Kaizen 214 - Workflow APIs - Part 2
Last week, we discussed how Zylker Cloud Services used the Workflow APIs to discover and audit all the automations in their CRM, listing every workflow, checking triggers, and understanding their automation limits. This week, we take the next step: understanding what configurations are valid before creating or updating workflows via APIs.
Step 4: Workflow Rule Configurations API
When you work in the CRM UI, creating workflows feels straightforward. The interface shows only valid triggers and actions. Try adding an unsupported action, and it simply will not appear. This is because the UI enforces hundreds of rules behind the scenes.
With APIs, these validations must be handled manually. That is where the Workflow Rule Configurations API comes in. It gives all the valid triggers and actions for a given module, preventing errors before they happen.
Why this API matters
Consider two examples:
You want to create a workflow for the Products module based on a Scoring Rule update. The UI hides this option because scoring rules are not supported for Products.
You try to add a Field Update action for a Record Delete trigger. This is invalid, as the record no longer exists. The UI prevents it, but via API, you would get an error if you try to create or update the workflow with this configuration.
The Configuration API removes this guesswork, allowing you to fetch and respect valid triggers and actions.
Sample Request:
GET {api-domain}/crm/v8/workflow_configurations?module=Deals
Sample Response:
{ "workflow_configurations": { "related_triggers_details": [ { "api_name": "Notes", // The API name of the related module that can trigger workflows "module": { // Details about the related module "singular_label": "Note", "plural_label": "Notes", "api_name": "Notes", "name": "Notes", "id": "4876876000000002197" }, "name": "Notes", // Module name "triggers": [ // Available triggers for this related module { "api_name": "create", "deprecated": false, "name": "Create", "scheduled_actions_supported": true, "actions": [ // List of supported actions for this trigger "add_tags", "remove_tags", "email_notifications", "tasks", "create_record", "create_connected_record", "add_meeting", "webhooks", "functions", "flow" ] }, // ... other triggers (create_or_edit, edit, delete) omitted for brevity ] } ], "triggers": [ // Primary triggers for the Deals module itself { "api_name": "score_increase", "deprecated": false, "name": "ScoreIncrease", "scheduled_actions_supported": false, // Indicates whether scheduled actions are allowed for this trigger "actions": [ // Only these instant actions are supported "field_updates", "assign_owner", "add_tags", "remove_tags", "email_notifications", "tasks", "webhooks", "functions", "circuits", "flow" ] }, // ... other triggers omitted for brevity ... ], "actions": [ // Details about available workflow actions { "is_clickable": true, "associate_action": false, "limit_per_action": null, "api_name": "schedule_call", "supported_in_scheduled_action": true, "name": "ScheduleCall", "limit": 1 // Maximum instances per workflow }, { "is_clickable": true, "associate_action": true, "limit_per_action": null, "api_name": "tasks", "supported_in_scheduled_action": true, "name": "Task", "limit": 5 }, // ... other actions omitted for brevity ... ] } } |
Interpreting and using the Workflow Configuration API
The configuration response might look complex, but it gives us all the information we need about configuring Workflow Rules in Zoho CRM, for the specific module.
4.1 "What can trigger my Workflow?"
The triggers array shows all the supported triggers for that specific module.
"triggers": [ { "api_name": "create", "deprecated": false, "name": "Create", "scheduled_actions_supported": true, "actions": [ "field_updates", "assign_owner", "add_tags", "remove_tags", "email_notifications", "tasks", "create_record", "create_connected_record", "add_meeting", "webhooks", "functions", "circuits", "flow" ] }, . . // ... other triggers omitted for brevity ... { "api_name": "score_increase", "deprecated": false, "name": "ScoreIncrease", "scheduled_actions_supported": false, "actions": [ "field_updates", "assign_owner", "add_tags", "remove_tags", "email_notifications", "tasks", "webhooks", "functions", "circuits", "flow" ] } ] |
The response lists all available triggers for the module. For each trigger type, you get:
Trigger conditions: When the workflow will be triggered (on create, edit, score change, etc.)
