Workflows can trigger other workflows

Feature Requests
1

This is one of those things that you’d think might be an edge-case but that actually comes up quite a lot and forces building out automations in a dedicated tool (i.e. Zapier/Make).

The Problem / Context

  • I’ll often have a record that gets created by a workflow, when x criteria is met or when x action button is clicked.
  • After that record is created by the workflow (and some other actions occur in the background from that same workflow), then I want another workflow to trigger based on the record that was just created.
  • Right now, that is not possible as workflows that create new records or update the fields in an existing record do not trigger another workflow (as the little notice in the workflow builder often states).

The Solution

  • The simple solution is to have everything you want to accomplish be built within the same workflow. However this is simply not possible because the first part of a workflow might contain a filter step (continue only if…), which might stop the rest of the workflow from running (when the rest of the workflow should run every time). That particular pain point could be solved with paths (see this feature request), but there are still other scenarios where paths do not solve for that issue.
  • At the end of the day, the fullest solution is that workflows can trigger other workflows. This is why I actually love Airtable automations. They allow dependent/causative automations, and the burden is put on the user and the amount of runs the user’s subscription allows, which is how it should be.
  • I realize there are potentially performance implications for Noloco, but this has caused me to put so many automations in Airtable/Zapier/Make (which all take longer) instead of Noloco, and I’d love to see more freedom in that area :slight_smile:
5 Likes
2

Thanks for all the context @buildwithjoel ! This is absolutely why we put in this limitation.

We wanted to hear from you, to see the demand before over-engineering a solution that would prevent our workflow systems from falling over.

We would definitely love to solve this though.

What happens in Airtable if there are cyclical automations?

1 Like
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Makes total sense…

Regarding your question, I should’ve divided my post into two categories of automations: circular automations (triggers and actions that loop eternally, given specific conditions), versus causative or dependent automations (automations that trigger other automations).

My post is specifically referring to causative/dependent automations. So being able to trigger other workflows from one workflow.

When it comes to circular automations, I believe Airtable allows it (I’m not 100% sure) but I think it would just stop firing if you hit your monthly limit.

4

Regarding your question, I should’ve divided my post into two categories of automations: circular automations (triggers and actions that loop eternally, given specific conditions),

The problem is you can’t discuss one without the other unfortunately :sweat_smile: Which is why we didn’t include them in the first version of our workflow actions

1 Like
5

Yeah that makes complete sense LOL. Then I guess I see this as something that would simply drain your allotted runs per month. But then again, there are performance implications for Noloco, so I’m curious to see if others upvote this post/agree that it would be valuable for them.

I’ve certainly come across this a ton of times, but we’ll see!