Step Outputs

How data enters a workflow

Getting data from one app into another is essential to every workflow. Data enters your workflow via Step Outputs. As its name implies, a Step Output is the output of a step.

The most common ways data enters a workflow:

1. The Step Output of a Trigger

2. The Step Output of a Find Step

3. The Step Output of another Action

Anatomy of a Step Output pill

Step Outputs are shown as a "pills", e.g. . Each pill contains:

• The step number of the step that generated it (step #1 is the Trigger)

• The logo of the app the data originates from (e.g. Gmail, Google Sheets or HubSpot)

• The type of the data object in words (e.g. 'Email', 'Row' or 'Contact')

When a specific data field within inside a Step Output is referenced, the name of that field is shown as well:.

When data is referenced from objects that are nested/linked from within the original Step Output, levels of nesting are indicated with a >. For example, this Step Output pill represents the Email address of the Customer that's linked to a Subscription within Paddle:

Step Outputs help you understand where data is coming from

Anywhere dynamic/variable data is referenced, a Step Output pill is shown. Below is an annotated screenshot of a workflow in the Editor, visually connecting Step Output pills with the steps they originated from.

Step Output pills help you understand where data came from

Step Outputs are pretty magical 🪄

Linked data is always accessible

Step Outputs give instant access to infinite levels of linked data for all our integrations. There's no need to add additional complex lookup steps just to use data that's linked or nested.

Whether it's a grabbing a Contact that's associated with a Company that's associated with a Deal in your CRM that triggered the workflow, or simply updating a linked Database Page from Notion.

Step Ouputs give instant access to infinite levels of linked data for all our integrations

Data is always up-to-date

Every time data is used in a workflow run, the current and up-to-date value is fetched from the app to use it.

• You never need to re-fetch a Step Output (e.g. through a Find Step) to get up-to-date data, even if e.g. you have a "wait 5 days" step before using the Step Output (again)!
• You'll never need to add a 'Find' step to your workflow for a data object that was already pulled in previously in another step or the trigger, even when the underlying data might have changed in the meantime 🤯

Data in Step Outputs is typed

Most apps specify the 'type' of a given data field. Example data types are Text, Date, Number, Email or File but they may also be types that are custom to the app, like Contact and Company for a CRM or Subscription and Payment for a payment provider.

Relay.app uses data types to make it incredibly easy to connect data across apps, and ensure that the data stays in the correct format. For example, the 'Attachments' input in a Gmail automation will only accept data fields that are of the type File.

Inspecting what (linked) data is available through a Step Output

To understand what data is available through a specific Step Output, open the step configuration dialog of the step that generated it, and click on the pill in the 'Output' section on the bottom of the dialog.

Click on a Step Output pill on the bottom of the step configuration dialog it originates from, to inspect its structure

Using data from Step Outputs in other steps

Step Outputs show up in data pickers in other steps:

1. Text inputs: insert data via the [+] or [+ data] entrypoint

2. Text inputs: insert data via the @ keyboard shortcut while typing

3. Typed inputs: pick data through a type-specific picker

Inserting data via the [+] menu in Text inputs

Inserting data via the '@' keyboard shortcut in Text inputs

Picking data through a typed picker ('Date' in the example above)