Help
Log in

Finding and monitoring workflow runs

After a workflow executes, Flow provides a log of what happened, called a workflow run, that allows you to monitor its performance and behavior.

On this page

Accessing workflow runs

You can monitor all workflow runs in the Flow app. Reviewing workflow runs can help you identify potential issues with the workflow's behavior.

You might want to review runs across all workflows when you're troubleshooting or not sure which workflow to check. If you know specifically which workflow that you want to review, then you can access the recent runs for only that workflow.

Steps:

Review all workflow runs

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Flow.

  2. Click Recent runs.

  3. Optional: Click a specific run to review the details.

Review workflows runs for a specific workflow

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Flow.

  2. Select the workflow with runs that you want to review.

  3. In the Recent runs section, review the runs listed.

  4. Optional: Click a specific run to review the details.

Searching for a specific workflow run

You can search for workflow runs in Flow using any of the following methods:

What can be searched

The Recent runs list in the Flow app contains the option to filter the entire list of runs by any combination of the following filters:

  • Includes text: Filter by the raw text contents of the data used in the workflow run, such as an order ID in a trigger payload, or the tag name in a condition.
  • Workflows: Filter by the name of the workflow.
  • Actions taken: Filter by whether the run took any actions (true) or did nothing (false).
  • Errors: Filter by whether the run contains errors.
  • Start time: Filter by a date and time range when the run should have started. Learn more about filtering runs by time.
  • Trigger type: Filter by how the run started. Options include a trigger event, manual run, or a manual retry.
  • Retry status: Filter by whether the run contains retries or not.
  • Run ID: Filter by a specific run ID. You can also opt to include retries related to a specified run ID.
  • Tags: Filter by which workflow tags apply to the run.

Before searching, consider what information you can search in the workflow run. This information is displayed inside the workflow run details and includes the following types:

  • Any IDs for resources that were used in the workflow run, such as order IDs or customer IDs.
  • Any text or data that was included in the workflow run, such as a tag name or product title.

In addition, when searching for a workflow run, consider the following limitations:

  • The search is case-insensitive.
  • The search string shouldn't include punctuation. For example, if you're searching for an order ID, then search 43843493 instead of gid://shopify/Order/43843493.
  • The logs don't contain all the details about resources used in your workflow. For example, if you use a product ID in your workflow, then the workflow run log doesn't contain the product name or title unless you also used those fields.
  • The search is limited to the last 14 days of workflow runs.

Search from the Shopify admin

For resources that have a More actions menu, you can initiate a workflow run search by choosing the Search Flow runs option. This option is available for the following resources:

  • Orders
  • Draft orders
  • Customers
  • Products
  • Variants
  • Collections

If you have trouble finding a run, then review what can be searched.

Steps:

  1. In the Shopify admin, open the resource that you want to search for, such as an order or product.
  2. Click More actions.
  3. Click Search Flow runs.

Search by text in step data

In the Flow app, you can search for any data that was included in the step data sections in a workflow run.

If you have trouble finding a run, then review what can be searched.

Steps:

  1. In the Flow app's Recent runs list, click Add filter.
  2. Choose Includes text.
  3. Enter the text or ID to search for.

Search by time range

Review the following considerations for finding a workflow run by time range:

  • If the time zone on your device is different than your store's time zone, then the date and time for a workflow run might be inaccurate. Factor this difference into the Start time filter that you use.
  • In high-volume stores, you might need to use a narrow time range and other filters to make it easier to find a specific workflow run.
  • Workflow runs are stored for only 14 days after the run completes.
  • There might be a delay between when a workflow runs and when its results display on the Recent runs page. If the results for a recent workflow aren't available yet, then wait a few minutes and try again.

Steps:

  1. In the Flow app's Recent runs list, click Add filter, and then click Start time.
  2. In the From field, enter a date and time that is equal to the time that the event should have happened. For example, for an Order created trigger, use the time that the order was created. Ensure that you enter the correct AM/PM value.
  3. In the To field, enter a date and time that is 10 minutes after the From date and time.
  4. Review the search results. Workflows typically run at exactly the same time as a triggering event or shortly afterwards.
  5. Click a result that matches the time and verify that the displayed resource matches the resource that you're looking for, such as the order.

