Automate

Flows

Attach a Flow to any saved workflow to automatically trigger an action — email, Slack, or a sheet write — when your API data meets a condition. Describe the condition in plain English with Scout AI, or set a numeric threshold. No code required.

How Flows work

Each flow has two parts: a WHEN trigger and a THEN action. When the scheduled workflow runs, it fetches the API data and evaluates each flow you've configured. If the trigger condition is met, the action fires automatically.

WHENTrigger condition is metAlways · Threshold · Scout AI
→
THENAction firesEmail · Write to Sheet · Slack

Creating a flow

  1. Open the API Import sidebar from Extensions → API Import for Google Sheets™.
  2. Open a saved workflow (or save a new one — see Workflows).
  3. Scroll down to the Flow section (⚡) and click Add Flow.
  4. Choose a trigger type under WHEN and fill in its configuration.
  5. Choose an action type under THEN and fill in its configuration.
  6. Click Save workflow. The flow will evaluate on every scheduled run.

Trigger types

AlwaysFires on every run
The action runs every time the scheduled workflow executes, regardless of the API response. Useful for audit logs — for example, appending a timestamped entry to a sheet on each run using {{workflow.name}}.
ThresholdNumeric field comparison
Compare any numeric field in the API response against a fixed value using >, <, >=, <=, =, or !=. Run a preview first — the field dropdown populates automatically from the response. When the condition is true, {{trigger.value}} holds the actual number and {{trigger.reason}} describes what matched.
Scout (AI)Plain-English condition
Describe the condition you care about in natural language. Scout evaluates the full API response on every run and returns true or false, plus a plain-English explanation. No JSON paths or formulas needed. {{trigger.value}} contains the AI-extracted data point and {{trigger.reason}} explains the decision.

Action types

Send EmailVia Resend · free tier: 3,000/month
Sends a transactional email using a Resend API key. Provide the recipient address, subject line, and body. The body supports token substitution. Resend's free tier covers 3,000 emails per month — create a free account at resend.com.
Get a free Resend API key →
Write to SheetAppend or overwrite a Google Sheet
Writes a message to any Google Sheet you have access to. Configure the target sheet, starting cell, and write mode (append a new row or overwrite). The message supports token substitution. If left empty, the flow writes {{trigger.reason}} by default.
Slack MessagePost to a channel via bot token
Posts a message to a Slack channel using a bot token. Provide the channel name (e.g. #ops) and the message body. Token substitution is supported. The bot auto-joins the channel if it isn't already a member.

Token reference

Use these tokens inside email subjects, email bodies, Slack messages, and sheet-write messages. They are replaced with live values at the time the flow fires.

{{trigger.value}}The numeric value (Threshold) or AI-extracted data point (Scout) that caused the flow to fire.
{{trigger.reason}}A plain-English explanation of why the flow fired — the AI's reasoning (Scout) or a rule summary (Threshold).
{{workflow.name}}The display name of the scheduled workflow that ran.

Flows and scheduling

Flows evaluate on every scheduled run of the parent workflow. They do not fire on manual runs triggered from the sidebar. Each flow result (fired / skipped / error) is logged independently and does not affect the main workflow's data write. See Workflows & scheduling for how to set a recurrence.

Examples

YouTube views milestone alert
WHENScout AI — "Has this YouTube video passed 100,000 views?"
THENSend Email — subject: "{{workflow.name}} milestone", body: "{{trigger.reason}}"
Scout evaluates the full YouTube Analytics API response each run and fires as soon as the condition becomes true.
Shopify order spike to Slack
WHENThreshold — ordersCount > 50
THENSlack Message — channel: #ops, message: "{{workflow.name}}: {{trigger.value}} orders today"
The field dropdown in the sidebar is populated after you run a preview — pick ordersCount from the list.
Ad CPC drop audit log
WHENScout AI — "Did average CPC drop by more than 20% vs last week?"
THENWrite to Sheet — append mode, message: "{{trigger.reason}} ({{workflow.name}})"
Builds a timestamped change log in a separate sheet without any manual monitoring.