Adding Items & Template Lookup
The builder screen is where a Pipeline actually takes shape — an ordered list of steps on the left, and the selected step's settings on the right. Every step is an existing, already-saved Template.
The Builder Layout
The left side lists the Pipeline's steps in run order, top to bottom. Click any step to select it, and its settings appear on the right — its On-Failure Behavior and its optional Configuration override. You can drag a step up or down to reorder it; the Pipeline always runs top-to-bottom, so reordering the list changes the run order directly.
Adding a Step — The Template Lookup Picker
Click Add Item to open the Template Lookup picker. This isn't a separate screen built just for Pipelines — it's the same Templates Search screen you already know from Templates, opened as a picker: search, filter, and pick the Template you want. Selecting one appends it to the end of your Pipeline's step list.
Pipeline Steps (left) Selected Step Settings (right)
┌─────────────────────────┐ ┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. Generate Report ⠿ │ ───▶ │ On-Failure Behavior: [Stop ▾] │
│ 2. Email It ⠿ │ │ Configuration Override: │
│ 3. Archive It ⠿ │ │ { "to": "finance@..." } │
│ │ │ [ Refresh from template ] │
│ [+ Add Item] │ │ │
└─────────────────────────┘ └───────────────────────────────┘
⠿ = drag handle, reorders the listOn-Failure Behavior — Per Step, Not Global
Every step decides for itself what the Pipeline should do if that step fails. This matters because not every step in a chain is equally critical — losing the email step shouldn't necessarily stop the archive step from still happening.
| Behavior | What Happens on Failure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Stop Default | The Pipeline halts immediately. No further steps run. | Step 1 generates the report data. If it fails, there's nothing to email or archive — stopping is correct. |
| Continue | The failure is recorded, but the Pipeline moves on to the next step as if nothing happened. | Step 2 posts a "processing started" notification. If it fails, it shouldn't block the report from still being archived. |
| Skip | The step is marked skipped in the run history, and the Pipeline moves on to the next step. | Step 2 is an optional Slack heads-up. If it fails, mark it skipped and carry on — there's no real difference from Continue in effect, but Skip records the intent that this step was expendable, not just unlucky. |
Configuration Override
Sometimes you want a step to run mostly like its Template, but with one or two fields changed just for this Pipeline — a different recipient, a different report date range. That's what the Configuration Override editor on the right is for: a small JSON patch that gets layered on top of the Template's own Configuration.
Why It's a Frozen Snapshot, Not a Live Link
When you add a step, the builder takes the Template's Configuration, applies your override (if any), and freezes the result as the step's own snapshot. From that point on, the step runs from its own frozen snapshot — not from whatever the Template currently looks like. If someone edits the underlying Template afterward, your Pipeline step is unaffected; it keeps running the version it was built with.
This is a deliberate tradeoff. A live link would mean editing a shared Template could silently change the behavior of every Pipeline using it, with no warning. A frozen snapshot means a Pipeline always runs what it was built to run — reproducible, not surprising — at the cost of not automatically picking up Template improvements.
Refresh From Template
When you do want a step to pick up the Template's latest Configuration, click Refresh from template next to the step's settings. This re-applies your override on top of the Template's current Configuration and re-freezes the snapshot. It's the only way the snapshot ever changes — nothing updates it automatically, so the button is front and center rather than buried in a menu.