Background Flows

While contacts can only participate in one Messaging flow at any given time, you may wish to execute a sequence of actions that don’t require contact interaction. This can be achieved using a Background flow.

Background flows are particularly useful when you need to perform supplementary operations on a contact or group without disrupting any currently active flows.

Constructing a Background Flow

Begin by selecting the Flows tab located at the top of your browser:

Next, click the ‘New Flow’ button:

Name your new flow and ensure you select Background from the flow type dropdown menu:

After clicking ‘Create’, you will be directed to the flow editor to build your sequence. Here, you can configure an unlimited number of actions to apply to contacts passing through the flow. Since contacts cannot respond to Background flows, the Wait for Response option is not available.

Actions in a Background Flow

Virtually every action available in a Messaging flow is also supported in a Background flow. The exception is labeling incoming messages, as this flow type does not accept contact responses. Actions are commands that enable you to:

• Send a Message (delivers a message and/or media attachment to contacts upon reaching that node)

• Send a Message to Someone Else (outside the current interaction)

• Add an additional URN for the contact (e.g., telephone number, email address, Telegram ID)

• Add Labels to Responses

• Add and Update Contact Fields (using a value from a response, for instance)

• Add or Remove Contacts from a Group

• Call a Webhook

• Send an Email

• Set a Contact’s Preferred Language

• Start Another Flow (note: only other Background flows can be entered from within a Background flow)

• Start Someone Else in a Flow

• Open a ticket

• Call Zapier

• Send Airtime

• Create Splits (e.g., by custom expression, contact field, channel, random chance, group membership, etc.)

How It Works

In the following example, a contact was initiated in a flow named “Due date” but was interrupted when a new flow called “Survey flow” started:

This occurred because a contact cannot be simultaneously active in two Messaging flows.

To prevent such interruptions, you can initiate a Background flow, which operates without interfering with active Messaging flows. The key distinction is that only Messaging flows are capable of collecting responses.

In the next image, the contact remains uninterrupted when the Background Flow “Partner’s name update” begins. This is because Background flows execute without disrupting active Messaging flows.

Initiating a Background Flow

There are two methods to start contacts in a Background flow:

1. Start manually: Use the ‘Start’ button within the flow editor to begin immediately.

3. Schedule for the future: Ideal for flows you wish to run later or set to repeat daily, weekly, or monthly.