> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.autosana.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Flows
> Write E2E tests in natural language
Flows are the heart of Autosana. A **flow** is a test written in natural language that describes what you want your agent to do in your app or website.
## What is a Flow?
A flow is a set of instructions that the agent follows to interact with your app or website. Instead of writing code or recording clicks, you simply describe what you want to test in natural language.
**Example Flow:**
```
Open the app
Tap the "Sign Up" button
Enter "john@example.com" in the email field
Enter "SecurePass123" in the password field
Tap "Create Account"
Verify that the welcome screen appears
```
The agent interprets these instructions, finds the relevant UI elements, executes a series of actions, verifying results at each step.
## Creating a Flow
### Method 1: Quick Create
1. Navigate to the **[Flows](https://autosana.ai/flows)** page
2. Click **Create Flow**
3. Enter a flow name (required)
4. Write your instructions in natural language
5. Click **Create Flow**
### Method 2: Create in Suite
Create a flow directly within a suite:
1. Navigate to the **[Flows](https://autosana.ai/flows)** page
2. Expand a suite
3. Click **Create Flow** within the suite
4. Follow the same steps as Quick Create
5. The flow is automatically added to the suite
## Writing Effective Flow Instructions
### Best Practices
* **Web tests auto-load the site** — don't include URLs unless you're explicitly testing URL functionality.
* **Be specific about what you're testing, but goal-oriented for the steps in between.** Test instructions should assert precisely on the behavior you care about, while describing intermediate steps at a high level. This keeps tests clear about what they verify, but flexible to future UI changes and easier to maintain.
### Structure
* **Action-first** — start each step with an action verb (tap, click, enter, submit, verify, etc.).
* **End with verification** — close the flow by asserting on the behavior you actually care about.
* **Bullets and multi-line steps are fine** whenever they read more naturally (for example, a bulleted list of checks to run at the end of a flow).
* **Avoid numbered lists** — numbering locks in a rigid ordering that's painful to update later. Use plain lines or bullets instead.
### Good vs Bad Examples
**BAD — vague, no assertion:**
```
login to the app
type email
click submit
check if it works
```
**GOOD — specific about intent, flexible about the steps in between:**
```
Login with these credentials:
email: test@example.com
password: SecurePass123
Submit and verify you land on the welcome screen.
```
**More Specific Instructions -> More Reliable Results**: Instead of "login",
write "Enter '[test@example.com](mailto:test@example.com)' in the email field and 'password123' in the
password field, then tap the login button"
**Goal Oriented Instructions -> More Flexible Tests**: Instead of "click the bright blue 'Enable 2FA' button in the bottom left corner and check the top of the new pages says '2FA Setups'",
write "tap the 2FA button and check the 2FA setup page loads."
**Include Verification**: Include verification steps like "Verify that the
smiley face image appears" or "Check that the error message is shown"
### Supported Agent Actions
**Universal Actions** (work on both mobile and web):
| Action | Example Instruction |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Enter Text** | "Enter 'Joe Banana' in the name field" |
| **Clear** | "Clear the text from the email field" |
| **Verify** | "Verify that 'Welcome back!' appears on screen" |
| **Wait** | "Wait for the loading indicator to disappear" |
| **Drag and Drop** | "Drag the yellow card to the 'Drop here' area" |
| **Find on Page** | "Find 'Billing' on the page" *(jumps to the first match — Cmd/Ctrl+F on web, native scroll-into-view on mobile — much faster than swiping/scrolling)* |
| **Run Hook** | "Run `${hooks:Generate Test Order}`. Then search for the returned order number" |
| **Set Variable** | "Save the displayed order number as a variable called order\_id" |
| **Get Variable** | "Get the variable order\_id and enter it in the confirmation field" |
**Mobile-Only Actions**:
| Action | Example Instruction |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Tap** | "Tap the login button" |
| **Swipe** | "Swipe right on the slider" |
| **Pinch** | "Pinch to zoom in on the map until San Francisco takes up the entire screen" |
| **Long Press** | "Long press on the 'Share' button" |
| **Hide Keyboard** | "Hide the keyboard" |
| **Open Deeplink** | "Open the deeplink 'myapp\://profile/123'" |
| **Change Location** | "Change location to longitude -122.4194, latitude 37.7749" *(suite-scoped: persists across all flows in the suite* |
| **Set Orientation** | "Flip the device to landscape" or "Rotate back to portrait" |
| **Toggle Airplane Mode** | "Turn airplane mode on" (Android only) |
| **Run Appium Script** | `run_appium_script {"command": "mobile: enrollBiometric", "args": {"isEnabled": true}}` |
**Web-Only Actions**:
| Action | Example Instruction |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Click** | "Click the login button" |
| **Scroll** | "Scroll down until the settings option appears" |
| **Hover** | "Hover over the dropdown menu" |
| **Right Click** | "Right-click on the image" |
| **Double Click** | "Double-click to edit the text" |
| **Navigate** | "Navigate to [https://example.com/settings](https://example.com/settings)" |
| **Refresh** | "Refresh the page" |
| **Go Back** | "Go back to the previous page" |
| **Go Forward** | "Go forward to the next page" |
| **Hotkey** | "Press Control+c to copy the text" |
| **Run JS** | "Run JS: `document.querySelectorAll('script').length` and verify at least 3 scripts are loaded" |
| **Run Playwright Command** | `run_playwright_command {"target":"page","command":"emulate_media","args":{"color_scheme":"dark"}}` |
| **Read Console Logs** | "Read the browser console logs and verify there are no errors" |
| **Read Network Logs** | "Read the network logs and verify the POST to /api/login returned 200" |
| **Read Cookies** | "Read the browser cookies and verify a session cookie exists" |
## Running Flows
### Running a Single Flow
1. Find your flow in the Flows table
2. Click the **Play** button (▶️)
3. Select your app
4. Click **Run Flow**
### Running Multiple Flows
Select multiple flows using checkboxes:
1. Check the boxes next to flows you want to run
2. Click **Run Selected** in the floating action bar
3. Select your app
4. Click **Run Flows**
**Shift-Click Selection**: Hold Shift and click to select a range of flows
quickly
### Auto-Retries
Autosana can automatically re-run a failed flow before reporting it as failed. Configure this in **[Settings → Agent](https://autosana.ai/settings?tab=agent)**.
