> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://chattree.co/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Workflows

> What Chattree does in your group, and when — and how to change it in a sentence, from a template, or block by block.

Everything Chattree does in a group is its **workflow**: a set of flows, each one *when this happens,
do that*. When a member joins, welcome them. When a question has gone unanswered for 30 minutes,
answer it if you taught Chattree the answer. When the group goes quiet, ask you whether to post a
question to get people talking.

Every group has one from the start. When Chattree joins, it reads the group's name and description
and picks the [template](https://chattree.co/docs/guides/workflow-library.md) that fits — a wedding, a church, an estate, a
course, a savings circle — and tells you which it picked. Nothing about it is fixed.

## Three ways to change it

> **Tell Chattree**
>
> Send Chattree **setup** and a sentence: *setup remind everyone of Sunday service every Saturday at
> 6pm*. It shows you the change and saves it when you reply **yes**.

> **Start from a template**
>
> In the group's editor, press **Templates** at the bottom right and pick the one for the kind of
> group it is — or describe what should change.

> **Use the editor**
>
> Open the group on the [dashboard](https://app.chattree.co) and change it block by block: a
> condition, a wait, or an "ask me first" anywhere.

Send **setup** on its own to hear what Chattree does in your group right now. If you run more than
one group, put the group's number after it: *setup 2 stop the weekly roundup*.

## The editor

Open a group on the [dashboard](https://app.chattree.co) and its editor fills the screen.

![The workflow editor: the group's name and its Workflow, Members and Knowledge tabs at the top left, the flow switcher in the middle, Settings at the top right, the toolbox on the left, one flow on the canvas, and Templates, Import, Export, History and Save at the bottom right.](https://mintcdn.com/chattree/quypUuwWyTA561YD/assets/workflow-editor.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=quypUuwWyTA561YD\&q=85\&s=6a8e2e8c5a8bd2a13c59b855bf254285)

* **Across the top**, from the left: back to all your groups, the group's **Workflow**, **Members**
  and **Knowledge** tabs, and light or dark. In the middle, the flow on the canvas. On the right,
  **Waiting for you** (when something is) and **Settings**.
* **One flow at a time.** The canvas shows one flow: the card that starts it, then its steps. Its
  name at the top opens the list of flows in the group, each with a green dot when it is on. From
  there you can rename the flow, **turn it off** (it stays, for later) or on, delete it, or start a
  **＋ New flow** by choosing what starts it. New flow offers only what the group does not have a
  flow for yet — except a schedule and a phrase, which a group can have several of.
* **▶** beside the name reads the flow back in words, the way **setup** does in WhatsApp.
* **Click a step to change it.** Its settings open beside it. The toolbox on the left offers only the
  steps that fit the flow you are looking at.
* **Settings** holds the group's own settings: the assistant's name, what the group is for, what to
  say when it cannot answer, which language to reply in, quiet hours, the group's time zone, the
  voice, and whether Chattree is active in the group.

At the bottom right:

* **Templates** opens *Start from a template, or say it*, with two tabs. **Templates** shows the
  whole [library](https://chattree.co/docs/guides/workflow-library.md), each with its flows; pick one. **Describe** takes a
  sentence — *remind everyone of the monthly meeting on the first Saturday at 10am* — shows you
  **What changes**, and puts it on the canvas when you say so. Either way nothing changes in the
  group until you save.
* **Import** and **Export** move a whole workflow as a file: export one group's, import it into
  another. An imported workflow is checked first, and brings its flows only — the group keeps its
  own language and quiet hours.
* **History** lists every saved version (see [Undo](#undo)).
* **Save** makes it the group's workflow. Beside it, **Unsaved changes** shows while there is
  something to save — or **1 thing to fix** if something would break a limit; click it to see what.
  A workflow that breaks a limit is never saved.

