The Start and End nodes

Every CloudRadial AutomationAI workflow begins at a Start node and finishes at an End node. The Start node is the entry point and is where a webhook trigger is enabled; the End node marks completion. This article is for workspace users with the Admin role or higher who build workflows in the Designer.

• The Start Node
• Enabling a Webhook
• Triggers and Manual Runs
• The End Node

The Start Node

The Start node is created automatically when you open a new workflow in the Designer. It is fixed: it cannot be deleted, and it is not in the palette. Selecting it on the canvas opens a short panel that explains the node is fixed and links to the workflow's Properties, where its trigger settings live.

Enabling a Webhook

A workflow can expose a webhook so an outside system can trigger it. The webhook is an opt-in setting on the Start node, configured from the workflow's Properties page rather than on the canvas.

When you enable the webhook, AutomationAI mints two values:

• A webhook id, which forms part of the public webhook URL
• A webhook secret, which the caller must send in the X-Crauto-Webhook-Secret header on every request

You can rotate the secret from the same page. Rotating it invalidates the previous secret, so any caller still sending the old value stops working as soon as you publish the workflow. Webhook changes take effect when the workflow version is published. For the full webhook setup and how the payload reaches the workflow, see the article on triggering a workflow with a webhook.

Triggers and Manual Runs

Trigger and schedule setup lives on the workflow's Properties page, not on the Start node. A workflow can always be run manually, regardless of whether a webhook or schedule is configured. Add a schedule from Properties to run the workflow on a recurring basis (see the article on scheduling a workflow with Routines).

The End Node

The End node terminates the workflow. It is added from the Flow section of the palette and has no editable fields. Connect the last node in a branch to an End node so the flow has a defined stopping point; a Condition node's true and false branches can each lead to their own End node.