Tutorials > Run a Flow for external users

When making a Flow for external users, you may need to adjust the way you normally build Flows. For Flows run by employees, the employee will be the default user for each step, unless the step is assigned to a different team or external assignee. However, for Flows run by external users, the external user will be the default user for each step, unless the step is assigned to an internal team or another external assignee. This tutorial will walk you through the steps to make your customer-facing Flow, and don’t worry, it will be simple!

To create a new Flow in Slipstream, navigate to the "Flow Builder" section from the left-hand menu.

Once there, click on the "Build a New Flow" button in the top-right corner. This opens a new page to enter a title for the Flow. In this example, name it "My external Flow." Provide a description if needed. When ready, click "Start Building."

Once inside the Flow editor, you will see an empty Flow where you start adding steps. Click the "Add Step" button to begin.

A menu will appear, allowing you to select the type of step you want to create.

First, let’s add a "Single Line Text" step and title it "What is your name?" This step allows users to enter their name in response.

Next, add another step by clicking "Add Step" again.

This time, select the "Acknowledgement" step type and name it "Create an order for the customer." This step is useful for confirming an action within the Flow.

After creating this step, move to the "Step Settings" tab to configure additional options, such as enabling external submissions, restricting access to sensitive information, and requiring the step to be claimed by a team member.

To assign this step to a specific team, search for "My new team" in the "Step Assignees" section and select it. This ensures that only members of that team will be responsible for completing this part of the Flow.

Click on the team name under "Teams" to assign them to this step. Verify that they now appear under "Assigned Teams."

Now, click the "Back" button at the top right to return to the Flow Design overview.

From here, click on the "Settings" button in the top right to access the Flow settings.

Now, scroll down to the "Flow Watchers" section to assign a team to monitor the progress of these customer-driven Flows. Similarly, search for the team name and assign them as a Flow Watcher.

Make sure that your team appears under "Flow Watchers" so you can confirm they are assigned.

Now, scroll back up to enable "Startable by External URL." The "External Link" section now displays "Publish a Flow to get an external link." This is where the external link will appear after publishing.

Click the "Publish" button, confirm the action in the pop-up, and once published, navigate back to Settings to view the newly generated link. This external link allows users outside of Slipstream to access and complete the Flow.

Normally, you won’t be the one seeing this, but here is an example of what the generated link looks like to an external user. When first viewing the link, they will be brought to a page with your Organization's logo that looks like the following image. (I set my headshot as the Organization logo here)

After entering their email address, they’ll be able to answer the steps in a clean interface like below:

If they accidentally close the tab, don’t worry! They’ll get an email with a link that will let them resume their progress at any time.

Congratulations, you’ve just created your first publicly-facing Flow!