Versioning and sharing

Automations keep a strict line between the draft you are editing and what is actually running, and can move between workspaces as a portable JSON file.

Quick overview

1. Keep editing your draft freely; nothing live changes while you work.
2. Click Activate to validate, snapshot the draft as a new published version, and go live on it.
3. Use Export on any automation to download it as a JSON file.
4. Use Import to turn a JSON file back into a new draft automation.

Detailed reference

Draft versus published version

The engine never runs your live draft directly. Each time you activate, the current draft is validated and, if it passes, saved as a numbered, immutable snapshot; the automation then points at that snapshot and every new run uses it. You can keep changing the draft afterward, publish part-way through a redesign, or leave it be, none of it affects the version that is currently running until you activate again.

Every one of those snapshots is kept, not just the latest, so the exact graph a given run actually used is never lost even after you have activated several more times since.

Export

Detail	Behavior
Where	The row menu on any automation in the overview's table (list) view
Format	A .json file named after the automation
Contents	Name, description, trigger type, the current draft graph, tags, and settings
Excludes	Ids, run history, and step logs, so the file is portable rather than a tied-to-this-workspace backup

Import

Detail	Behavior
Where	An Import button on the overview toolbar
Accepts	A .json file exported the same way
Result	A brand-new draft automation, named after the original with an "(imported)" suffix, opened straight into the builder
Validation	Structural only on import; publishing (Activate) re-validates the graph fully

Sharing within your workspace

Automations are not personal. Every automation you create is visible, editable, and runnable by anyone else with access to your workspace; the overview's owner column just distinguishes automations you created from ones a teammate did.

How to use it

Walkthrough: test a risky change without touching what's live

1. Open the automation and make your edits to the draft; nothing live changes yet, even if you leave the builder afterward.
2. Click Test as many times as you like while you iterate. Each Test re-validates and publishes a new version just like Activate does, but it does not touch the automation's status, so it stays wherever it was, Draft, Active, or Paused.
3. Once you're happy with the result, click Activate to make this the version the real trigger actually runs.
4. If you're not happy, keep editing the draft. Nothing you've tested is what's live until you explicitly activate it, no matter how many times you clicked Test.

Walkthrough: move an automation to another workspace

1. On the source workspace, open the automation's row menu in the table (list) view and click Export; a .json file downloads, named after the automation.
2. Open the destination workspace's Automations overview and click Import in the toolbar; pick that file.
3. It's recreated as a new Draft, named with an "(imported)" suffix, and opens straight into the builder so you can check it over.
4. Fill in what the export doesn't carry: the automation isn't Active yet, activate it once you've reviewed it, and if it uses an Incoming webhook trigger, its URL is different from the original (a new automation id), so update any external sender that was pointed at the old one.

Common tasks

• Snapshot a working automation as insurance before a risky redesign. Export it first. There is no version-browsing or restore control in the builder today, so an exported JSON file is the practical way back to a known-good state if the redesign goes wrong, either by re-importing it as a new draft or by manually copying fields back into the current one.
• Give a teammate a starting point without touching your original. Export and hand them the file, or use Duplicate if you're both in the same workspace.
• Promote a proven automation from staging to production. Export it from the staging workspace, Import it into production, review the resulting draft, then Activate.

Troubleshooting

• I clicked Test a lot while iterating and now have a long version history. That's expected: Test always re-validates and publishes a new version exactly like Activate does, so an afternoon of iterating on one automation can produce many versions even though only the one you last activated is actually live.
• I want to go back to an older version. There is no version-history or restore control in the builder today. The practical fallback is having exported the automation before the change, so you can re-import that file as a fresh draft, or manually undo your edits with Ctrl/Cmd+Z within the same editing session.
• An exported file contains something sensitive. Export includes every field on every node exactly as configured, including any HMAC secrets, Slack/Discord webhook URLs, and custom HTTP headers you've typed into nodes. Treat an exported JSON file like a credential, not a harmless backup.
• The imported automation isn't doing anything. Import only ever creates a Draft; it is never activated automatically, so open it and click Activate once you've reviewed the graph.
• An imported webhook automation stopped receiving calls. Its inbound URL is built from the new automation's id, which differs from the one it had in the source workspace. Update whatever external system was calling the old URL with the new one.

Tips

Export as a portable copy

Exporting is the way to move an automation into a different workspace, or keep an offline copy outside the app.

Import does not carry history

Importing recreates the graph and settings only. It starts as a fresh draft with no run history, and it is not activated automatically, so activate it again once you have checked it over.

Related

• Overview
• Building a workflow
• Running and monitoring