What is Flowmatic? Graph-Based Workflow Automation

Flowmatic is a REST API for building graph-based automation pipelines. Define nodes, upload CSV data, and trigger email campaigns powered by AI or filters.

Flowmatic is a REST API that lets you build, run, and monitor automation pipelines modelled as directed node graphs. Instead of writing brittle point-to-point scripts, you describe your workflow as a set of typed nodes and the edges that connect them — Flowmatic handles execution order, data passing between nodes, and delivery of the final output. Whether you need to blast a targeted email campaign to a filtered slice of your audience or chain together AI-powered transformations before sending, Flowmatic gives you a composable, API-first way to do it.

How Flowmatic Works

Every automation in Flowmatic follows the same four-step lifecycle: upload your data, define a graph, start a run, and wait for the result.

1. Upload a CSV — Push your audience or dataset to Flowmatic via POST /api/uploads. Flowmatic stores the file and returns an uploadId you reference in your graph.
2. Build a node graph — Describe the workflow as a JSON object containing nodes and edges. Each node has a type, an id, and a data payload appropriate to that type.
3. Trigger a run — Call POST /api/workflows/:workflowId/run. Flowmatic schedules the run asynchronously and returns a runId immediately with HTTP 202.
4. Emails get sent — Flowmatic walks the graph, evaluating filters or AI steps, and hands off each output to its built-in email delivery layer.

Runs are always asynchronous. Flowmatic returns a runId at submission time so your application never blocks on execution. Poll GET /api/workflows/runs/:runId or set up a webhook to know when a run finishes.

Node Types

Flowmatic workflows are built from five primitive node types. Combine them in any order that makes sense for your use case — the only rule is that every graph must begin with a TRIGGER node and end with at least one OUTPUT node.

TRIGGER

The entry point of every workflow. A TRIGGER node has no inputs and carries no data of its own — it simply signals that execution should begin. Every graph must contain exactly one TRIGGER node.

DATA_SOURCE

Attaches an uploaded CSV to the graph. Set data.uploadId to the ID returned by POST /api/uploads. Downstream nodes receive the parsed rows as {{ds.rows}}, where ds is the node’s id.

AI

Passes each row (or any upstream value) through a large-language-model prompt. Configure the model, system prompt, and per-row user message in the data payload. Requires an AI API key configured in your account settings.

FILTER

Evaluates a boolean expression against every item in an upstream array and emits only the items for which the expression is truthy. Reference the incoming array with data.source and write a plain expression in data.expr (e.g. rating > 4).

OUTPUT

Sends an email for each item produced by an upstream node. Use data.forEach to reference the array, then template data.to, data.subject, and data.body with {{item.*}} placeholders. Flowmatic renders each template per item before dispatching.

Node Data Flow

Nodes communicate through a lightweight template syntax. When a node produces output, Flowmatic registers it under the node’s id. Any downstream node can reference that output using double-brace notation:

Expression	Meaning
{{ds.rows}}	All rows emitted by the DATA_SOURCE node whose id is ds
{{f.items}}	The filtered array emitted by the FILTER node whose id is f
{{item.email}}	The email field of the current iteration item inside an OUTPUT node
{{ai.result}}	The text generated by the AI node whose id is ai

Template expressions are evaluated lazily at runtime. If a node referenced in a template has not yet executed (or failed), Flowmatic will surface a clear error in the run log rather than sending malformed emails.

Async Run Lifecycle

When you trigger a workflow, the run passes through the following states:

PENDING → RUNNING → SUCCESS
                 ↘ FAILED

State	Meaning
PENDING	The run has been accepted and is waiting for an available worker.
RUNNING	A worker has picked up the run and is executing the graph.
SUCCESS	All nodes completed without error. Check result for delivery statistics.
FAILED	One or more nodes encountered an unrecoverable error. Check error for details.

Poll GET /api/workflows/runs/:runId until the status is SUCCESS or FAILED. A typical simple workflow completes within a few seconds; AI-heavy workflows may take longer depending on model response times.

Google Drive Integration

Flowmatic can pull CSV data directly from Google Drive, so you never have to manually export and re-upload files. Connect your Google account in the dashboard under Integrations → Google Drive, then use the Drive file picker in the DATA_SOURCE node instead of an uploadId. The integration uses OAuth 2.0 — Flowmatic never stores your Google credentials.

Google Drive–sourced data is fetched fresh at run time, meaning every workflow run reflects the latest version of the spreadsheet without any manual intervention.

What’s Next

Ready to build your first workflow? The quickstart walks you through every step — from registering an account to monitoring a live run — in under 10 minutes.

Quickstart

Go from zero to a running workflow in 7 steps.

Authentication

Learn how to register, verify your email, and authenticate API requests.