> ## 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.

# Flows

> A visual WhatsApp chatbot: buttons, lists and questions that route a customer to the right answer before a human steps in.

A flow is a conversation you draw. The customer taps a button or answers a question, the
flow follows that path, and it ends by giving them what they came for or handing them to
a person.

<Warning>
  **Flows are WhatsApp only.** They send lists, approved templates and catalogue
  products — none of which exist on Instagram or the website widget — so an Instagram DM
  or a web chat never enters the flow engine. For anything that has to work across
  channels, use an [automation](/automations/overview).
</Warning>

Do not confuse a flow with a [WhatsApp Flow](/whatsapp/whatsapp-flows), which is Meta's
own native form screen. A flow here is the Watx chatbot builder.

## How a flow runs

<Steps>
  <Step title="It starts">
    A message matches the flow's trigger — a keyword, or the customer's first-ever
    message — or something starts it deliberately: the **Start flow** step in an
    [automation](/automations/steps), or a **Connect flow** node in another flow.
  </Step>

  <Step title="It advances">
    The engine walks from node to node, sending as it goes, until it reaches a node that
    needs the customer: a set of buttons, a list, a question, a file, a location, or a
    payment.
  </Step>

  <Step title="It waits">
    The run sits on that node until the customer replies. Every answer it captures is
    stored on the run and can be read later as `{{ vars.<name> }}`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="It ends">
    At an **End** node, at a **Handoff** to a person, at a **Hand to AI agent**, or by
    connecting to another flow. It can also time out, or be paused when one of your team
    replies by hand.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## One active run per contact

A contact can be in **one** flow at a time. That is why **Connect flow** ends the current
run before starting the target rather than nesting — and why an accidental loop between
two flows terminates instead of growing.

It also means a flow that nobody finishes would block that contact from starting another
one, so a sweep closes runs that have gone quiet. The cutoff is 24 hours of silence by
default.

<Note>
  **A human reply pauses the bot.** When somebody on your team sends a message to a
  contact who is mid-flow, the run is marked *paused by agent* and stops advancing. The
  customer is talking to a person now.
</Note>

## Flow or automation?

|            | Flow                                                                   | Automation                                                                     |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Channels   | WhatsApp only                                                          | WhatsApp, Instagram, Website — and events with no channel at all               |
| Shape      | A graph of nodes, each waiting on a reply                              | A sequence of steps with yes/no branches, run start to finish                  |
| Good at    | Menus, FAQs, qualification, triage — anything that is a back-and-forth | Reacting to an event: tag, notify, create a deal, call an API, follow up later |
| Started by | A keyword, a first message, or another flow or automation              | Any of the [triggers](/automations/triggers)                                   |

They work together. A common shape is an automation on **First message from a contact**
that tags the person and then uses **Start flow** to hand them to a welcome menu.

## The flows list

**Flows** in the sidebar lists every flow as a card: its name, its status — **Draft**,
**Active** or **Archived** — its description or a summary of its trigger, and how many
times it has run. **Export**, **Edit** and **Delete** sit at the bottom of each card, and
**Import** in the header reads an exported flow back in as a new draft.

Only an **active** flow answers anything. A draft is skipped, including by an
automation's **Start flow** step.

**New flow** offers three ways in: describe it and let the AI build it, start from a
template (**Welcome menu**, **FAQ bot**, **Lead capture**), or start blank with a name.

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="The flow editor" icon="pen-ruler" href="/flows/editor">
    Palette, canvas, inspector, entry node, activating.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Node types" icon="shapes" href="/flows/nodes">
    All 21 nodes with their settings and outgoing paths.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Waits, hand-offs and runs" icon="hourglass" href="/flows/waits-and-runs">
    Parking a run, unmatched replies, timeouts, and the runs screen.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Testing and Build with AI" icon="mobile" href="/flows/testing-and-ai">
    The simulator, and drafting a flow from a sentence.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>