Instantiate a Workflow from a Template

In Braidrun, "instantiation from template" is the most mainstream workflow generation method: more than 90% of users do not write their first workflow from the whiteboard, but clone one from the template and then adjust it according to their own business. This article breaks down the process down to every button.

Complete Process Overview

1. Browse the template library and select one by category/tag/search
2. Read the template details card to confirm prerequisites and estimated costs
3. Click "Use this template" to clone it into your workspace
4. Change the business parameters according to the variable description in the editor
5. Complete the key in the credential center
6. Validate and preview the execution plan, then perform one real run with test data
7. Bind scheduling/Webhook triggers on demand

Step 1 · Browse the Template Gallery

1.1 Open The Entrance

Official templates are browsed in Marketplace on the left-hand navigation: filter by type, category, tag or keyword, and each card shows the author, version, download count and which third-party services it needs. Click Download to put it in your template library.

• The template library holds the templates you have downloaded, with card and list views, search and sorting, and cards that carry a complexity badge plus agent, step and variable counts
• Star the templates you use often and use the favourites filter to find them again
• When a new version ships the card shows an update hint; download it again to catch up

1.2 Common Selection Strategies

• The needs are very specific — Search keywords directly. For example, if you want to do "TestFlight certificate expiration reminder", search for certificate expiry and it will be locked immediately.
• Demand is broad — Convergence based on industry first. Pick an industry category you are most familiar with and turn two or three pages to get a rough idea of what types of processes we have.
• Want to "see what others in the industry do" — Sort by "complexity" and pick the most complex ones - they usually represent end-to-end mature practices.

Step 2 · Read Template Details

Click on a template card to enter the details page, focusing on four parts:

2.1 "Description" Section

In two or three paragraphs, tell you: what problems it solves, what scenarios it is most suitable for, what scenarios it is not suitable for, and what preparations are required before use.

2.2 List Of "Required Credentials"

The details page will list the provider actually declared by the template, the credential selector and whether it is required. Different templates may have different names and configuration methods, for example:

• openrouter — Model calling credentials; may also be declared by the template as other model providers
• google_ads — Google Ads Business Access Credentials or Private Connection
• slack — Message delivery credentials; whether it is required depends on the corresponding steps and conditions

When required credentials are missing, errors will be reported in verification, pre-run checks, or corresponding steps. Whether optional credentials cause steps to be skipped depends on whether the template has a condition configured for it; do not default to all optional items being automatically skipped.

2.3 Step and agent overview

The detail dialog lists how many steps the template has and which agents and variables it uses. More steps and more agents mean a longer, more token-hungry run — the platform does not estimate duration or cost for you; the real figures appear in the execution detail once it has run.

Step 3 · Instantiate it as your own workflow

1. In the template library, click Instantiate on the item you downloaded (the card also labels it Use).
2. If the template declares configurable variables, a form appears first so you can set their defaults; with no variables it is created straight away.
3. The platform creates an independent copy and opens the editor on it. Your edits never flow back to the template, and later template updates do not change your copy on their own.

Step 4 · Customize Business Parameters

The 4.1 Variables Section Is the Only Place You Need to Look Carefully

When the editor opens, first scroll through the YAML to the variables section at the top. All the "things that need to be adjusted in this workflow according to your business situation" are here, already commented:

variables:
  target_date:
    type: string
    default: yesterday    # ← 改成你要跑哪一天的数据
    description: |
      支持 yesterday / last_7_days / last_30_days /
      或具体日期 2026-04-17

  top_n:
    type: number
    default: 10           # ← 要拉多少条新闻
    description: 抓取的新闻数量上限

  target_channel:
    type: string
    default: "#my_daily_digest"  # ← 改成你的 Slack 频道名或保留默认 webhook 目标
    description: Slack 目标频道或 Incoming Webhook 默认目标

4.2 Change Defaults to Match Your Use Case

The default value is just an "example", please replace it with the real value in your business. Changing variables will not destroy the structure, so feel free to change it.

