Core Concepts

Before you start building, it helps to understand the key ideas behind Sovereign Workflows. Think of it like learning the vocabulary — once you know what a workflow, node, edge, and execution are, everything else makes sense.

Workflows

A workflow is an automated process — a series of steps that run in a defined order to accomplish a task. If you have ever set up a rule like "when I receive an email from this sender, save the attachment to this folder," that is a simple workflow.

In Sovereign, workflows are defined as visual graphs. You draw the steps and connections in the Studio Editor, and the system handles running them reliably, retrying failures, and tracking results.

Workflows can be as simple as two steps or as complex as hundreds of steps with loops, branches, and parallel paths.

Nodes

A node is a single step in a workflow. Each node does one thing — calls an API, transforms data, makes a decision, or waits for input. Nodes are the building blocks you drag onto the canvas.

There are several types of nodes:

• Action nodes — run a specific operation from a connector (like "send an email" or "create a record") or a built-in transform (like "parse JSON" or "filter a list")
• ForEach nodes — loop over a collection and process each item, potentially in parallel
• Subworkflow nodes — run another workflow as a step, letting you compose complex automations from simpler ones
• Agent nodes — use AI to reason about a problem and decide which tools to use (Enterprise tier)
• Human Gate nodes — pause the workflow and wait for a person to approve before continuing

See Node Types for a detailed guide to each type.

Edges

An edge is a connection between two nodes. Edges control the flow of execution — they determine what runs after what.

Edges have conditions. The most common are:

• Success — the next step runs when the previous step succeeds (this is the default)
• Failure — the next step runs only if the previous step fails, letting you build error-handling paths
• Always — the next step runs regardless of whether the previous step succeeded or failed

This means you can build workflows that gracefully handle errors, send alerts when something goes wrong, or take alternative paths based on what happened.

Executions

An execution is a single run of a workflow. Every time a workflow runs — whether triggered manually, by a schedule, or by a webhook — a new execution is created.

Each execution tracks:

• Status — Running, Succeeded, Failed, Cancelled, or Suspended (waiting for human input)
• Step results — the inputs, outputs, and timing of every step
• Error details — what went wrong and where, if anything failed

You can monitor executions in real time and drill into any step to see exactly what happened. See Monitoring Executions for more.

Connectors

A connector is a plugin that lets your workflows talk to external services. Each connector provides a set of actions — things you can do with that service.

For example, the Confluence connector lets you create pages, search content, and manage spaces. The Monday.com connector lets you create items, update columns, and manage boards. The Jira connector lets you create issues, transition statuses, and manage projects.

Sovereign also includes built-in actions that do not need an external service — things like manipulating strings, parsing JSON, doing math, working with dates, and filtering arrays.

See Available Connectors for the full catalog.

Triggers

A trigger is what starts a workflow. There are three ways to trigger a workflow:

• Manual — click "Run" in the Studio or call the API directly
• Scheduled — set a cron schedule to run the workflow automatically (e.g., every hour, weekdays at 9 AM)
• Webhook — give an external system a URL to call, and the workflow starts when data arrives

See Triggers and Scheduling for details on each type.

Data Flow

Data flows between steps automatically. When a step produces output, the next step in the chain can reference that output using template expressions. For example, if step one returns a customer name, step two can use that name in its configuration.

This is how you build powerful automations — each step builds on the results of the previous ones, transforming and routing data through your business logic.

See Expressions and Data Flow for the template syntax and common patterns.

Next Steps

• Studio Editor — start building in the visual editor
• Your First Workflow — hands-on walkthrough
• Triggers and Scheduling — learn how to start workflows automatically