Testing & Debugging

FlowStack provides tools to test your automations step-by-step before activating them.

Testing in Flow Builder

Test Flow

1. Open your flow in the Flow Builder
2. Click Test Flow in the top toolbar
3. The flow executes step-by-step with real data
4. Each step shows a green checkmark (success) or red indicator (failure)
5. Click any step to inspect its input and output data

Step-by-Step Execution

Test individual steps without running the entire flow:

1. Click the step you want to test
2. Click Test Step in the step panel
3. The step executes using output from previous steps (or sample data if it's the first step)
4. Inspect the output to verify it's correct before moving to the next step

Sample Data

For triggers that require external events (webhooks, app events):

1. Click the trigger step
2. Click Load Sample Data or Generate Sample Data
3. The sample data is used as input for testing subsequent steps
4. You can edit the sample data to test different scenarios

Testing in Workflow Builder

Execute Workflow

1. Open your workflow in the Workflow Builder
2. Click Execute Workflow in the top toolbar
3. All nodes execute and show their output in real-time
4. Green borders = success, red borders = failure
5. Click any node to see its execution data

Pin Data

Speed up testing by pinning data on specific nodes:

1. Execute the workflow once to generate real data
2. Click a node → click Pin Data
3. The pinned data is used for all subsequent test runs instead of re-executing that node
4. Unpin when you need fresh data

This is especially useful for:

• Webhook triggers (no need to send a real request each time)
• API calls (avoid rate limits during testing)
• Slow operations (database queries, file processing)

Debug with Console Output

Use the Code node to log debug information:

console.log('Input data:', JSON.stringify($input.all(), null, 2));
console.log('Item count:', $input.all().length);

// Process data...

console.log('Output:', JSON.stringify(results, null, 2));
return results;

View console output in the node's execution panel after running.

Common Debugging Techniques

Inspect Data Flow

1. Add a Set node between two steps
2. Configure it to pass through all data unchanged
3. Execute and click the Set node to see exactly what data is flowing between steps

Check Connection Auth

If an app action fails with 401/403:

1. Go to Dashboard → Connections
2. Find the connection used by the failing step
3. Click Reconnect to re-authorize
4. Re-test the step

Validate Expressions

In the Workflow Builder, test expressions inline:

1. Click on an expression field
2. The expression editor shows a live preview of the evaluated value
3. If the preview shows undefined or null, your data path is incorrect

Test with Different Data

Create multiple test scenarios:

1. Pin different data sets on the trigger node
2. Execute the workflow with each data set
3. Verify all branches and edge cases are handled correctly

Dashboard-Level Testing

You can also test from the Automations dashboard:

1. Go to Dashboard → Automations
2. Find your automation
3. Click Run to trigger a manual execution
4. Click View Runs to see the execution result
5. Check status (Succeeded/Failed), duration, and step outputs

This is useful for testing after publishing, or for testing automations that other team members created.