Key Concepts

Last updated: September 24, 2026

Concept	What it is
Workflow	An automated sequence of connected steps. Each step is either an action provided by an integration (for example, “Upload Contracts” or “Send Message”) or a built-in operator that controls how the workflow branches, filters, and combines data.
Run	Each execution of a workflow is called a run. You can monitor every run step by step.
Trigger	An event that starts a workflow. A workflow can have several triggers of different types (see Trigger types below).
Integration	A connector between Flow and another service. Each integration defines the triggers and actions you can use when building workflows. Examples include Google Drive, SharePoint, Slack, DocuSign, and Ivo itself: Flow connects to Ivo through its public API, just like any other service, so workflows can upload contracts, run reviews, and update metadata in your workspace.
Installation	A specific, authorized connection to a service: it determines which account or workspace Flow can access. For example, Google Drive is the integration; a particular user’s Google Drive account is an installation. Slack is the integration; your connected Slack workspace is an installation. Installations are private to the person who created them by default and can be shared with the whole workspace.

Trigger types

Trigger type	How it starts
Recurring (Cron)	Starts automatically on a repeating schedule, such as every weekday at 9:00 AM.
Scheduled	Starts automatically once, at a specific date and time.
Manual	Starts when someone runs the workflow explicitly.
HTTP	Starts when Flow receives a request at a unique web address (a webhook). The URL is generated when you save the workflow, ready to paste into the external system that will call it.
SFTP	Starts when files are delivered to a dedicated SFTP drop point for the workflow. Flow generates the SFTP host, username, and password when you save the workflow, so external systems can deliver files securely.
Integration	Starts when an event occurs in a connected app, such as a message being received in Slack, a file changing in Google Drive, or a DocuSign envelope being updated.

Built-in operators

Alongside integration actions, workflows can include built-in operators that control how data moves through a workflow:

Operator	What it does
If/Else	Branching on conditions.
Filter	Filtering lists of items.
Route	Routing items down parallel paths.
Map	Reshaping data between steps.
Merge	Combining results from parallel branches.
Wait	Pausing until an approval or external callback arrives.

Who builds the workflow structure?

For now, workflow structures, including these operators, are built by the Ivo team. When you set up a workflow from a template, you configure its connections and fields. If your use case needs a different structure, such as an extra filtering step, talk to the Ivo team about what’s possible: these operators mean most process shapes can be supported.