Who runs an automation?
Why tasks and comments from an automation are recorded under a fixed system user
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An automation does not work under your name. All steps are run by a fixed user of your organisation called Workflow.
What you will notice
- A task that an automation creates is recorded under the name Workflow
- A comment that an automation adds through an API request is also recorded under the name Workflow
- In the editor, as long as you have not selected a step, the panel on the right reminds you that steps are run as your organisation's Workflow user, never as yourself
This way it is always clear what a colleague did and what an automation did. Your name never appears on something you did not do yourself.
What Workflow is
- A system user, not a colleague. You cannot log in with it and it has no mailbox
- There is one per organisation. It exists only within your organisation and cannot do anything anywhere else
- It has all permissions within your organisation, like an administrator. That is also why only administrators can create and change automations
- It is not a member of the organisation, as a colleague is
An automation can do a lot
Because Workflow is allowed to do everything, an automation can also do everything the Tillor API allows. An API request can, for example, change or delete data. So keep your flows small and test them well.
What Workflow is not allowed to do
An automation cannot create, change, enable or delete automations, and cannot view their runs. An API request for that is refused. This way a flow cannot change itself or another flow.
Event caused by Workflow
What Workflow does causes ordinary events, for example a new task. In the timeline and in webhooks, Workflow then appears as the cause. Such events do not start automations: a flow cannot start itself or another flow. A run that is waiting with Wait for an event does carry on with it: that cannot start a new flow, so it cannot cause a loop either. You can read more about this in Frequently asked questions.
Who you assign to
Workflow is never assigned a task itself and never receives a message from Notify colleagues. If you want a colleague to pick up the task, choose a colleague under Assign to, or tick Also assign whoever caused the event.