Create a flow

Run one or more actions when a trigger condition occurs.

Before you begin

• Set up an application in Guided Application Creator to store Flow Designer content.
• Role required: flow_designer or admin

About this task

Users with the flow_designer or admin role should know the application table structure and be aware of any existing business logic associated with the target tables of a flow or subflow. Be sure to disable any conflicting business rules or workflows before creating a flow or subflow.

Creating a custom application to contain your Flow Designer content enables you to deploy the application using the application repository or the ServiceNow Store.

Procedure

1. Navigate to All > Process Automation > Flow Designer.
2. Click New > Flow.
3. On the Flow Properties screen, fill in the fields.

   Field	Description
   Name	Name to uniquely identify your flow. The system computes the internal name of the flow from the name.
   Description	Description of your flow.
   Application	Application scope to create your flow in. Global is the default.

   Table 1. Advanced Options

   Field	Description
   Protection	Selection to specify if the flow is read-only. You can only select a value when you create the flow in an application scope that you own.
   Run as	Option to specify the user that runs the flow. You can select the system user or the user who initiates the session. Select the user who initiates the session option when updates should come from the user who triggered the flow. For example, use this option when you want the incident record comments to come from the user who started the flow. Settings for the Run as option in a flow don't apply to child subflows. Note: By default, flows run as the user who initiates the session. To create a flow that can run with a personal OAuth token, select the user who initiates the session option. If the user who is running the flow has a personal OAuth token, the flow runs with that token. For more information about creating a personal OAuth token, see OAuth 2.0 credentials. When flows run as the user who initiates the session, the system limits flow actions by user ACL restrictions. Ensure that security restrictions don't prevent users who trigger the flow from performing flow actions. Flows run by the initiating user also respect user-specific settings such as date/time formats. Note: Inbound email flows ignore this setting and always run as the user who initiates the session. To test access controls for an inbound email flow, impersonate a typical inbound email user and manually trigger the flow.
   Run with roles	Roles that the flow runs with. This option is only available when Run as is set to user who initiates the session.
   Flow Priority Default	Priority level at which you want the system to run this flow by default. Options include: Low Medium (Default) High To learn about flow priority levels, see Flow priority.

4. Click Submit.
   Note:

   If this is your first time in Flow Designer, a welcome screen appears. You can choose to either take the welcome tour or skip the tour for now.
   The system displays the Flow Designer design environment.
5. Add a trigger to your flow.
   1. Under the TRIGGER section, select Add a trigger.
   2. From the Trigger list, select a trigger that will start running your flow.
      For more information on trigger types, see Flow Designer trigger types.
      The system displays a set of fields depending on the type of trigger that you've selected.
   3. Set up your trigger by filling in the fields.
      For a record-based trigger, for example, select a table and set field conditions that, when met, will start running your flow.
   4. Click Done.
6. To add actions, flows, subflows, or flow logic, select Add an Action, Flow Logic, or Subflow.
   1. Select an option.

      Option	Description
      Action	Select the desired action. Flow Designer includes Flow Designer actions that are available to flows and subflows. Alternatively, a user with the action_designer role can create additional actions to add to flows. The Integration Hub and Spokes plugins install additional actions. To add draft actions from the More Actions menu, set Show draft actions to true. To view spokes that are available in the ServiceNow Store, set Show store spokes to true from the More Actions menu. Note: Under Not Installed Spokes, the system displays spokes that are available in the ServiceNow Store based on compatibility with the ServiceNow version and application dependency on Flow Designer.
      Flow Logic	Select an option to specify conditional or repeated operations.
      Subflow	Select a published subflow and define the input values. In addition to adding a subflow as a flow action, you can enable the Show triggered flows option from the More Actions menu to select an activated flow and define the required inputs. Running a triggered flow ignores its trigger conditions and runs all actions.

      To change the order of an action in a flow, drag the handle on the left side of the action to the desired location.

      The system displays a set of fields depending on the option that you selected.
   2. To configure the action, flow logic, or subflow, fill in the fields.
   3. Select Done.
   4. Repeat adding actions until complete.
7. Click Save.
   Flow Designer saves a draft of the flow, trigger, and actions.

What to do next

• Test your flow until you're ready to activate it.
  Note:

  The system only triggers activated flows.
• Deploy or transfer your flow to another instance.
  • Deploy your flow from the application repository when your application is complete and ready for release.
  • Transfer your flow from an update set XML file when you want to test the flow on another instance. When you save a flow, Flow Designer generates a single update set file containing its subflows and actions.

• Create a flow with an inbound email trigger
  Start a flow when your instance receives an email.
• Create a flow with a Kafka Message trigger
  Build a flow that processes events from a Kafka stream. Start the flow when an event is available in the specified topic.
• Create a flow with a MetricBase trigger
  Start a flow when a MetricBase trigger is met. MetricBase triggers track time series data and can monitor when a threshold is reached, when a trend is detected, or when a system stops reporting data.
• Create a flow with a Proactive Analytics trigger
  Use Performance Analytics indicators to start a flow. Define the flow start conditions as a set of Proactive Analytics KPI scores and KPI threshold values.
• Create a flow with a Service Catalog trigger
  Start a flow when a Service Catalog item is requested to automate the fulfillment process.
• Create a flow with an SLA Task trigger
  Configure your Service Level Agreement (SLA) definition to run a flow as the action plan.
• Create a flow with an external trigger
  Set up a flow with a base system external trigger definition. The flow responds to an event-driven external trigger from a third-party system. For example, run a flow when an issue is created in a third-party issue-tracking system.
• Create a flow with Now Assist
  Use generative AI to create a flow from text directions.
• Create a flow with roles
  Create a flow or subflow that runs with assigned roles. Assigning roles enables you to create a user-initiated flow that runs with its own roles rather than the user's roles.
• Create flow Service Catalog variables
  Create Service Catalog variables that are only available to a specific Service Catalog flow. Flow-specific variables are available to catalog tasks and actions in the flow.
• Copy a flow
  Copy a flow to give it a new name and move it to another application scope.
• Duplicate an action or subflow
  Duplicate an action or subflow within a flow.
• Test a flow
  Before activating a flow so other users can access it, test to make certain it works the way you expect.
• Activate a flow
  Activate a flow to make it available to run.
• Change a flow or action's default title
  Change the default title for a flow, subflow, or action by adding styled and dynamic text.
• Edit a flow
  Edit an existing flow.
• Delete a flow
  Delete a flow that you no longer need.
• View activated flows for a table
  View flows with record-based triggers that run on a specific table.