Action compatibility: Which actions can be used with each trigger type
Scheduled actions support: Whether scheduled actions are supported for that trigger or not.
For instance, the score_increase trigger triggers the workflow when the score of a record is increased. The scheduled_actions_supported key is false for this trigger, which means that this specific trigger type doesn't support scheduled actions. This directly translates to API behaviour: attempting to configure a Workflow Rule via API with a scheduled action for the score_increase trigger will result in an error.
This API constraint is visibly enforced in the CRM interface. When configuring a score-based trigger in the UI:
4. 2. "What can my Workflow actually do?" - Understanding Actions
The actions array defines the execution capabilities of your workflows. For each action type, you get important information like:
Limits per action instance: Maximum number of items that can be processed within a single action instance
Instance limits: How many times this specific action can be added to a condition in the Workflow rule.
Scheduled action support: Whether the action can be added as a scheduled action.
For example, in the add_tags action:
{ "is_clickable": true, "associate_action": false, "limit_per_action": 10, // Maximum 10 tags per Add Tags action "api_name": "add_tags", "supported_in_scheduled_action": true, "name": "AddTags", "limit": 1 // Maximum one Add Tags action per workflow } |
From this data, it is clear that within a single Add Tags action, you can select up to 10 specific tags to add. Similarly, you can only include one Add Tags action instance in the entire workflow rule. Also, this action cannot be used as a scheduled action.
This has direct implications for API users:
Attempting to configure a workflow that adds more than 10 tags in one action will result in an error
Trying to add two separate Add Tags actions to the same workflow will fail
Adding a Add Tags action under scheduled actions section will also result in an error.
In the UI, these constraints are proactively taken care of. As seen in the GIF, if you add fewer than 10 tags, clicking Add Tags again only lets you edit the existing action. Also it lets you add only up to 10 tags in an action. And if you have already added an action with 10 tags, the Add Tags option will no longer be available. Either way, the system prevents any possibility of adding a second Add Tags action, regardless of tag count.
This UI experience is what the Workflow Rules Configuration API replicates for developers. By checking these limits before making API calls, you can build workflows using APIs with the same confidence and error-free experience that UI users have.
4.3. “What can trigger my Workflow from a related module?” – Understanding related triggers
The related_triggers_details array shows how changes in related records can trigger workflows in your primary module. For example, in the Deals module, for the Notes related trigger:
"related_triggers_details": [ { "api_name": "Notes", // The API name of the related module "module": { // Detailed information about the related module "singular_label": "Note", "plural_label": "Notes", "api_name": "Notes", "name": "Notes", "id": "4876876000000002197" }, "name": "Notes", // Module name "triggers": [ // Available triggers for this related module { "api_name": "create", // Trigger when related records are created "deprecated": false, "name": "Create", "scheduled_actions_supported": true, "actions": [ // Supported workflow actions for this trigger "add_tags", "remove_tags", "email_notifications", "tasks", "create_record", "create_connected_record", "add_meeting", "webhooks", "functions", "flow" ] }, // ... other triggers (create_or_edit, edit, delete) omitted for brevity ] } ] |
For each related module, you get:
Module information: Details about the related module that can trigger workflows.
Available triggers: The actions on the related record (create, edit, delete, etc) that can trigger the workflow.
Supported actions: For each trigger, the actions that are supported for that specific trigger.
For instance, the Notes related trigger allows you to create workflows that execute when notes are added to deals. The configuration shows that when a note is created, your workflow can perform actions like sending email notifications, creating tasks, triggering webhooks, and more.
If you try to include an unsupported trigger or unsupported action, the API call will fail. For example, adding a field_updates action for a Notes create trigger . The configuration API response clearly shows that field_updates is not among the supported actions for Notes-related triggers.
The API also gives us important differences between trigger-action configurations. For example, while field_updates action is supported for the create trigger for the main module (Deals), the same action is not supported for the related module (Notes) create trigger. These distinctions would otherwise only be discovered through API errors.
In the UI, this limitation is enforced. When setting up a workflow triggered by Notes, the "Field Updates" action does not appear in the available actions list.
By checking the related_triggers_details section before making API calls, you can discover exactly which actions are supported for each related module trigger, thus avoiding configuration errors while creating or updating Workflow rules.
Conclusion
The Workflow Configuration API transforms how we approach automation development through APIs. Instead of discovering constraints through failed API calls, we can now design workflows with the right configuration, without any trial-and-error methods. It gives us complete visibility into all valid trigger-action combinations before a single line of code is written, enough information to build automations triggered by related records, and limit awareness to respect action constraints before they become API errors.
For Zylker, this means we can now confidently proceed with updating the old Workflow rules and creating new ones. In our next post, we will put this knowledge into action.
We hope that you found this post useful. If you have any questions or feedback, let us know in the comments below, or write to us at support@zohocrm.com. We would love to hear from you!
Topic Participants
Anu Abraham
Sticky Posts
Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks
Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications
Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes areKaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms
Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achievedKaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script
Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI
Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the
Recent Topics
Zoho Mail iOS app update - RTL languages support and access emails using permalink and universal link, image upload resolution
Hello everyone! In the most recent version of the Zoho Mail iOS app update, we have brought in support for RTL languages(Arabic and Urudu), providing a seamless reading experience with proper text alignment and layout throughout the app. We have alsoWhy are emails sending with @viazohocrm.com ?
I just sent out mass emails from CRM. They are sending from the email below and people cannot reply, and they are getting this message: Address not found Your message wasn't delivered to sales.XXXXXXXX.com.au@viazohocrm.com because the address couldn'tDuplicating and referencing datasets
I am moving from PowerBI to Zoho Analytics and while I find Zoho easier to use in many ways, there is one function that I use in PowerBI that I have not been able to find in Zoho. I have several data sets that I need to modify in different ways to getZoho Inventory Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain
Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia EstatalEnhancements to Zoho Map integration tasks
Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Map integration tasks in Deluge, which will boost its performance. This post will walk you through the upcoming changes, explain why we're making them, and detail the steps you need toLet’s Talk Recruit: Meet Zia, your all-in-one AI assistant (Part-3)
Welcome back to the Let’s Talk Recruit series. In the part 2 post, we explored how Zia has evolved with smarter summaries and seamless AI-assisted content creation. This time, we’re diving into the latest upgrades that take productivity even further —Announcing Early Access to "Zoho CRM for Everyone" — A new and exciting update to Zoho CRM
Update : Zoho CRM For Everyone's Nextgen Interface gets an upgrade! Hello everyone, We’ve updated the Zoho CRM for Everyone Nextgen interface based on your feedback. The UI is now simpler with a unified sidebar, a more visible global search and featuresUnable to verify domain for Zoho People
I have added TXT records in my DNS (GoDaddy) [screenshot attached], but unable to verify even after 12 hours after adding. On checking the console, it shows some errors [screenshot attached]. It appears that the verification flow is broken - please provideZoho Invoice Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain
Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia EstatalZoho Billing Now Supports VeriFactu for Businesses in Spain
Starting from January 1, 2026, Spain requires real-time invoice reporting for all B2B transactions. From July 2026, this requirement will extend to B2C transactions as well. All reporting must be carried out through the VeriFactu to AEAT (Agencia EstatalWeekly Tips : Make your email content error free with Spell check in Zoho Mail
As someone who writes multiple emails a day, we are bound to make both grammatical and spelling errors. Most of them we may not even notice, and even if we do, we may not have the time to correct each one individually when we are in a hurry. So how doIntroducing Enhanced Storage Management
