# Workflows

A workflow is a process your organization repeats, written down once so it can be
run the same way every time.

Find them under **Workflows** in the sidebar. Each card is one process.

## What a workflow holds

- **A name** -- what people call it. "Production deploy."
- **A key** -- a short URL-safe slug like `prod-deploy`, unique in your
  organization. You pick it when you create the workflow.
- **A description** -- one line about what it is for, shown on the card.
- **[Tasks](tasks.md)** -- the things to do, laid out on a canvas.
- **[Prerequisites](prerequisites.md)** -- which tasks have to wait for which.
- **A version** -- the `v3` badge on the card.

The card also shows two counts: how many tasks the workflow contains, and how many
[checklists](checklists.md) have been generated from it so far. To read those
checklists, open **Checklists** and filter the list to this workflow.

## A workflow is not something you work

You never tick a box on a workflow. It is a definition. To actually do the work
you generate a checklist from it, which makes a fresh copy to work through. The
bar at the top of [My work](my-work.md) does this: pick the workflow, name the
checklist, press the mark. See [Checklists](checklists.md).

Opening a workflow itself takes you to the builder, because editing it is the
only thing there is to do to a definition.

## Versions

The `v3` badge is the workflow's version. It goes up by one each time someone
presses **Publish** in the builder.

The version matters for one reason: a checklist records which version it was
generated from, and keeps working against that version forever. Publishing v4
does not reach back into a checklist that was generated at v3. See
[Building a workflow](building-a-workflow.md) for what Save and Publish each do.

## Creating one

**New workflow** on the Workflows page asks for three things -- name, key,
description -- and then drops you straight into the canvas to lay out the tasks.
Walkthrough: [Building a workflow](building-a-workflow.md).

## Running one on a schedule

A workflow does not carry a cadence of its own. Instead you make a
[schedule](scheduling.md) -- "Monday morning open", every Monday at 9am -- and
point it at this workflow, and checklists appear without anyone pressing
Generate checklist.

One schedule can run several workflows, which is usually what a recurring event
actually is. The [Schedules](scheduling.md) page lists every schedule with the
workflows it runs.

Checklists generated before schedules existed still show the cadence they were
generated with, as a label on the checklist.

## Next

- [Tasks](tasks.md)
- [Prerequisites](prerequisites.md)
- [Building a workflow](building-a-workflow.md)
- [Schedules](scheduling.md)