1Open Orchestration Studio
Navigate to the studio
From any page click Administration in the top navigation bar, then choose Orchestration Studio (sometimes labelled Visual Designer in older builds). The URL becomes /visual-designer.
Alternatively, type orchestration or workflow in the Administration search box and press Enter.
The plugin requires visual-designer:workflow · view. Ask your administrator to grant the role; loading is blocked at the plugin shell, not at the per-card level.
What you see on first load
The studio opens straight to the workflow gallery. There is no separate URL per workflow — selecting one swaps the gallery out for the canvas in-place.
If your tenant has no workflows yet, an empty-state panel appears with a single + Create New Workflow button.
2Reading the gallery
The gallery has three regions: a toolbar across the top, the workflow grid (or list / mind-map) below, and a sticky page header with the studio name and the create button.
| Region | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Search box | Filters cards by name across all visible workflows. Live as you type. Press Cmd / Ctrl + K to focus from anywhere on the page. |
| Status dropdown | All Status (default), Active, Inactive, Draft. Active workflows can run; Inactive cannot; Draft is unsaved or unpublished. |
| Sort dropdown | Name, Updated, or Created. |
| Sort-direction button | Toggles ascending / descending — the arrow icon flips. |
| View toggles | Three icons: ⊞ Grid, ☰ List, 🕸 Mind map. The currently active view is highlighted in violet. |
| + Create New Workflow | Opens an empty workflow on the canvas. Only visible if your role has visual-designer:workflow · create. |
| Workflow card | Shows name, ID snippet, version, status badge, tags, run count, last-run status (✓/⚠), and per-card actions Edit and Execute. |
The card foot summarises the most recent run: ✓ green = success, ⚠ amber = error or paused, ▶ neutral = currently running. Hover for the exact timestamp.
3Grid, List, and Mind-map
Use the three icon buttons on the right of the toolbar to switch the gallery layout. Your choice is remembered per browser.
Default card layout
Three columns of cards on a wide screen, two on a tablet, one on mobile. Each card shows everything described above. Best when you want a visual scan of all workflows.
Dense table layout
One row per workflow, with sortable columns: Name, Status, Tags, Runs, Last Run, Actions. Best when you have many workflows and want to compare metadata at a glance.
Architecture overview
Renders all workflows as nodes in a relationship graph. Workflows that share systems, agents, or tags cluster together. Useful for getting a big-picture view of how your automation portfolio fits together.
Click any node in the mind map to open that workflow in the canvas.
Use this to find the view via screen reader or guide-me selectors.
4Search & filter
Find a workflow by name
Type into the Search workflows… box at the top-left of the toolbar. The list filters live as you type. Press Cmd / Ctrl + K from anywhere on the page to jump straight to the search box.
Cmd+K (macOS) or Ctrl+K (Windows / Linux) focuses the gallery search. The shortcut is global across the studio when no editable field is focused.
Combine with a status filter
Use the Status dropdown to narrow to a single status. The four options:
| Option | Shows |
|---|---|
| All Status | All workflows regardless of state. |
| Active | Workflows ready to run. Execute is enabled on cards. |
| Inactive | Workflows that were active but have been paused. Execute is disabled. |
| Draft | Workflows that have never been published, or have unpublished changes from a previous edit. |
Active filter chips
When any filter is set, a row of chips appears under the toolbar. Click the ✕ on a chip to remove that filter, or Clear all at the end of the row to reset.
5Sort the list
Choose the sort field
The Sort dropdown offers three fields:
- Name — alphabetical, useful for finding a specific workflow.
- Updated — most recently saved at the top, useful for "what was I working on?".
- Created — oldest workflows first or last; useful when you want a chronological view of when each workflow joined your tenant.
Toggle direction
Click the small arrow button next to the dropdown to flip ascending / descending. The icon updates to show which direction is active.
6Create a new workflow
Click + Create New Workflow
The blue + Create New Workflow button on the right of the toolbar opens an empty canvas. The button has the stable HTML id create-workflow-button and the aria-label "Create new workflow".
If the button is missing, your role does not include visual-designer:workflow · create. The empty-state version of the same button appears in the centre of the page when no workflows exist yet.
The canvas opens
You arrive on a blank workflow canvas with a single Start node placed for you. The right-hand activity bar lights up with the EDITOR / EDGES / DATA / AI / TEST / PINS / RUN tabs and the bottom panel shows Console / Problems / Timeline.
The full canvas tour is in the Designing Workflows guide.
A new workflow exists only in the browser until you click Save on the canvas toolbar (or press Ctrl+S). Closing the tab without saving discards everything.
7Execute from a card
The ▶ Execute button
Each card shows two action buttons on its bottom-right: ✏️ Edit (always visible if you can view the workflow) and ▶ Execute (only visible if your role has visual-designer:workflow · execute on this specific workflow).
Click ▶ Execute on any active workflow to open the Workflow Runner modal without entering the canvas. This is the fastest way to kick off a known-good workflow with optional inputs.
The Workflow Runner modal
The runner shows the workflow's expected inputs (if any), an Inputs JSON editor, and a Start button. Once you start a run you can watch the live execution overlay or close the modal — the run continues server-side either way.
Detailed walkthrough: Testing & Running Workflows.
The Execute button is dimmed when the workflow's status is Inactive or Draft. Open the workflow in the canvas and use the toolbar's status toggle (or save a new version) to make it Active first.