# How workflows run

> Ask first or run automatically, start a workflow with a phrase, and see which workflows ran.

## Ask first or run automatically [#ask-first-or-run-automatically]

Each action that sends or creates something is either **Ask first** (it waits
as a draft for you to approve) or **Run automatically**. On iPhone, the
setting is **When it runs**.

<Example caption="Ask first: the workflow creates a task, and nothing is sent until you approve it in Tasks.">
  <Clip>Send an email to Sam saying I'm running late.</Clip>
  <Draft kind="Email" from="you@work.com" to="sam@example.com" subject="Running late">
    Hi Sam, I'm running late.
  </Draft>
</Example>

<Example caption="Run automatically, or a word you chose to send right away: no task, just a line in the run's activity.">
  <Clip>Send an email to Sam saying I'm running late, pronto.</Clip>
  <Done>Sent automatically because you said “pronto”</Done>
</Example>

You can switch that with a word. Add "Send right away if you say “pronto”" to
an email that asks first: a Clip ending "… pronto" sends at once, and the same
Clip without it waits as a draft. Events and reminders say "Add right away",
and Run agent "Act right away". It works the other way too: "Ask first if you
say “check first”" holds back an action that runs automatically.

The word itself is left out of what Italic writes, and the email's activity
says why it went, such as "Sent automatically because you said “pronto”".

An email with nobody to send to always waits for you, even when its action
runs automatically.

## A phrase in a recording runs a workflow [#a-phrase-in-a-recording-runs-a-workflow]

Here's a workflow end to end:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add Email from a phrase">
    On the Workflows page, choose **Add** beside Email from a phrase.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Record a Clip">
    Say: "Send an email to myself saying the test works."
  </Step>
  <Step title="Approve the draft">
    Within about a minute, the Clip's page shows "Your workflow “Email” ran
    because you said “send an email”." with the email draft. The same card is
    in Chat and [Tasks](/tasks). Choose **Send**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

A Memo recorded in the web app with a calendar workflow drafts the event on
its page, without a reload.

## Italic asks instead of guessing [#italic-asks-instead-of-guessing]

Italic never guesses who, when or which account:

- Two contacts named Sam? The workflow pauses on "Which Sam?" with up to
  three people and their addresses. Tap one, or reply in the chat ("the
  second Sam", or an address). The workflow then continues as it's set.
- An event with no time asks for one.
- An email that more than one of your accounts could send asks which.

Reply "cancel" to end it; nothing is sent. Until you answer, nothing after the
question runs, even in a workflow that runs automatically. Only that workflow
pauses; others on the same recording carry on.

## See which workflows ran [#see-which-workflows-ran]

Every Clip list (Home and search on iPhone, Home in the web app, and the
Italic for Mac menu) adds a line naming the workflows that ran, after a bolt.

On the web and the Mac it reads "Ran Email myself, Add to Reminders". A
failure comes first, in the warning colour: "Email myself failed · Ran Add to
Reminders".

On iPhone each name is followed by where that workflow stands, such as "Email
myself · Done". The status is one of Failed, Interrupted, Needs approval,
Needs answer, Done, Auto-run (it acted without asking you) or Discarded. The
most urgent comes first, and "+1" counts the others: "Email myself · Failed
+1".

On the recording's page, the run's card ends with **Show in chat**, which
opens Chat at that run.