# Workflow apps

Workflow apps (opens new window) provide a no‑code, visual development environment for building interactive and integrated applications that combine user actions and automated service steps. Workflow apps include a drag‑and‑drop app builder, a fully brandable apps portal, and built‑in and extensible data storage.

FEATURE AVAILABILITY

Workflow apps is available to direct customers on specific pricing plans, but isn’t available to Embedded partners or their customers. Refer to your pricing plan and contract to learn more.

# Key components

The Workato web user interface supports all development and configuration work for Workflow apps. Workflow apps are powered by the following key components.

# Data storage

Workflow apps integrate seamlessly with your business applications using workflow recipes. Page components can use recipes as data sources, allowing your app to work with data from external systems in real-time.

Apps with request and approval functionality include a primary data table for storing records such as invoices, PTO requests, or sales quotes. You can add linked tables to support complex data relationships. Data table records are accessible and editable through the Workflow apps connector.

# Application user interface

Workato automatically generates much of an application's UI experience through the Workflow apps portal. For example, Workato generates the list of requests, app navigation, and history trail of requests with support for custom task status labels. The Workflow apps portal has a responsive design and can be used on mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. You can brand the app portal to match your organization.

You can customize the user experience of your app by creating and customizing Pages, which support custom forms and dashboards. Pages use a drag-and-drop editor and a broad set of components enabling you to design apps according to your business requirements.

Additionally, Workflow apps support the following advanced UI behaviors:

Conditional logic: Control the visibility or editability of page components using IF conditions.
Component actions: Save data, trigger recipes, reload components, open external links, or complete tasks.
Validation: Enforce built-in validation for certain components or define custom validation using regex.
Form prefilling: Auto-populate fields using URL parameters.
Public forms: Create forms that accept input from unauthenticated users, allowing external users to submit data.

# Business logic

Workflow recipes orchestrate application behavior and user interaction. This enables you to design workflows across time, systems, users, and interfaces. Recipes can manage logic such as routing, approvals, data updates, and system integrations.

Apps with request and approval functionality have recipes that use the Workflow apps connector New request trigger and can include user input/action, workflow state transitions and task handling. In certain scenarios, workflows are triggered by an event from another service, such as an email or message in a messaging platform, but a request in a Workflow app must be created or fetched to implement a request and approval workflow.

# Example use cases

You can use Workflow apps to build out solutions for the following use cases:

Departmental management
Build tailored workflows for HR, Finance, IT, and other teams. Automate tasks like employee onboarding, offboarding, ticketing, and request triage.
Exception handling
Insert user input or review steps into automated processes when business exceptions occur. For example, pause an integration to collect missing data or resolve a flagged issue before proceeding.
Request routing and approvals
Manage approval flows for invoices, purchase orders, and similar requests. Use conditional logic and role-based routing to support complex approval chains.
Custom applications
Use Workflow apps to build custom applications such as a front-end for a headless system.

# Example application flow

The following diagram visualizes an example application flow:

flowchart TD subgraph M[" "] direction TB subgraph D[&nbsp Recipe runs on UI event &nbsp] direction LR x(Real-time event trigger runs) --> xx(Retrieves or updates data in external systems) xx --> xxx(Returns data to component) end subgraph R[&nbsp Workflow app &nbsp] direction LR a(Recipe output populates components) end end A([UI event in Workflow apps portal]) --> M --> B([App page updated]) D -.-> R classDef default fill:#fff,stroke:#67eadd,stroke-width:2px; classDef WorkatoTeal fill:#67eadd,stroke:#b3e0e1,stroke-width:2px,color:#000; classDef SubgraphDash fill:#e1fffc,stroke:#f66,stroke-width:2px,color:#000,stroke-dasharray: 5 5 classDef WorkatoPink fill:#f3c1c2,stroke:#f3c1c2,stroke-width:1px; class x,xx,xxx,a,A,C WorkatoTeal class D,R SubgraphDash class B WorkatoPink

Example request and approval app flow

The following diagram visualizes the flow for an application that supports a request and approval workflow:

flowchart TD subgraph M[" "] direction TB subgraph T[" "] B["New request trigger runs"] C["Create record in data table"] E{Is user input or action required?} F["Assign task to user"] G["User completes task"] H["Update record/ workflow stage"] end end A([User submits a form in the Workflow apps portal]) -- Automation runs --> M M --> B --> C -- Run business logic --> E E -- Yes --> F --> G --> H E -- No --> H H --> J([Workflow completes]) classDef default fill:#fff,stroke:#67eadd,stroke-width:2px; classDef WorkatoTeal fill:#67eadd,stroke:#b3e0e1,stroke-width:2px,color:#000; classDef SubgraphDash fill:#e1fffc,stroke:#f66,stroke-width:2px,color:#000,stroke-dasharray: 5 5 classDef WorkatoPink fill:#f3c1c2,stroke:#f3c1c2,stroke-width:1px; class T SubgraphDash class A,B,C,F,G,H,J WorkatoTeal class E WorkatoPink

# Video inspiration

Refer to the following videos for Workflow apps inspiration: