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Building a Workflow ​

Internally still called a playbook.

A workflow is a repeatable process that tells an agent exactly what to do, step by step. You describe the outcome once, refine and test the plan, then finalize it so you can run or schedule it later.

The guided "Your job" pane

Pencel's primary way to author a workflow is the guided Your job pane: you describe the outcome in plain language and Pencel drafts testable steps with you (collapsible Inputs / Connections / Won't-do, per-step Test this step, Run once now). When you Finalize, the workflow lands on the Jobs page. The walkthrough below shows the underlying pieces in more depth.

What is a workflow? ​

Think of a workflow as a standard operating procedure for your AI agent. It contains the sequence of steps, the tools required, and the expected outputs. Workflows can be triggered manually, on a schedule, or by an automation.

Step-by-step: Create a workflow (Workflow Setup) ​

1. Open Workflows and start new ​

Click Workflows in the left sidebar, then New Workflow (or open Workflows → In progress to resume an unfinished setup).

2. State your goal ​

You land on Workflow Setup with a single field. In one or two sentences, describe what you want to automate (for example: a daily digest, a weekly report, or a checklist you run before meetings).

If you have no connections yet, you may see a nudge to connect tools; setup still works using other options, but connecting integrations gives the planner more choices.

3. Work with the planner (left pane) ​

After you start, the planner chats with you in the left pane. It may ask a few short questions (cadence, sources, output shape, constraints). Answer or skip as needed; you can refine later.

4. Review the plan (right pane) ​

The Plan pane fills in as you go:

  • Requirements — What you agreed about schedule, sources, and outputs.
  • Draft plan — A readable outline before everything is wired.
  • Steps — Each step can be tested, edited, or removed.
  • Promote readiness — What is validated, untested, or at risk before you save.

Use Add step in the footer if you need a starter step without waiting for the planner (you can edit it or ask the planner to refine it in chat).

5. Test steps ​

Use Test on individual steps or Test all to rehearse in order. Read-only steps run directly; steps with real side effects (send, post, write) ask you to confirm or mock.

6. Save and optional schedule ​

When you are ready, use the footer primary action (Save workflow, Save & schedule, or Save anyway depending on readiness and cadence). After save, you can set or adjust the schedule from the workflow detail view.

7. Edit a saved workflow ​

Saved workflows are frozen. To change one, open the workflow and use Edit workflow (or Edit as draft from a promoted authoring session). That creates a new authoring session seeded from the saved workflow so you can test changes safely.

Rehearsing your workflow ​

Before you promote a workflow, you can rehearse the whole thing end-to-end. A rehearsal walks through every step in order with realistic mock data — the agent gets to see what each step would produce without actually touching live systems.

  • Read-only steps (search, fetch, query) run for real. You see the data you would see in production.
  • Side-effect steps (send, post, write) are simulated. The agent prepares the action and the planner shows you what it would have done, but nothing leaves the app.
  • Outputs flow through — each step's mock or real output is passed to the next step, so you can see whether the wiring is correct end-to-end.

Use Test all in the planner to start a rehearsal. The Plan pane updates step by step as it runs, and any gaps surface here instead of in your first scheduled run.

When a rehearsal step misbehaves ​

If a step rehearses with a problem — wrong input shape, missing tool, unclear instruction — Pencel does not just mark it failed. It proposes a repair: an adjusted input, a reworded instruction, or a clarifying guideline. The step re-runs with the proposed fix, and the planner shows you what changed.

You can accept the repair, edit it further, or roll back if the proposed fix is off base. The workflow is only ready to promote once the rehearsal passes cleanly from the first step to the last.

TIP

Repairs work best when your goal description is specific. A vague goal ("summarize this") forces the planner to guess; a specific goal ("summarize this incident in 3 bullet points for the on-call channel") gives it something concrete to repair against.

Promoting to active ​

When a rehearsal passes and the Promote readiness checklist is clear, the footer action becomes Save workflow (or Save & schedule if you set a cadence). Saving creates an audit-trail entry that records what was rehearsed, what was repaired along the way, and what was finally promoted.

  • The workflow becomes available to run manually, on its schedule, or as a sub-run from another workflow.
  • The authoring session stays around so you can review the path that got you here.
  • To make changes later, use Edit as draft — that branches a new authoring session from the promoted version without disturbing the active workflow.

INFO

If you save a workflow with Save anyway while readiness still has warnings, the audit-trail entry records that too. You can promote with known gaps when you need to, but the trail makes it clear what was waved through.

Tips for effective workflows ​

  • Anchor the goal. You can edit the goal at the top; if you already validated steps, the app may warn you that re-testing might be a good idea.
  • Be specific about outputs. Say where results should go (artifact, channel, email) and what “done” looks like.
  • Test before scheduling. Rehearsal runs build confidence that scheduled runs will behave the same way.
  • Use connections. Link the tools your process depends on so steps can use live data instead of placeholders.

Next steps ​