Outcomes
Run preview and sandbox checks.
Test individual steps safely.
Move a workflow from draft to review to active.
Examples
Use these patterns while learning this chapter.
Example workflow
Closed-won deal handoff
Sales marks a HubSpot or CRM deal as Closed Won and operations needs the work package ready within minutes.
Conditions
- Deal amount is greater than 5000
- Customer email exists
- Deal owner exists
Actions
- Create project from deal name
- Create kickoff task list
- Create draft invoice
- Send welcome email after approval
- Notify Slack sales-ops channel
Safety checks
- Invoice creation requires approval
- Email preview is reviewed before launch
- Slack failure goes to retry path
Try it: Use Event Explorer to pick a real closed-won deal, run Sandbox, then confirm it would create one project, tasks, invoice, and notification.
Example workflow
Ticket SLA breach escalation
A high-priority support ticket is close to breaching SLA and managers need visibility before the customer gets frustrated.
Conditions
- Priority is high or urgent
- Assigned agent exists
- Ticket status is not resolved
Actions
- Notify support manager
- Create escalation task
- Send customer update from macro
- Ask AI to summarize ticket history
Safety checks
- Customer email uses approved support template
- AI summary is read-only
- Escalation task is assigned to support manager group
Try it: Run Step Test on the customer email action with mocked delivery to confirm the rendered macro is correct.
Step 1
Preview the workflow
Preview shows which branch will run, what each action receives, and whether any step is blocked.
What to do
- Open Dry-run Preview.
- Choose a sample payload preset or paste a real Event Explorer payload.
- Click Preview and read every planned action.
Check before continuing
- The correct branch is matched.
- Action config is rendered with expected values.
- Blocked steps are intentionally blocked.
Step 2
Run sandbox simulation
Sandbox mode estimates side effects without writing records.
What to do
- Click Sandbox.
- Review the summary: records that would be created, emails that would send, and external calls that would run.
- Fix missing values before review.
Check before continuing
- No unexpected write actions appear.
- Estimated costs and rate limits are acceptable.
Step 3
Submit for review or activate
High-risk actions require review. Lower-risk workflows can still use approval by policy.
What to do
- Validate the canvas.
- Save the workflow.
- Use approval comments to record why the workflow is safe.
- Disable dry-run only after review.
Check before continuing
- The activation checklist is complete.
- Workflow status matches the team approval process.
Pro tips
- Test the happy path, missing data path, and failure path.
- Start active workflows with conservative rate limits.
Avoid these mistakes
- Do not use the manual test endpoint as proof of a live write; it is intentionally dry-run.
- Do not remove dry-run until the correct branch and rendered config are verified.