![The Templates window: Start from a template, or say it, with Templates and Describe tabs, and a grid of templates such as General, Wedding or event, Church or faith group and School parents, each showing its flows as small icons and how many it has.](https://mintcdn.com/chattree/quypUuwWyTA561YD/assets/workflow-templates.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=quypUuwWyTA561YD\&q=85\&s=953ff71b7b2fd473fea0944ba3b2dcc8)

When something is waiting for your yes — an introduction, the week's roundup, a question for a
quiet group, or a flow that asks you first — **Waiting for you** appears at the top with a count.
Answer it there or in WhatsApp; whichever comes first counts.

## The blocks

A flow starts with **when…**, then its steps: things Chattree **does**, and logic that decides
whether and when it does them. Not every step fits every start — Chattree never answers a question
nobody asked, and never posts in the group because someone left — so the editor offers only the steps
that fit. This is the whole list:

| When… | It can… |
| - | - |
| When Chattree joins | Post your message · Prepare an introduction · Post it · Tell me privately |
| A member joins | Post your message · Welcome them in its own words · Tell me privately |
| Someone tags Chattree | Answer from what it was taught · Tell me privately |
| A question nobody answered | Answer from what it was taught · Tell me privately |
| A member needs the owner | Tell me privately |
| The group goes quiet | Write a question for members · Post it · Tell me privately |
| On a schedule | Post your message · Write a roundup of the week · Post it · Send me a report · Tell me privately |
| A date is coming up | Remind the group · Tell me privately |
| Memberships are due | Post a renewal reminder · Tell me privately |
| A member says they paid | Thank them and note the payment · Tell me privately |
| A message looks like spam or a scam | Tell me privately |
| Questions it could not answer | Tell me privately |
| Members leave | Tell me privately |
| A date has passed | Post your message · Tell me privately |
| A collection is closing | Remind the group to contribute · Tell me privately |
| Someone says a phrase | Post your message · Tell me privately |

Any flow can also use **If**, **Wait** and **Ask me first** between its steps.

**Post your message** posts your words exactly as you wrote them. **Tell me privately** messages
you, never the group. **If** checks who sent it, whether they are on your members list, words it
mentions, or the time of day. **Wait** holds for a while. **Ask me first** sends you the draft and
carries on only when you reply **approve** (or **skip**).

### A few that are worth knowing

* **Members leave** tells you who left or was removed, all together, a few minutes after the first —
  twenty people removed at once is one message. Nothing is said in the group, and nobody who left is
  contacted.
* **A date has passed** runs the day after a date on your list (or a few days after), at 10:00 in
  the group's time. In your message, `{event}` becomes the date's name: *Thank you all for {event}!*
* **Someone says a phrase** listens for your words or phrases — *prayer request*, *lost and found*,
  *#urgent* — as whole words, in any case. It can reply to that message in your words and tell you
  who said it. It is checked with Chattree's regular look at the group, every ten minutes.
* **Send me a report** goes under a day and time you choose: messages and how many people spoke, who
  joined and left, what Chattree did, and what is waiting for you — numbers only, never names or
  messages. Every template has a *Weekly report to me* flow, off until you switch it on. You can also
  send **setup** with *send me a weekly report*, or *tell me when people leave*.
* **A flow that is off** does nothing and is kept. Templates ship some flows off: the ones that post
  a message need your words first, and the rest are there to switch on when you want them.

## What no workflow can change

Chattree shares its WhatsApp numbers with other groups, and a number that posts too much gets
banned — for everyone on it. So some things hold whatever a workflow says:

* A group hears at most **three** scheduled messages, **one** roundup and **two** discussion
  questions a week, and nothing unprompted during its quiet hours. Replies to your phrases are at most
  **two a day** in a group, and one per person in six hours. A workflow that would go over is
  refused when you save it, with the reason.
* Chattree only ever messages **you** privately, and members only in the group — never a member on
  their own.
* It never removes anyone, and it never answers a question it was not taught the answer to.

## Undo

Every change is kept. **History** (the clock at the bottom right of the editor) lists each version
and where it came from — the editor, a template, a description, an import, or **setup** in
WhatsApp — and **Put back** makes an older one the one in use.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.