Create Your First Workflow

This tutorial walks you through creating a simple but useful workflow: sending a welcome message to every new member. By the end, you’ll understand how to build any workflow in Kanri.

What we’re building:

When a new member is added, wait 10 minutes, then send them a welcome email using a message template.

Before you start:

You’ll need a message template already set up. Create a template →
You’ll need the Manage Workflows permission. Ask your admin if you’re not sure.

Step 1: Open Workflows

In the left sidebar, click Workflows.
Click New Workflow.

Step 2: Name your workflow and choose a record type

You’ll see a template picker first. For this tutorial, skip it and build from scratch — but keep in mind templates are a fast starting point for common scenarios like this one.

You’ll see a form with two fields:

Name — Enter something descriptive, like “Welcome New Member”. This name appears in the workflow list and in run history.
Record type — Choose Member. This tells Kanri that each run of this workflow is about one member.
Click Create.

Kanri creates the workflow and opens the workflow builder — a visual canvas where you’ll design the automation.

Step 3: Choose a trigger

The trigger is what causes your workflow to start. For a welcome message, we want to fire when a new member is created.

On the canvas, click the Trigger node (it appears at the top or left).
Choose Action Event Occurs.
Under Event, search for and select Member Create.

This means: “every time a new member is added, start a run of this workflow.”

Step 4: Add a Delay step

It’s often good to wait a few minutes before sending a welcome message — it gives the system time to finish setting up the member’s profile, and it feels more natural than an instant automated message.

Click the + button to add a step after the trigger.
Choose Delay.
Set the duration to 10 minutes.
Leave Re-check trigger condition turned on. (This is the default — see How Workflows Work for why this matters.)
Click the + button below the delay to continue.

Step 5: Add an Action step — Send a message

Click + and choose Action.
Under Action, select Send message.
Under Target, leave it as This record — this means “the member this workflow is running for.”
Under Template, search for and select your welcome message template.
Under Message type, choose Email (or SMS if you prefer).
Leave this as the last step (no “next” step). When the message sends, the run is done.

Step 6: Save your draft

Your workflow is saved manually using the Save Draft button. Nothing runs until you publish it.

Click Save Draft to save your current work.

Step 7: Publish the workflow

When you’re ready to go live, click Publish (top right of the builder).

Kanri will check for any errors (like missing required fields). If everything is valid, the workflow is published as version 1. It’s immediately live and enabled — the trigger will start firing for new members right away.

Step 8: Test it

To make sure everything works:

Add a test member to Kanri (or use an existing member for a manual run).
On the workflow page, click Run and select that member to start a manual run.
Go to Runs (top right of the builder) to watch the run in progress.
After 10 minutes, the delay will complete and the message will be sent.

What you’ve built

You now have a fully working welcome workflow. Here’s what it does:

Trigger: fires every time a new member is created.
Delay: waits 10 minutes.
Action: sends a welcome email using your template.

From here, you could add more steps — a branch to check whether the member is a lead or a full member, or a second message 3 days later if they haven’t booked a class yet.

Next steps

Triggers — learn about all the other ways a workflow can start
Steps — discover all the step types available
Run History — how to monitor and debug your workflows
Publish and Disable — more on the publish lifecycle