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Flows

Flows are the core of Inbox automation. They let you automatically trigger actions when threads meet specific criteria. From the Admin Panel, you can create new flows or edit existing ones. Each flow is a set of conditions and actions — essentially, an “If this → then that” system.

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How Flows Work

A flow consists of triggers (conditions) and actions (what happens when conditions are met). For example:
  • If a thread is on the Help Desk OR Sales board
  • And its status is not “New”
  • And its status is not “Product Backlog”
Then the thread is automatically updated, assigned, or flagged based on the flow’s action. This logic ensures the right tasks happen automatically without manual intervention.

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Actions a Flow can run

Actions are grouped under Magic and the ticket fields in the Flow Builder. A flow can run more than one. The last two are how a skill becomes an agent: the Flow is the trigger, the skill is the work. Because nobody confirms each step, the write tools you check become the agent’s scope — leave them all unchecked and it can read and summarize but change nothing. See Agents for the jobs worth running this way.
Flows are event-triggered — they run when a ticket changes. There’s no schedule or timer, so a job that needs to run “every night” or “after N hours” stays a skill you run on demand.

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Creating a Flow

1

Navigate to Flows

Navigate to Thread Admin -> Flows
2

Create Flow

Click Create Flow in the top right
3

Give your flow a name

Give your flow a name
4

Apply your filters

Apply your filters Filters will follow AND or OR logic. You can create and nest groups within your flow to create precise and powerful automations
5

Send threads to Companion App (Optional)

Send threads to Companion App (Optional) If you have a Teams or Slack Companion app installed, you can have the threads that match this flow sent right into a channel, or create a new channel per thread. This is great if you want to keep track outside of Inbox or prefer to work out of your chat app.
6

Set your Actions

Set your Actions Here we set what happens when the filter matches. You can add more than one action, so get creative with it!
7

Save your flow

Ensure your flow is toggled ON and click Save in the top right.
8

Your flow is active

Congrats! Your flow is active and ready to go!

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FAQs

No. Flows are evaluated when a thread changes, not retroactively — so a flow you just created only acts on a thread the next time that thread is updated.Thread re-evaluates a thread’s active flows whenever the thread changes, whether the change happens in Inbox or is synced in from your PSA. Each time, Inbox checks every active flow’s conditions against the thread and runs the actions on the ones that match — except flows whose actions already ran on that thread, since a flow’s actions run at most once per ticket (see the next FAQ).Examples of changes that re-evaluate flows:
  • Sending a reply
  • Adding an internal note (recommended — a reliable, low-impact way to trigger evaluation)
  • Changing the status
  • Changing the board
  • Assigning or mentioning a member
  • Logging a time entry, or reopening a thread
  • Auto-dispatch assigning the thread, or a Magic Agent updating it
PSA-synced changes rely on webhooks, which aren’t 100% guaranteed. Rarely, a PSA update may be missed. Only active flows (toggled on) are evaluated.
That’s by design. A flow runs its actions at most once per ticket. Thread keeps re-evaluating the flow’s conditions every time the ticket changes, but once a flow has executed its actions on a ticket, that flow is skipped for that ticket from then on.This prevents loops and duplicates: without it, a flow whose action updates the ticket would re-trigger itself, and a flow that posts a reply or pages on-call would do it again on every ticket change.Two things this limit does not apply to:
  • Companion app channels. A flow that sends threads to a Teams or Slack channel keeps sending updates to that channel as the ticket changes.
  • Other flows. The once-per-ticket rule is per flow. A different flow with its own conditions still runs its own actions on the same ticket.
If you need the same job to run on a ticket again — for example, to retry a Run Skill action — run the skill by hand in Super Magic on that ticket.
The usual causes, in order of likelihood:
  • The skill’s output is text, and text isn’t posted. In a Flow run, nothing the agent says lands on the ticket — the ticket changes only through the write tools you check on the action. A skill whose job is producing text needs a note write tool checked, and a prompt that says to post the result as an internal note.
  • The skill isn’t shared. The Run Skill action only runs shared skills. A personal skill is skipped silently.
  • The flow never fired, or already ran on that ticket. Flows are event-triggered and run their actions at most once per ticket (see the FAQs above). Use Flow Debugger to check.
The full checklist, including what to look for on the ticket after a run, is in Troubleshooting an agent run.
  • Status → Targets a single status on a single board.
    • Example: “Waiting Client Response” only on the Help Desk board.
  • Status Name → Targets status names across all boards.
    • Example: “Waiting Client Response” on both Help Desk and Sales boards.
  • Owner → The primary assigned technician.
  • Member → Includes both the owner and any additional assigned resources.
Use Owner to target only the primary tech. Use Member to include secondary resources as well.
Thread does not have a separate sandbox or test-mode environment for flows. Flows always run against your live workspace. Use these techniques to test with low risk:
  • Scope to a test board. Add a Board filter so the flow only fires on a dedicated test board, then create a ticket on that board to trigger it. Widen the filter once the behavior is correct.
  • Scope to a test client or contact. Add a Client or Contact filter alongside your real conditions so only tickets from a chosen test account match while you iterate.
  • Start with read-only actions. Save the flow with only Note (internal note) or a New Super Magic Agent action that has no write tools checked. The flow will still fire and log what it would do, without changing ticket fields, replying to clients, or paging on-call.
  • Trigger evaluation with an internal note. Post an internal note on a candidate ticket to re-evaluate the flow — see the Do flows apply to existing threads immediately? FAQ above.
  • Use a fresh ticket for each test run. A flow’s actions run at most once per ticket, so once your flow has acted on a test ticket, it won’t act on that ticket again — create a new test ticket for each iteration.
  • Keep the flow toggled off until you’re ready. Save with the toggle OFF, review the filters and actions, then flip it ON when you are confident.
Only active flows are evaluated, and PSA-synced changes rely on webhooks that are not 100% guaranteed, so allow a moment for a triggering event to propagate before assuming the flow did not fire. Use Flow Debugger if a flow does not behave the way you expect.

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Best Practices

  • Use internal notes to reliably trigger flow updates.
  • Use Status Name to apply flows across multiple boards.
  • Keep flows simple; overly complex flows are harder to maintain and troubleshoot.
See Flows updates in the changelog.

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Skills that use this

Let Super Magic build, debug, and bulk-edit your Flows.

Flow Builder

Design and build Flows conversationally.

Flow Debugger

Figure out why a Flow isn’t firing.

Flow Bulk Editor

Update many Flows at once.

Browse automation skills

Every automation and Flows skill.

Related topics

Catchall RoutingSet Up Thread Inbox by Service Team StructureTicket Triage