Guide: Add, connect and remove steps
This page: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/flow-builder/add-connect-and-remove-steps
Topic: Flow builder
Time: about 4 minutes
Who can do it: Owner, Administrator or Manager
Author: https://anantgupta.xyz (Anant Gupta, founder of CommentWatchDog)
Start in the app: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/inbox
Result when done: You can place any step, wire it, and know why a wire is refused.
Context: Steps come from the Steps panel, wires come from the dots on each card, and the right-click menu does the rest. The canvas checks every wire against the same rules the save and Meta apply, so a wire it draws is a wire that works: one it refuses snaps back and says why.

Before you start:
1. Open a flow first: Automation, then the flow's row, or New automation and Start from a blank canvas.
2. Each step has ways out (Then, Yes and No, one per button or quick reply). A way with no wire ends the flow there.
3. Every change can be undone, one at a time, with its name.

Steps:
Step 1 of 5: Add a step from the Steps panel.
Where: The Steps panel on the left (folded to icons until you open it with the arrow at its top): drag a step onto the canvas, or click it to add it after the selected step. Search steps at the top finds one by name. The groups: Send (Message, Cards, Image, video or file, AI agent answers), Ask and wait (Ask a question, and Ask to follow on Instagram), Decide (Condition, A/B split, Wait), then, further down the panel, Do (Tag, Set field, Notify the team, HTTP request, Hand to a person) and On the comment (Public reply, Private reply, Hide the comment) for flows started by a comment. On a phone: Add step, at the top left of the canvas, opens the same list as a sheet.
Link: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/inbox (Open the app)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-flow-palette.en.webp (A step in the Steps panel: Message, first under Send.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-flow-palette-more.en.webp (Further down the panel: Do, then On the comment.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-flow-palette-phone.en.webp (On a phone, Add step opens the list as a sheet: Message, first under Send.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-flow-palette-more-phone.en.webp (The end of the sheet: Do, then On the comment.)
You should see: The new card appears wired after the selected step, with its settings open on the right.

Step 2 of 5: Wire one step to the next.
Where: Every way out of a card has a dot at its right end; hover it and it says Drag to connect the next step. Drag from the dot onto the next step's card. While you drag, the steps that can take this wire stay lit. Drop it on empty canvas and the step list opens right there, wiring in what you pick. On a phone, open the step: at the end of its sheet, Next steps lists each way with the step it leads to, or Add a step while the way is free.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-flow.en.webp (The dot at the end of a way: drag from it.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-node-message-end-phone.en.webp (On a phone, Next steps at the end of the step's sheet.)
You should see: A wire joins the two cards; the way's name (Then, Yes, a button's label) sits on it.

Step 3 of 5: Read why a wire is refused.
Where: A refused wire snaps back and a message says why. The rules come from Meta: a message, card, question, follow check or hand-off needs an open chat, so in a comment flow it goes after the private reply; Meta allows one private reply per comment; Public reply and Hide the comment act on the comment, so they go before the private reply; nothing leads back into the trigger; a loop needs a step that waits for a tap or an answer; waits may not add up past 24 hours in a chat, or past 7 days before the private reply.
You should see: The wire is not drawn, so the flow never holds a connection Meta would refuse.

Step 4 of 5: Right-click for more.
Where: Right-click a step for Step actions: Edit step, Duplicate (⌘D), Copy (⌘C), Disconnect (Remove the wires in and out) and Delete step; while one of its ways is still free, Add the next step is there too. Right-click a wire: Insert a step here, Delete connection. Right-click the empty canvas: Add a step here, Paste, Select all, Tidy up, Undo. On a phone, the end of a step's sheet carries Duplicate and Delete step.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-flow-ctx.en.webp (Step actions, from a right-click on the Message step.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-node-message-end-phone.en.webp (On a phone, Duplicate and Delete step at the end of the step's sheet.)
You should see: Copied steps can be pasted anywhere, in any flow of the page; a pasted step this page or start cannot use is left out, and the message says so.

Step 5 of 5: Undo or redo.
Where: The two arrows on the bar at the top, between Insights and the Live switch: the left one undoes, the right one redoes. They are grey until there is a change to take back. Hover one and it says what it would reverse, such as Undo: Add Message. ⌘Z undoes; ⇧⌘Z (Ctrl+Y on Windows) redoes.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-flow-edited.en.webp (Undo on the bar, after a change; redo is the arrow beside it.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-flow-edited-phone.en.webp (Undo on a phone, after a change.)
You should see: The change is reversed, and the arrow names the next one.

If something is off:
Problem: A step says Not reached from the start
Fix: Nothing leads to it, so it never runs. Wire a way into it, or delete it.
Problem: Some steps are missing from the panel
Fix: Public reply, Private reply and Hide the comment work only in a flow started by a comment. Change the start, or use a message instead.
Problem: The canvas will not add another step
Fix: A flow holds 60 steps at most. Split the work into two flows.

Common questions:
Question: Can a button lead back to an earlier step?
Answer: Yes. A way that waits for the person (a button, a quick reply, an answer) may lead back, for example to show the menu again. A loop with nothing that waits is refused, because it would send forever.
Question: Can I copy steps from one flow to another?
Answer: Yes. Right-click and Copy, then Paste in the other flow. Steps that the other page or start cannot use are left out, and the message says how many.
Question: How many steps run in a row before the flow waits?
Answer: At most 40. A longer chain with nothing that waits for the person gets a warning, and the run stops after the 40th.

Related guides:
- Build your first flow: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/flow-builder/build-your-first-flow
- Fix the problems and go live: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/flow-builder/fix-the-problems-and-go-live
- Tidy up the canvas and choose the arrow style: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/flow-builder/tidy-up-the-canvas-and-choose-the-arrow-style

Plain text of this guide: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/flow-builder/add-connect-and-remove-steps.md
All guides for assistants: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/llms.txt