Publishing Flows

Publishing a flow makes it live — meaning it becomes executable through its trigger, schedule, or any connected integration.
Until a workflow is published, it remains in draft mode and will not run automatically.

This guide explains how saving, publishing, enabling/disabling, and triggering work inside puq.ai.

Saving Before Publishing (Important)

Before you publish a workflow, you must click Save.

Why?

  • Publish only deploys the last saved version, not the last edited version.
  • Unsaved changes will not be part of the published flow.
  • The system does not automatically save before publishing.

Correct workflow publishing routine:

  1. Make your changes
  2. Click Save
  3. Ensure there are no validation errors
  4. Click Publish

This ensures your production workflow matches your design exactly.

Enabling and Disabling a Workflow

Every workflow has an Enable / Disable toggle that controls whether it is allowed to run.

🔴 Disabled State

  • The workflow is inactive
  • Triggers fire but the flow does NOT run
  • No executions occur
  • Useful when maintaining, editing, or temporarily stopping automation

🟢 Enabled State

  • The workflow is active
  • Any trigger (schedule, integration, webhook, manual event) will run the workflow

Default Behavior

  • When you create a new workflow and publish it, it starts in the Disabled state
  • You may manually switch it to Enabled anytime

Reactivating a Disabled Workflow

To allow it to run again, simply click Enable.

This lets you control automation behavior without having to unpublish or delete the workflow.

How to Publish a Workflow

  1. Open the workflow in the Visual Builder
  2. Review nodes and logic
  3. Click Save
  4. Click Publish
  5. Ensure the workflow is Enabled if you want it to run automatically

Publishing deploys the saved version into an active environment.

What Happens When You Publish?

Publishing activates:

✔ Trigger Nodes

All configured triggers become ready to execute:

  • Integration-based triggers
  • Webhooks
  • Scheduled triggers
  • Event listeners
  • Form submissions
  • Manual triggers

✔ Public Execution Endpoint

Your workflow receives a stable endpoint URL that can trigger executions (optional to use).

✔ Logs & Monitoring

Execution logs, inputs, and outputs are tracked immediately after publishing.

How Published Workflows Are Triggered

Once a workflow is published (and enabled), it can run in multiple ways:

🔵 1. Manual Run

Execute the workflow manually from the editor.

🔵 2. Scheduled Triggers

Runs automatically based on defined timing rules:

  • Hourly
  • Daily
  • Weekly
  • Cron syntax
  • One-time events

🔵 3. Integration Triggers

Events from apps automatically start the workflow:

  • CRM events
  • E-commerce events
  • Ticketing updates
  • Form submissions
  • Database changes
  • File uploads
    …and more.

🔵 4. Webhook Triggers

Incoming POST requests run the workflow via webhook URL.

🔵 5. Public API Trigger (Optional Example)

A published workflow exposes a public execution endpoint.
This is primarily used by developers or custom systems.

Updating a Published Workflow

To update a live workflow:

  1. Edit your nodes
  2. Click Save
  3. Click Publish again
  4. Make sure the workflow is Enabled

Publishing will replace the previous version instantly.

⚠️ If you forget to save, the old version remains deployed.

Monitoring Execution

Once published, you can monitor workflow activity:

  • Execution logs
  • Trigger event logs
  • Node-level input/output
  • Error traces
  • Success history

This helps validate and debug production automations.

Summary

Publishing activates your workflow and makes it eligible to run via triggers. Key points to remember:

  • Always Save before Publishing
  • Publishing deploys the saved version
  • Workflows can be Enabled or Disabled
  • Disabled workflows never run — even if triggers fire
  • Published workflows can run through schedules, integrations, events, webhooks, manual runs, or optional API calls