Running Nodes and Workflows

Once you have added one or more nodes to the canvas, you must run them to execute the processes they represent, such as data collection, transformation, processing or refreshing the output.

There are three ways to run nodes, depending on whether you want to execute a single step, run multiple steps together, or configure a reusable workflow:

Run a single node directly
Run multiple nodes together as an ad hoc workflow
Create automated runs for repeatable execution

The sections below describe each option.

Running a single node

You can run an individual node on its own to execute only the process tied to that node.

To do this, select the node on the canvas and click Run in the right-side panel. Only the selected node will be executed.

This approach is useful when you want to run one specific part of a workflow independently.

Run multiple nodes (ad hoc workflow run)

You can run multiple nodes together as a one-time workflow directly from the canvas. This type of run executes immediately and is not saved as a reusable workflow.

Click the Run button in the top-right corner of the canvas to select one or more nodes to include in the run.

Select the nodes you wish to include in the run, then click Next.

You can also add stop points to a run. Stop points pause the workflow during execution and notify users that input is required before the run can continue.

Select the nodes where you want user input to be provided at run time. Any nodes selected as stop points will be highlighted in orange on the canvas.

Click Start Run to kick off the run.

Automated runs

Automated runs allow you to configure reusable workflows that execute one or more nodes together.

An automated run can include stop points and additional logic such as notifications. Automated runs are named and saved, and can be triggered manually, on a schedule, or by defined events.

You can create multiple automated runs on the same canvas, each including a different set of nodes. These runs can be managed and executed independently.

To create an automated run, click Automated Runs on the top-right of a workflow canvas then click "+ Run":

Select the nodes you would like to run in this automation by clicking on each of them.

Click "Next" to select Stop Points. Stop points allow you to pause an automated run to make configuration overrides for that specific run. Click "Next" again to select triggers, if necessary. Triggers are a way to initiate an automated run. You can read more about Triggers here .

Scheduling an automated run

Click next to get to Step 4 and click the toggle to "Enable schedule". Schedules allow this selection of nodes to be run in time increments of minutes, days, weeks, or months with a start date and time and an end date and time.

You can also select whether to skip workflow runs if it encounters a failure a certain amount of times.

This example schedule below would start at 13:31pm and run every one day at midnight. Since there's no end date on this example it would run every day in perpetuity.

Click "Next" to go to Step 5.

Configuring notifications

The Event Handling step allows you to take certain actions based on different events or outcomes of the automated run. In this example, I want to email [email protected] if the run fails. To do that I can select the "On Failure" event and then enter the email address in the Email Addresses section. You can also notify other Redbird users or Slack Channels on your team by selecting them in the respective sections.

On Step 6, give your automated run a name and then click "Done". Your schedule will be enabled and your automation will kick off automatically at the next scheduled time.

The automated run will now appear in the Automated Runs section on the canvas (accessible via the Automated Runs button), where the run can also be manually triggered, edited, or deleted using the relevant icons under each column. The type of run will be denoted by the symbol in the Type column e.g. clock for scheduled, arrow for trigger etc.

You can also access an overview of all active automated runs (i.e. with a schedule or trigger) within your Redbird account by clicking Automated Runs Overview on the home page.

From this view, you can search for a specific automated run or browse the full list of scheduled runs, including the folder it belongs to, the associated workflow canvas, the automated run name, the last successful run, the next scheduled run, and the current run status..

Stopping a run

Whether you run a node ah hoc or as part of a workflow in an automated run, the run will continue until all tasks are completed, user input is required, or an error occurs.

You can manually stop a run before it finishes—effectively cancelling it—by clicking the Stop button on the workflow banner that appears at the top of the canvas while the run is in progress. The run will stop at the earliest possible point.