Start a flow when a task changes state
Use the Task enters a workflow state trigger to react when work reaches a stage of your team's workflow. For example, start a coding agent when a task moves to In Progress, or move a task forward automatically when it reaches review.
The flow starts when a task is created in the chosen state or moved into it from another state.
Before you start
You need permission to edit flows in the workspace.
The workflow and state you want must already exist for your team.
If you plan to start an agent run, create or choose the agent first.
Create a task state flow
Go to Automation → Flows and create a flow. Pick a template or choose Build a custom flow.
Enter a Flow name, and optionally an Internal description.
In the When row, choose Task enters a workflow state.
In the if row, choose the workflow after workflow is, then the state after and state is.
Optionally, add a Semantic condition, such as “The task describes a customer-facing bug.”
In the then row, choose the action:
Start an agent run – choose the agent, and where it should run.
Move the task to a state – choose the destination state.
Merge into – enter the branch to merge the task's working branch into.
Select Create flow.
If the button is unavailable, hover over it to see what's missing, for example “Choose a workflow” or “Choose the state that starts this flow”.
Settings
Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Workflow | Limits the flow to tasks that use this workflow |
State | The state that starts the flow |
Semantic condition (optional) | A plain-language check against the event and the task's title and description. The action runs only when the condition clearly matches |
Action | What happens next. See Choose a flow action |
Things to know
The trigger fires on entering a state. Leaving a state or editing other task fields doesn't start the flow.
When the action is Start an agent run and the target is whatever triggered it, the agent works on the task that entered the state.
Flows can chain. If one flow moves a task into a state that starts another flow, that flow runs too. The same flow won't run twice in one chain, and chains stop after 10 steps, which prevents loops.
When a semantic condition doesn't match, is uncertain, or can't be checked, Helpin skips the action and records the reason in Automation → Activity.
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