Workflows

Forest Workflows let you formalize your operational processes in a no-code editor, leveraging your data, actions, and 3rd party apps to ensure reliable, secure, and efficient executions, right in your back-office.

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Creating & managing workflows

Like all UI customization features in Forest, Workflows can be created and managed by users with the Admin, Developer, or Editor permission level.

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Getting started

The quickest way to create a new workflow is through the Customization Center (Edit Layout → + Add New). Alternatively, add a new workflow directly from your Collection Settings, using the + New button in the Workflows tab.

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The workflow editor

The Workflow Editor is where you define and map your operational process, without worrying about any of the technical aspects.

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Interface overview

The Workflow Editor is made up of four main elements:

• Toolbar, on the left, where you’ll find the Steps available to build your workflow
• Canvas, in the center, where you build the flow of your process
• Settings Panel, on the right, where you configure the step(s) currently selected in the canvas
• Header, where you save your workflow, after fixing any issues raised in the Errors Panel

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Steps

A workflow is a series of Steps. Some steps are entirely manual, the end user carries out the instruction provided, while AI-powered steps surface the relevant data or actions at runtime to help the user complete the step more efficiently. The following step types are available (* denotes AI-powered): Guidance tasks provide instructions to the end user on how to complete the step. Trigger Action* tasks provide the end user with the action required to complete the step (e.g. “Trigger the Onboard Customer action”). Get Data* tasks retrieve the value of one or multiple fields, display them to the end user, and load them into the workflow context (e.g. “Retrieve the Name, Address, and Email of the customer”). Update Data* tasks provide the end user with a way to update the value of a field (e.g. “Update the value of the customer’s Address”). Load Related Record* tasks let you load a related record to access its data and actions in subsequent steps (e.g. “Load the Bank Statement related to the Customer, from the Document collection”). Decision steps split your workflow into separate branches based on a condition. Go To steps can loop back to a previous step, jump to another branch, or step into another workflow. Groups let you organize multiple steps together for improved readability. End steps mark the end of a branch and the completion of a workflow. Escalations indicate a point where the workflow run is placed in an Inbox, so that another user can pick it up where the previous one left off. MCP Tasks* let the end user perform an action in a 3rd party app via the corresponding MCP Server.

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Step automation

Workflows are designed to be human-first for reliability and compliance, but it is possible to automate certain steps to boost execution efficiency. At the end of each step, the user clicks the confirmation button (labelled Done by default) to proceed. Skip this by setting the Step Completion toggle to Automatic, so the workflow advances to the next step immediately upon completion. On Trigger Action and MCP Tasks steps, the end user must explicitly click Execute by default. Once you’re confident in the AI suggesting the correct tool, set the Execution toggle to Automatic to skip that extra click. Decisions can also be delegated to AI: set the Decision maker toggle to AI on a decision step, and the workflow will automatically guide users through the correct branch, assuming it has sufficient context from previous steps.

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Managing workflows

Existing workflows can be managed from the relevant Collection Settings, in the Workflows tab. From there, rename a workflow, restrict its availability to a subset of Segments, and access the Workflow Editor. By default, workflows are available when selecting a single record from the List View. Toggle their visibility and reorder them in the Layout Editor. Workflows can also be made available in Summary Views and Workspaces.

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Security & auditing

As with everything in Forest, the Workflow feature is built on the Roles & Permissions system. Although anyone can trigger a workflow, data and actions are only made available to users whose role permits it. Every completed and aborted workflow execution is recorded in the workflow list for a given record, and opens in read-only mode to review its execution in detail. Every interaction within a workflow execution is also recorded in your Activity Logs, available in the Reports tab or through the public API.

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