Workflow runs and retries
Read what a workflow did for each person in the Runs view, understand run and step statuses, find out why a step was skipped or failed, and retry the failed steps.
Every time a trigger fires for a person, the workflow creates a run. The Runs view shows each run step by step, so you can confirm that an email went out, see why a step was skipped, and retry a step that failed.
Check and retry a run
Open Runs
In Workflows switch the view from List to Runs (/workflows/runs), or click Runs
in the workflow builder. The table has the columns Started, Workflow, Trigger,
Client, Status, Steps and Duration, and the filters Status and Workflow.
The list updates by itself; no reload is needed. Test runs carry a Test tag.
Expand a run
Click the expand arrow on a row. The steps table lists every step with its Status, Duration, Error and Details. A condition shows Condition met or Condition not met. A webhook step shows the Sent payload, the Response and the Response status; an integration step shows the Data passed to the integration.
Fix the cause
Read the Error column of the failed step. If the step itself is wrong, for example a dead webhook URL or a deleted tag, open the workflow, correct the step and click Publish changes.
Retry the failed steps
Back in Runs, expand the same run and click Retry failed steps above the steps table. You see "Retry started - failed steps will re-execute shortly." The run turns to Running and then settles again. Steps that already succeeded are not executed a second time, and a delay that was already waited out is not waited again. A failed webhook step also has its own Retry button.
Retry failed steps is offered only on runs with the status Partial or Failed. A successful run has no retry button.
Run statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Running | Steps are being executed. |
| Waiting | The run is inside a Delay step. |
| Success | Every step finished. |
| Partial | Some steps succeeded and at least one failed. The steps counter shows, for example, 2/3. |
| Failed | The run could not be carried out. |
| Cancelled | The workflow was paused while the run was in progress. |
Step statuses are Pending, Waiting, Success, Failed and Skipped.
Skipped steps
A Skipped step is not an error: the workflow decided the action did not apply to this person. Typical cases are a step that is switched off (Step active is off), an SMS step for a customer without a phone number or without SMS consent, and a recovery email for a checkout that was completed in the meantime. The run continues with the next step.
Common step errors
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| "The integration this step uses is not connected." | Connect it in Integrations, then retry the run. |
| "Something this step points to (product, community, tag, template or form) no longer exists." | Edit the step, publish, then retry. |
| "The message was empty after filling in the variables, so nothing was sent." | Check the template and the variables it uses. |
| "This step needs a client, but the triggering event carried none." | Use a trigger that concerns a specific client. |
| "The endpoint answered with status 500." | Your webhook receiver rejected the call. Fix it, then use Retry. |
| "The endpoint did not answer. Check the URL and that it accepts POST requests." | Correct the webhook URL in the step. |
Good to know
A retry runs the currently published version of the step, so publish your correction first. Deleting a workflow keeps its past runs in this view. If an action in a connected mailing tool fails, you may also receive the email "❌ An error occurred while executing automation".
Was this article helpful?