* **Retries**: Set how many times a failed run is retried (0–5, default 1). A flow is only marked failed after all attempts are exhausted — if any attempt passes, the flow is reported as passed.
* **Intelligent Retries**: On by default. Retries are focused on flows with a track record of passing; flows that are consistently failing aren't retried. Turn it off to retry every failure.
## Managing Flows
### Editing a Flow
1. Click the pencil icon (✏️) next to a flow or click on the flow row
2. Modify the name or instructions
3. Click **Save Changes**
### Viewing Version History
Flows maintain a complete version history:
1. Click **Edit** on a flow
2. Click the **Version History** tab
3. View all previous versions with timestamps
4. Click **Revert** to restore a previous version
### Duplicating a Flow
To create a copy of an existing flow:
1. Click the three dots (**⋯**) next to a flow
2. Select **Duplicate**
3. A copy is created with "(Copy)" appended to the name
4. Edit the duplicate as needed
### Deleting a Flow
1. Click the three dots (**⋯**) next to a flow
2. Select **Delete**
3. Confirm deletion
## Organizing Flows with Suites
Suites help you organize related flows and run them together.
### Adding a Flow to Suites
**Method 1: During Creation**
* When creating a flow, select which suites it should belong to
**Method 2: After Creation**
1. Click the three dots (**⋯**) next to a flow
2. Select **Attach to Suite**
3. Check the suites you want to add the flow to
4. Click **Save**
**Method 3: From Suite View**
1. Expand a suite
2. Click **Add Existing Flows**
3. Select flows to add
4. Click **Add Flows**
### Removing a Flow from a Suite
1. Expand the suite containing the flow
2. Click the three dots (**⋯**) next to the flow
3. Select **Remove from Suite**
4. Confirm removal
## Flow Status and Results
### Status Types
| Status | Meaning |
| ----------- | --------------------------- |
| **Pending** | Flow hasn't been run yet |
| **Running** | Flow is currently executing |
| **Passed** | Flow completed successfully |
| **Failed** | Flow encountered an error |
### Viewing Results
Click on any status badge to view detailed results:
* **Screenshots**: Visual snapshots at each step
* **Action Log**: Every action performed by the agent
* **Errors**: Any issues encountered
* **Timeline**: Duration of each step
* **Device Info**: Device type and OS version used
## Advanced Features
### Attaching Files
Attach reference images to your flow instructions:
1. Click the paperclip icon (📎) when creating/editing a flow
2. Select files to attach
3. Reference the files in your instructions: "Open the gallery and tap on `${file:smiley_face.jpg}`"
### Using Hooks
Hooks are reusable scripts that run before or after your flow:
**Setup Hooks**: Run before the flow (e.g., "Clear app data and restart")
**Teardown Hooks**: Run after the flow (e.g., "Logout and clear cache")
1. Click **Edit** on a flow
2. Click **Add Hook**
3. Select **Setup** or **Teardown**
4. Write the hook instructions
5. Save the flow
You can read more about hooks [here](/hooks).
### Run Caching
**Experimental**: This feature may change or be removed in future releases.
When enabled, flows that have previously passed will use cached action sequences for faster execution (5-8x speedup).
**How it works:**
* After a flow passes successfully, the action sequence is cached
* Subsequent runs replay the cached actions with a smaller, faster model
* If the replay fails (e.g., due to UI changes), the full agent takes over
**When to enable:** Stable flows, regression testing, CI/CD pipelines where speed is critical.
**When to disable:** Testing new features, flows with dynamic content, when maximum accuracy is required.
Enable it in **[Settings → Experimental Features](https://autosana.ai/settings)**.
## Troubleshooting
### Flow Fails Immediately
**Possible Causes:**
* App build is missing or corrupted
* Bundle ID mismatch
* App crashes on launch
**Solutions:**
* Check that your app has an active build
* Verify the bundle ID is correct
* Test the app build manually first
### Agent Can't Find Elements
**Possible Causes:**
* UI element description is ambiguous
* Element isn't visible on screen
* Element loads after a delay
**Solutions:**
* Be more specific in your instructions ("Tap the blue 'Submit' button in the bottom right")
* Add wait instructions ("Wait for the submit button to appear")
## Next Steps
* [Organize flows with Suites →](/suites)
* [Automate flows with Schedules →](/automations)
* [Integrate with our CI/CD →](/ci-cd-integration)