Your first workflow

Go from signing in to your first successful run. You describe a task in the chat, save the workflow, approve it, start it and read the result. It works the same in SubKit Cloud and on a self-hosted engine.

What you need #

• A SubKit account in a workspace. - Cloud: https://subkit-cloud.mikebild.info - Self-hosted: https://<your-engine>/cockpit
• Permission to create and run workflows. Ask your administrator if a button is missing.
• An AI provider. Cloud provides one. A self-hosted engine uses the provider you chose in sk init.

Sign in #

1. Open the Cockpit.
2. Select Sign in with work account.

You land on Overview in your workspace. Self-hosted without an identity provider? Select Sign in with API key instead and enter your key.

Describe the task #

1. In the navigation, open Chat.
2. Select New conversation.
3. Describe the task in plain words: what goes in, what should happen, what comes out. Example: "Fetch the open issues of my GitHub repository and give me a short list with title and link."
4. Answer the questions SubKit asks. If the task needs a service, SubKit asks you to connect it or to sign in to it.

Good to know: a small task is easier to check. You can extend the workflow later in the same chat.

Save the workflow #

When the workflow is ready, SubKit shows a card Save workflow draft.

1. Open What will change and read which steps and targets are included.
2. Select Save inactive version.

Saving starts nothing. The workflow now appears under Workflows.

Without the chat, you create a workflow under Workflows with Create workflow. The wizard guides you through How, What, When and Check.

Approve what it may touch #

A new version does not touch anything outside SubKit until a person approves it. Without an approval, a run starts only as a trial run without effects.

1. Open Workflows and click your workflow. Its page opens on the Overview tab. The status line shows Waiting for approval or Not approved.
2. In the status line, select Approve.
3. Check Environment, Validity and Operations and external targets.
4. Confirm with Approve. Apply only applies the version without approving runs.

(opens in a new tab)

Approving starts no run. An approval covers one environment and a duration. It also follows a new version whose boundary does not grow. You can revoke it at any time in the Approvals tab. If the chat offers an approval, it opens the same dialog.

Start the workflow #

1. On the workflow page, select Start.
2. Fill in the form if the workflow asks for inputs. You only type JSON under Enter as JSON.
3. Select Start to confirm. The dialog says Starts a run of the approved version. Without an approval, the button reads Start a trial run.

You see Run started. If the button is unavailable, the hint says why, for example Switch the workflow on before starting it.

Check the result #

1. On the workflow page, open the History tab. The newest run is at the top, with its status. Succeeded means the run finished.
2. Click the run. You see every step with its output. A failed step shows Error in step "…" with the cause. (opens in a new tab)Screenshot from build 10.6.0
3. Optional: Select In the audit trail to see who started and approved the run.

You can check the same with the sk CLI:

sk executions list --limit 5
sk executions steps <run-id>
sk executions result <run-id>

sk workflows run <workflow-slug> --follow starts another run and streams its steps.

If something does not work #