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Workflows

Reports and data alerts that run on a schedule or after a pipeline: run pipelines and models, wait, query, check the result and send to Slack or email. A report without a query can send a chart or dashboard.

The workflow editor: a plain-words summary above a canvas that runs after a pipeline, waits, queries, checks a condition and sends to a Slack channel — A workflow in the editor: the plain-words summary on top, the steps on the canvas below.

What a workflow is

A workflow is a trigger followed by a graph of typed steps. Each step is a form, never code. rsync.ai runs the saved steps in order and does not call a model while it runs.

A workflow never moves data. Moving data is a pipeline. A workflow starts pipelines and models, waits for them, and reports on what they produced.
Plain SQL and templates, no code. There is no Python, JavaScript or shell step. Anything smarter than a condition is written into the SQL.
Your own channels. Each condition sends to the Slack channels or email lists you name.

Triggers

Trigger	Runs
Schedule	On a five-field cron expression in an IANA timezone, such as “every Monday at 08:00”.
After a pipeline	When a chosen pipeline's run completes successfully, or for a CDC pipeline after each sync window. A failed run doesn't start it.
Manual	Only when you select Run now.

Steps

Step	What it does
`query`	One read-only statement on a SQL connection. Returns at most 500 rows, and personal columns are masked.
`condition`	Tests the result: always, rows exist, no rows, or a value in the first row above, at least, below, at most, equal to or not equal to a number. The first condition that is true sends, to its own channels. The last may be “otherwise”.
`send`	Posts a message to Slack or email, using a template.
`run_pipeline`	Starts a batch pipeline and waits for it to finish. A CDC or polling pipeline keeps running until stopped, so it can't be a step.
`refresh_model`	Rebuilds a model and waits for the run. A failed check marks the step as warned or failed.
`wait`	Pauses for 1 minute up to 24 hours.
`chart`	Draws a saved chart as the run's user and puts it in the message sent after it. Email gets a plotted chart as a picture and Slack gets its numbers as text. Only in a workflow with no query.
`dashboard`	Draws every tile of a saved dashboard. In email you get the tiles and the board as a PDF; in Slack, the scorecard numbers and a link. Only in a workflow with no query.

By default a step runs once the steps before it have passed (succeeded or warned); a step can instead run once they finish, or only if one failed. The run page shows each step's outcome with a link to its pipeline or model run.

Messages and channels

A message has a subject and a body. It can use only {{slot}} placeholders: a column from the first row of the query, or one of workflow_name, row_count, value, table, run_time and link. Without a query, only workflow_name, run_time and link are available. {{value}} needs a value condition, and run_time is in UTC. There are no loops or conditions inside a template.

Channels are set up once, in Workspace settings → Delivery channels. A Slack channel is an incoming webhook, stored encrypted and never shown again. An email channel is a list of addresses. Each condition sends to 1–5 channels, and an optional quiet period of 0–7 days stops the same alert from repeating.

Owners and admins add and test channels. Everyone in the workspace can see their names.

Create one with Ask rsync.ai

Select New workflow, or open Ask rsync.ai, and describe what you want: “every morning at 8, post yesterday's failed payments to #data-alerts, and flag it if there are more than 5,000.” It drafts the query, the conditions and the messages.

Only Ask rsync.ai or an agent gateway token can draft a workflow. If neither is switched on, New workflowdoesn't appear. Sending email needs Resend or SMTP set up.

Review the draft. The card under the answer draws the steps on a small canvas. Nothing is sent and nothing is scheduled yet.
Select Test. It runs the query and shows the rows and every rendered message. Nothing is sent.
Select Turn on to schedule it; you become the user it runs as. Run now runs it once, as you, and really sends, even on a draft.

On the canvas you edit the trigger, query, conditions, messages and channels. To add or remove a condition, ask Ask rsync.ai; you apply its proposal within 24 hours. To add or remove a step, ask it to draft the workflow again.

The workflows list: counts of total, on, paused, draft and last-run-failed workflows, and a table with each workflow's steps, channel, status and last run — The workflows list: each row shows its steps, where it sends, its status and the last run.

How runs work

Each run is a Temporal workflow, so a restart in the middle of a run doesn't lose it.
Runs store outcomes, not rows: the row count, which condition was true, and the status of each delivery. Rows go to the channels and nowhere else.
Every run re-checks permissions. It confirms the run-as user is still an admin or owner, and that the connection and the SQL are still allowed. If a scheduled or after-pipeline run is refused, the workflow pauses and says why. Run now checks the person who clicked it.
No model is called at run time. The AI drafts the workflow; the saved steps run as written.

Who can do what

	Owner, admin	Member, viewer
See workflows and their runs	Yes	Yes
Draft, test, turn on, run now, edit, delete	Yes	—
Add or test delivery channels	Yes	—

What workflows don't do yet

Approval steps, outbound HTTP calls, steps that act in other apps, an AI step, CSV attachments and Google Sheets delivery aren't available. If you need one of them, tell us.

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