Workflows

Every app is built from a workflow — a clear, step-by-step recipe for gathering and shaping the app’s data. Each step does one thing (run a shortcut, ask the AI to clean something up, combine results), and its output feeds into the next, until the finished page is ready.

An app's workflow shown as a connected diagram of steps

The kinds of steps

Run a shortcut
Runs one of your Apple Shortcuts and keeps its output — the raw material the page is built from.
Ask the AI
Hands the data so far to the AI with an instruction — summarize it, sort it, pick what matters. The AI always returns data in exactly the shape the page expects, so you never get a broken page.
AI task
Gives the AI a job it can work through in several turns, calling tools and running shortcuts along the way.
Call a tool
Calls one tool with fixed arguments — a built-in tool or one from a connected MCP server. No AI involved.
Map
Copies fields from earlier results into a new shape. No AI involved, so it is fast and always gives the same answer.
Run code
Runs a short JavaScript snippet in a sandbox to filter, sort, group, or do date math.
Combine
Merges the results of earlier steps into one bundle — handy when a page pulls from more than one source before it’s assembled.
If
Checks a condition and skips the steps after it when the condition fails.
For each
Runs one step once for every item in a list.
Remember
Saves, reads, or clears values the workflow keeps between runs.
Schedule follow-ups
Schedules a list of one-off jobs from the data — AI tasks, shortcuts, or other workflows.
Run another workflow
Starts a different workflow, either in the background or waiting for its result.
Ask you
Sends you questions on your devices and in the inbox, then pauses until you answer — even across restarts.
Approval
Puts an Approve / Decline item in your inbox and waits for your decision before going on.
Publish the page
Fills the app’s template with the finished data and publishes it as a live page.

How it runs

1

The steps are laid out in advance

A workflow is a fixed set of steps wired together — you can see exactly what it does, and it does the same thing every time it runs.

2

Each step waits its turn

A step only starts once everything it depends on has finished, and its result is passed along to the next step.

3

The page is assembled

The finished data is dropped into the app’s template to produce the live webpage.

Many small steps, not one giant prompt

When the AI builds an app, it breaks the job into a handful of small, focused steps that each do one thing — grab the raw data, sort it, pick what matters, then format it for the page. Because each step is checked on its own, if something goes wrong you can see exactly which step caused it instead of just getting a broken page.

A daily Eisenhower matrix app, for example, becomes four small steps — pull your reminders → sort each into a quadrant → pick the top two to do now → format for the page — rather than one prompt trying to do everything at once. Smaller steps are easier to get right and easier to follow. See it in action on Example Apps.

The Workflow tab on any app shows its steps as a diagram — click any step to see what it runs, its instruction or shortcut, and the template it feeds. Every AI app you create from Apps & Templates runs one of these workflows.