4.3 Leave `steps` Unchanged When Possible

It is not recommended to change the structure of the steps section when running the template for the first time - run it once with the default process first, see the data flow, and then decide whether to change it.

Step 5 · Complete Credential Center

1. Open Credential Center.
2. Create a corresponding credential for each "required" credential listed on the template details page. The name must be exactly the same as that quoted in the YAML.
3. "Optional" credentials can be left uncreated for now - the relevant steps will be skipped.

Step 6 · Preview the plan, then run safely

6.1 The significance of preview

The "preview" of the editor only reads the definition and generates a static execution plan, and does not create execution or run any steps. It can help confirm:

• The workflow can be parsed, and the step types and dependencies are as expected
• Which top-level variables are provided this time, and which references are missing values?
• Which steps have conditions, and it needs to be decided during actual operation whether to execute them or not.

Preview does not validate credentials, network, model output, or external APIs, nor simulate classifier branches.

6.2 Real Run

After the preview results meet expectations, return to the execution dialog box to confirm the input and click "Start Execution". Please use a test account, test data and read-only permission for the first time; when it involves actions such as sending messages, changing ads, writing production libraries, etc., add manual_approval before the action. The actual execution progress can be viewed on the execution details page.

6.3 What to Watch After Running

• "View execution details" - Gantt chart + input/output of each step
• "Artifacts pane" — generated Markdown, Excel, and images download directly
• "Tokens / cost"——How much did you spend this time?

Step 7 · Bind Triggers as Needed

After manual running, the workflow is ready to go online. Three common triggering methods:

• Scheduled Runs — Daily/weekly/monthly, or repeat by interval
• Webhook Trigger — An external system POSTs to trigger it, authenticated with an API Key (HMAC signatures are also supported)
• API trigger—your internal system uses an API Key to call the REST API and start an execution

Template Upgrade: Keeping Up with New Template Versions

A cloned copy isn't automatically changed by template updates. When the source template ships a new version and you want to follow it, use the Upgrade from Template flow: review a preview, then upgrade with one click.

Where To Find It

You can reach it in two places: Upgrade from Template in the editor toolbar menu, or the Check for Upgrade prompt above the variables section in the workflow settings panel. The dialog that opens shows the current and target versions.

Review the Preview Before Upgrading

The preview splits variable differences into three categories and lists them one by one:

• Reserve — Variables you've already changed that still exist in the new template—your values are kept after the upgrade
• New — Variables newly added in the new template—filled with the template defaults, to adjust as needed after upgrading
• Delete — Variables that no longer exist in the new template—dropped after the upgrade. Check this list item by item before confirming

What Happens During the Upgrade

• The current workflow is first auto-saved as a version snapshot, so you can roll back from the Versions menu if you change your mind
• Structural configuration—the step DAG, Agent prompts, code, timeouts, and the like—is overwritten by the new template
• The models you chose are preserved: for Agents of the same name, your model selection and its model credential reference aren't overwritten by the new template
• Settings that belong to you—workflow name, tags, concurrency, and so on—are left untouched

Older workflow with no source template recorded?

Workflows cloned early on may have no recorded source, in which case the same item in the editor menu appears as Link Template. Register which template it came from (and optionally mark which version it currently corresponds to), and the upgrade flow works normally from then on.

Advanced: Let the AI Assistant Change It According to Your Description

After cloning, if the business requirements are not completely consistent with the template, you can ask the AI assistant to help you fix it:

1. FAB in the lower right corner opens the AI assistant drawer
2. Describe your needs - for example "change step.deliver from Telegram to Feishu"
3. The assistant will give you a diff preview and you can accept or reject it.
4. Click "Apply" when satisfied - 10-level undo stack protects you from rolling back at any time

When should you switch to an AI assistant or handwriting?

Next

• Category Details and Representative Templates — Selected representatives from each industry category will tell you what each category can do
• Visual Editor — Which buttons should you click after cloning?
• AI Assistant — Use natural language to modify/generate workflows