Automate your inbox with flows

Draw a trigger and steps on a canvas: reply, ask and wait, branch, and act - automatically.

Flows draw your routine replies and follow-ups as a picture: a flow starts with a trigger, then runs the steps you place on a canvas - send a message, ask and wait for the reply, branch on a condition, act on the conversation. Flows are a beta, switched on per account: contact support to turn them on for yours.

Where to find flows

In the STS Connect Inbox open Automations → Flows in the sidebar. The list shows every flow with its status - Draft, Active, Paused or Unpublished changes - and a Beta badge marks the feature while it is in beta.

A published flow runs only in inboxes where flows are on. Each inbox has its own Flows switch in its settings; when a flow's inbox has flows off, the flow tells you (see "Why a published flow may not run" below).

Build a flow

Open Automations → Flows and create a flow.
Pick what starts it (Starts on): a new conversation, a new message in an open conversation, a conversation reopened, a conversation resolved, or a label added. Then choose the inboxes it listens to.
Place steps on the canvas and connect them in the order they should run.

The step types:

Send a message - send one text message to the customer.
Ask and wait for a reply - ask a question and wait for the answer; the reply can be saved on the contact, and an expiry decides what happens when no answer comes.
Condition - branch the run, for example on working hours, what the message contains, the channel, or a label.
Action - add labels, assign the conversation to a team or a team member, set the priority, change the status, or add a private note.
Wait - pause the run for a set time, then continue.
Send a WhatsApp template - send an approved WhatsApp template, also outside the 24-hour window.
Go to a step - jump to another step; this is how you build a loop.
End - end the run, optionally resolving the conversation.

A flow holds at most 100 steps.

Draft and publish

The editor saves your work to a draft automatically, and nothing runs from the draft: customers only ever meet the published version. Press Publish when the flow is ready. Publishing freezes the draft as a new numbered version that new runs use, while runs already under way finish on theirs. Publishing stays blocked until every listed problem is fixed.

Test before you publish

The Test panel runs the draft through a scenario you describe - the inbox, the customer's message, the replies to the flow's questions - and highlights the path the run would take. Nothing is sent and nothing changes in real conversations.

The run log

Each flow has a Run log listing the runs of the published version: who it ran for, when it started, and the result - completed, awaiting reply, timed out or failed. Open a run to see every step with its outcome and, on failure, the reason.

Why a published flow may not run

The flows list and the editor tell you when a flow is not running, and why:

Flows are off in its inboxes - the editor names the inbox and lets you turn flows on there, or you can ask an administrator.
Paused - by hand, or by a fair-use limit (below). Turn the flow back on from the flows list.
The AI Agent has the conversation - while the AI Agent handles a conversation, flows do not start in it; after the handover to your team, the next customer message that matches the trigger starts the flow.

Fair-use limits

Flows are unlimited on your plan, within fair use. A flow pauses on its own if it goes over 120 runs in a minute or a run goes deeper than 50 steps, so a loop cannot run away. While paused no new runs start, and the runs already under way finish. An administrator turns the flow back on from the flows list.