> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.watx.in/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Steps > Every automation step by category, with its settings and the values it hands to later steps. Steps run in order. Each one can read what the steps before it produced, using `{{ steps.. }}` — see [Variables and expressions](/automations/expressions). Every step also has the same three advanced options, whatever its type: **If this step fails** (stop the run, or carry on), **Also save the result as** (a short alias under `vars.`), and an internal **Note for your team**. A step can be paused with the switch in its settings header; it stays on the canvas and is recorded as skipped. ## Messaging These put something in front of the contact. All of them need a conversation to send on, and are skipped when there is not one — a form submission or a store order from somebody who has never messaged you. | Step | What it does | Settings | Produces | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Send message** | Plain text on whichever channel the contact wrote from. | Message | `message_id` | | **Send template** | An approved WhatsApp [template](/whatsapp/templates), with its variables filled in. | Template, language, and whatever that template needs — body variables, a header value or media, button values, carousel cards | — | | **Send media** | Image, video, document or audio by URL. | Type, Media URL, Caption, File name (documents) | `message_id` | | **Send buttons** | Up to 3 quick replies the contact can tap. | Message, Buttons (id and title each), Footer | `message_id`, `button_ids` | | **Send list** | A menu of up to 10 options across sections. Not available on Instagram. | Message, Button label, Sections and rows | `message_id` | | **Send form** | Sends a link to one of your published [forms](/forms/overview), with a short line above it. | Form, Message sent with the link | — | | **Send booking link** | Sends a link to pick an appointment slot. | Appointment type, Message sent with the link | — | | **Request a payment** | Creates a [Razorpay payment link](/integrations/razorpay) and sends it. | Amount, Currency, What the payment is for, Message sent with the link, Template for closed chats, Link expires after (hours), and a *Create it, but don't send it* switch | `payment_link_id`, `short_url`, `amount`, `amount_minor`, `currency`, `status`, `sent` | | **Send an invoice** | Raises an invoice or GST bill and sends the PDF. See [Sales documents](/integrations/sales-documents). | What to bill (*a single line I describe here* or *the items on the order*), Description, Amount, Quantity, HSN/SAC, GST rate, Due in, Notes, Sending | `invoice_id`, `invoice_number`, `invoice_url`, `pdf_url`, `total_minor`, `currency`, `status`, `sent` | **Request a payment** and **Send an invoice** fail the step when the amount resolves to nothing. Everywhere else an unknown token is a cosmetic gap; here it would be a payment request for zero, or a tax document with no value that has already consumed an invoice number. **Send form** and **Send booking link** fail the step if the form is not published, or the appointment type is not bookable. A message containing a dead link is worse than no message. **Send an invoice** is the one sending step that does not need a conversation. An invoice has value the moment it exists — it is your own record — so the run creates it and reports that it could not deliver it, rather than skipping. A payment link's **Message sent with the link** applies **inside the 24-hour window only**. Outside it, the approved template supplies the wording, because a template's copy is fixed at approval. Put `{link}` where the URL should go, or it is appended. ## Contact | Step | What it does | Settings | | ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Add tag** | Labels the contact. | Tag | | **Remove tag** | Takes a label off the contact. | Tag | | **Add to segment** | Files them into a named audience. Static [segments](/contacts/segments) only. | Segment | | **Remove from segment** | Takes them out of a named audience. | Segment | | **Update contact field** | Writes a built-in or custom field. | Field — Name, Email, Company, or one of your [custom fields](/contacts/fields-and-tags) — and New value | | **Add note** | Internal note on their timeline. The contact never sees it. | Note | Pointing **Add to segment** at a filter (dynamic) segment fails every time it runs — a dynamic segment works out its own members — and the checks panel says so before it goes live. ## Deals and team | Step | What it does | Settings | Produces | | --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | | **Create deal** | Opens a deal in a [pipeline](/contacts/pipelines-and-deals) stage. | Pipeline, Stage, Deal title, Value | `deal_id`, `title` | | **Update deal** | Moves a stage, marks won or lost, or changes the value. | Which deal (this contact's most recent, or a specific deal id), Stage, Mark as, Value | `deal_id` | | **Notify team** | In-app [notification](/inbox/notifications) for a teammate or everyone. | Notify — everyone in the workspace, whoever the conversation is assigned to, or one specific person — plus Title and Details | `notified` | **Update deal** needs at least one thing to change — a stage, a status, a value or a title — or activation is refused. ## Conversation | Step | What it does | Settings | | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- | | **Assign conversation** | Hands the thread to a member. | Assign to (round-robin or a specific member) | | **Set status** | Open, pending or closed. | Set the conversation to | | **Close conversation** | Marks the thread closed. Superseded by **Set status**. | — | ## Logic and timing | Step | What it does | Settings | Produces | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | | **Condition** | Splits the path on one or more rules. Owns a **Yes** and a **No** branch. | Match (all / any), and the rules | `branch` | | **Random split** | Sends a percentage down each path — for A/B tests. | The percentage taking the first path | `branch` | | **Wait** | Pauses for a duration, then carries on. | Wait for, Unit (minutes, hours, days) | — | | **Wait until** | Pauses until a wall-clock time, or until a moment carried by the run. | Either a time, timezone and allowed days; or a **Moment** token plus an **Offset** in minutes | — | Both waits **park** the run rather than holding anything open. Everything the run has collected so far is kept, and it continues later. Detail in [Conditions and branching](/automations/conditions). ## Data | Step | What it does | Settings | Produces | | ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | **HTTP request** | Calls an API and keeps the response for later steps. | Method, URL, Query parameters, Authentication, Headers, Body (JSON fields, form fields or raw), Timeout, and how to treat non-2xx responses | `status`, `ok`, `body`, `headers`, `duration_ms` | | **Set variable** | Stores a value for later steps to reuse as `{{ vars. }}`. | Variable name, Value | `name`, `value` | | **Send webhook** | Posts to a URL and forgets about it. Superseded by **HTTP request**. | URL, headers, raw body | `status`, `body` | | **Google action** | Runs one action through the [Apps Script bridge](/integrations/google-actions) — Gmail, Calendar, Sheets, Contacts, Docs, Tasks. | The action's own fields | Per action | A variable name may use letters, numbers and underscores only. It is read back as `{{ vars. }}`, and a dot or a space there would split the path. An **HTTP request** to a private, loopback or internal address is refused by the server for security. The checks panel catches the obvious cases while you are editing. Credentials typed into the authentication fields are ordinary settings — anyone who can edit the automation can read them. **Google action** does not appear as a generic entry in the add menu. Each action is listed individually, because that is what you are looking for. The step names no connection and no URL: the deployment is resolved from the workspace. ## Orchestration | Step | What it does | Settings | Produces | | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------- | ---------- | ------------------------ | | **Start flow** | Hands the contact to a [flow](/flows/overview). | Flow | `started`, `flow_run_id` | | **Run automation** | Runs another automation with this run's data. | Automation | `automation_id` | Only an **active** flow can be started; a draft is skipped. **Run automation** refuses to run the automation it is in, and a chain of automations is capped at three deep so a loop dies immediately rather than filling the queue. ## Superseded steps **Send webhook** and **Close conversation** still work and still open for editing, but they are hidden from the add menu. **HTTP request** does everything **Send webhook** does and lets later steps read the response; **Set status** does everything **Close conversation** does and can also reopen a thread.