evaluated condition.

Triggers

A trigger is the conversation event that starts a workflow. You configure the trigger type by clicking the trigger node at the top of the canvas.

Conversation Opened

Common

Fires when a new conversation is created — for example, when a customer sends their first message on any channel. Use this to run intake flows: tagging, assignment, and welcome messages.

Message Received

Fires each time an inbound message arrives in an existing conversation. Use this for timed follow-ups, AI replies triggered by customer messages, or tagging based on message content.

If your company has Auto-Greeting enabled, using this trigger may cause both to run simultaneously. Fiko shows a warning in the trigger config panel when this conflict is detected.

Message Sent

Fires each time an outbound message is sent by an agent. Use this for post-reply tagging, logging comments after every agent response, or triggering follow-up sequences.

Tag Added

Fires when any tag is manually added to a conversation. Use this as the entry point for tag-based routing workflows — for example, when an agent tags a chat as "urgent", the workflow can reassign it immediately.

Manual

Triggered on demand by an agent from within a conversation. Use this for workflows agents need to run selectively — such as escalation sequences or special onboarding flows that should not run automatically.

Steps

Steps are the individual actions in your workflow. You add them via the + button at the bottom of the canvas. There are two categories: Action steps and Control steps.

Action Steps

Action steps perform an operation on the conversation when the workflow reaches them.

Add Tag

Applies one or more tags to the current conversation. Select from your existing tag library in the config panel.

Remove Tag

Removes one or more tags from the current conversation. Useful for clearing temporary tags after routing logic has completed.

Send Message

Sends a text or image message to the customer. For text messages, enter the content directly. For image messages, provide the image URL and an optional caption.

Send Canned Response

Sends one of your saved canned response templates to the customer. Select the template from the dropdown in the config panel.

AI Auto-Reply

Invokes the AI Auto-Reply engine for a single reply to the customer. Configure the confidence threshold and what to do when AI is not confident enough.

Assign Agent

Assigns the conversation to an agent using Specific, Round Robin, or Least Busy strategy.

Assign Group

Moves the conversation to a specific agent group. All agents in that group will see it in their inbox.

Add Comment

Adds an internal note to the conversation that is visible to agents but not to the customer.

Control Steps

Control steps change the execution path of the workflow rather than acting on the conversation directly.

Branch

Conditional

Evaluates a condition and splits the workflow into two paths:

True path (left handle) — followed when the condition is met
False path (right handle) — followed when the condition is not met

Wait

Time Delay

Pauses the workflow execution for a specified number of seconds before proceeding to the next step. For example, set 1800 seconds to wait 30 minutes before sending a follow-up message.

Creating a Workflow

Navigate to Workflows

Go to Automations in the left sidebar
Click Workflows
You will see a list of all existing workflows with their name, status, step count, and last updated time
Use the search bar to filter workflows by name or description

Create a New Workflow

Click the + Add Workflow button in the top right
Enter a Name for the workflow (required)
Optionally enter a Description to help your team understand its purpose
Click Create
You are automatically taken to the workflow builder canvas

Configure the Trigger

The canvas opens with a single trigger node already placed at the top
Click the trigger node to open the config panel on the right
Select a Trigger Type from the dropdown
The trigger node label updates to reflect your selection

Add Steps

Click the + button at the bottom of the canvas to open the step menu
Choose from Action steps or Control steps
Each new step appears on the canvas connected to the previous one
Click any step node to configure it in the right panel
You can drag nodes to reposition them on the canvas

Building in the Canvas

Top Bar

Back arrow returns you to the workflows list
Workflow name is editable inline — click it to rename
Status badge shows the current state: Draft, Published, or Disabled
Save button persists your canvas changes without publishing
Publish / Unpublish button controls whether the workflow runs

Canvas Area

Nodes represent the trigger and each step in your workflow
Animated arrows (edges) show the execution path between nodes
Drag any node to reposition it — edges follow automatically
Click a node to select it and open its config panel
Use scroll to zoom in and out
A minimap in the bottom right gives an overview of large flows

Node Config Panel

Opens on the right side when you click a node
Shows configuration options specific to the selected step type
Changes apply immediately to the canvas — click Save in the top bar to persist them
A Delete button lets you remove the selected step

Branch nodes have two output handles at the bottom — left for True and right for False. Connect each handle to a different step to define what happens on each path.

Publishing Your Workflow

A workflow only runs on live conversations when it is in the Published state. Workflows start as Draft and do nothing until you publish them.

Draft

The workflow has been created and saved but is not active. You can freely edit it without affecting any live conversations.

Published

The workflow is live and will execute on all matching conversation events. You can still edit it — save to update a published workflow.

Disabled

The workflow has been unpublished. It no longer runs on new events but its configuration is preserved. You can re-publish it at any time.

Save your work

Click Save in the top bar before publishing. Unsaved changes are not included in the published version.

Click Publish

Click the Publish button in the top bar. The status badge changes to Published (green). The workflow will now run on all new matching events.

To disable, click Unpublish

Click Unpublish when you want to pause a workflow. The status moves to Disabled. No new events will trigger it, but existing executions in progress are unaffected.

From the workflow list page, you can also publish or unpublish any workflow directly using the three-dot menu on each row — without opening the canvas.

Best Practices

Do

Give workflows a clear, descriptive name (e.g., "New Conversation Intake" not "Workflow 1")
Use Add Comment steps to log what the workflow did
Test with the Manual trigger before switching to an event trigger
Save before publishing to ensure your latest changes are included
Start with simple 2–3 step flows and add complexity over time
Use Assign Group for broad routing, and Assign Agent (specific) only when a named agent should always handle it

Don't

Publish a workflow before you have configured the trigger type — it will not fire correctly
Use extremely short Wait durations on high-volume channels — it can create large queues
Run multiple workflows with the same trigger without checking for conflicts between them
Use the Message Received trigger if Auto-Greeting is active — check the conflict warning
Forget to add descriptions when you have many workflows

Troubleshooting

Workflow is not triggering on new conversations

Check the status badge — the workflow must be Published, not Draft or Disabled
Verify the trigger type matches the event you expect
Ensure the trigger node is configured with a trigger type selected

Warning: "Auto-Greeting conflict detected"

This appears when you select the Message Received trigger and your company has Auto-Greeting enabled
Both automations may respond to the same inbound message, causing duplicate messages
Consider switching to the Conversation Opened trigger instead, or disable Auto-Greeting if this workflow replaces it

Steps are not executing after saving

Each step must be fully configured — steps with empty required fields may be skipped
Click each step node and verify its config panel has all required fields filled in
Ensure the edges connect all steps from the trigger down to the final step

Branch step is always following the same path

Click the Branch node and review the condition in the config panel
Verify the condition field is correctly set — an empty condition always evaluates to False
Ensure both the True and False handles are connected to downstream steps

Cannot edit or publish — buttons are hidden

Edit and publish controls are hidden for users with the Viewer role
Contact your workspace admin to upgrade your role to Agent or Admin

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