Example of a time filter

Columns in the recent runs list

A workflow's recent runs list displays key data about the workflow runs:

Data included in the workflow run table
ColumnDescription
Start timeThe time the workflow run began.
Run status
  • In progress - currently executing or retrying.
  • Waiting - a wait step has delayed a workflow.
  • Rate limited - the workflow was using too many resources, so Flow limited the execution of runs. Learn more about troubleshooting rate limited runs.
  • Cancelled - the workflow was cancelled before it could complete.
  • Completed - done.
ResultsList of actions completed and a list of errors by step.
RetriesIf the run was retried, then a link to the list of retries is provided.
Trigger type
  • Manual retry - the run was a retry of a previous run
  • Manual trigger - the workflow was run manually from the Shopify admin
  • Trigger event - triggered by an event or a schedule

Viewing the details for a workflow run

To access detailed information about an individual workflow, click the row for the workflow run.

At the top, the Status section indicates whether the workflow was completed. The Actions section indicates how many actions in the workflow ran successfully.

The Details section displays a preview of the workflow and highlights the path(s) that the workflow took.

Example of a run log for a workflow. The status is displayed at the top and the diagram highlights that the full run was successful.

After the workflow preview, you can view the results, logs, and data for each step in the workflow.

Example of the results section of a run log for a workflow.

For each step, you can expand the Step data section to view the data that was used in the workflow run. This data includes any IDs for resources that were used in the workflow run, such as order IDs or customer IDs, and any text or data that was included in the workflow run, such as a tag name or product title.

Example of the Step data section for 'Get draft order data'.

Workflows with 'For each loop' actions

Workflows that include the For each loop (iterate) action repeat steps several times. Flow highlights how many items followed a path in the workflow preview.

Example of a recent workflow run with a For each loop. The example diagram highlights that the looping action was taken 7 times during this run.

Flow also displays the results from each loop iteration and allows you to filter by actions taken and errors in order to quickly troubleshoot loops.

Example of the step data for a recent run with a For each loop. The example step data highlights the Items menu, letting you choose which of the 7 items you want to review step data for.

Cancelling in-progress workflow runs

You can cancel a workflow run with a status of In progress or Rate limited when you want to stop a workflow before it completes. Cancelling a workflow run can be a useful option to avoid hitting API limits, when you notice that the workflow isn't running as intended, or from failing runs cluttering your Recent runs list.

Considerations for cancelling in-progress workflow runs

Before cancelling an in-progress workflow run, review the following considerations:

  • You must use a desktop device to cancel workflow runs in the Flow app.
  • You can't cancel runs that have already completed.
  • Cancelled runs can't be resumed at a later time. If you need the workflow to run again, then you can wait for the workflow to trigger automatically, retry the run, or start a new workflow run manually.
  • Cancelling workflow runs doesn't automatically turn off the associated workflow. However, turning off a workflow does automatically cancel all of its in-progress workflow runs.
  • Workflow runs can take between a few seconds to a minute to cancel, depending on the complexity of the workflow.

Cancel in-progress workflow runs

You can cancel an in-progress workflow run at any time. There are multiple ways to cancel in-progress workflow runs:

  • To cancel a specific run, you can cancel from the workflow run's details page directly.
  • To cancel multiple runs for a single workflow, you can cancel runs in bulk from the workflow's Recent runs list.

Steps:

Cancel a specific run of a workflow

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Flow.

  2. Click the workflow with the in-progress run that you want to cancel.

  3. In the Recent runs section, click the in-progress run that you want to cancel.

  4. Click Cancel.

Cancel multiple runs for a workflow

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Flow.

  2. Click the workflow with the in-progress run that you want to cancel.

  3. In the Recent runs section, select all of the in-progress runs that you want to cancel.

  4. Click Cancel run.

Troubleshooting workflow runs

In some cases, a workflow run can encounter an error or not run as intended. Most commonly, this occurs when there is a configuration issue with the workflow. Learn more about troubleshooting Flow errors and retrying workflow runs to retroactively fix the result of past runs.