We’re excited to roll out two new enhancements in Zoho Recruit, Subscription Information and Storage Management — designed to give admins complete visibility into subscription details, feature limits, and storage consumption — all from one place insidehow to download all my files
We are in the middle of zoho docs to zoho workdrive migration. I can not access my zoho docs page. I get redirected immediately to a zoho workdrive page. I would like to download all my files so that I have a backup in case something goes wrong with theConvert Zoho Books SalesOrder - Invoice
Converting a Zoho Books Sales Order into an Invoice Using the SalesOrder Convert API Hello Zoho Developers, Today, we are sharing a simple and effective solution to convert a Zoho Books Sales Order into a Zoho Books Invoice using the SalesOrder ConvertZoho Expense - Report Templates
Hi Expense Team, I do a recurring trip once every week which has the same cost: Per diem Milage Toll Payment It would be great if there was a feature which allowed me to clone a previously submitted report or create a template reports. This would saveHow to add tabular data when execute Add Record API
Hi everyone! I was send api updateRecord follow by this request url : https://people.zoho.com/people/api/forms/json/<formLinkName>/updateRecord with parameters "inputData", "tabularData", "recordId". Ex picture below And response success: But. When ITip #51- Centralized Contact Management for Better Remote Support- 'Insider Insights'
For our final topic of November, we’re diving into one of the most helpful features in Zoho Assist, the Contacts section on Zoho Assist;s dashboard. Whether you’re managing multiple clients, tracking past sessions, or simply looking to streamline yourUsing gift vouchers
We would like to be able to offer a limited number of gift vouchers, of varying values, to our customers, and are looking for the best way to do this. We have looked at Coupons and Gift Certificates, but neither seem to fit the bill perfectly. Coupons:Say Hello to Telephony in Zoho FSM
Zoho FSM now brings complete telephony support so your team can manage inbound and outbound calls without switching tabs. Faster responses, smarter routing, and total call visibility—all in one place. Choose the telephony setup that works for you Zoho’sE-Invoicing in Belgium with Zoho Inventory
Starting January 1, 2026, Belgium is introducing mandatory electronic invoices (e-invoicing) for all B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses. Invoices and credits notes must be exchanged in a prescribed digital format. How E-Invoicing WorksEmployee ID is not correct in get records api V2 for leave
Hi Team, We are facing an issue when calling the Get Records API V2. The employee.id returned in the response is not the actual employee record ID in Zoho People. As a result, our integration is forced to make an additional Get Record API call for everyFormatting Mailing Labels
I want to use the "Print Mailing Labels" function on the drop down list, but I am not seeing a way to change the formatting on the mailing labels. At the moment, the information that appears on the mailing labels ARE NOT mailing addresses, but randomZoho People. Updating TabularData
I am trying to update tabular data in the record. I always have the same response. I have checked many times. Section ID is correct. May be something wrong with request structure itself. Can someone help me. Body content type: form urlencoded query paramsCanvas View - Print
What is the best way to accomplish a print to PDF of the canvas view? Latest update (27th November 2025): We are excited to announce that the Canvas Print View is now available! We encourage you all to try it out and share your feedback with us. LearnNew to automation - please help
Hi there! We are new to automations in Zoho. We built out one automation campaign and it seems to be firing off for some people but others not. Please advise what's the best practice or if anything we should tweak. Thank you so much!Zia Conversation Summary: Context at a glance for every customer interaction
Hello everyone! Every customer conversation tells a story—but in CRM, that story is rarely in one place. A sales rep moving between multiple leads has to reopen long email threads, check call remarks, and revisit meeting notes just to remember what wasHow to set a fixed width of column/cells
Is there a way to set a 'fixed' width for cells in zoho sheet? I know how to adjust the size of the colums.... but after I past a large block of text into a cell, it expands the cell size again. (yes, I have turned off word wrap) How can I set a fixed width so the cells don't change size each time I add data to a cell? Thanks.Workdrive Oauth2 Token Isn't Refreshing
I have set up oauth for a bunch of zoho apis and have never had a problem with oauth. With workdrive i am using the exact same template i usually use for the other zoho apps and it is not working. All requests will work for the first hour then stops soSingle Portal for Multiple Apps
Hello, I'm just getting started with Zoho and I'm very overwhelmed. I am currently using the free trial of Zoho One, but if I can figure it out, I intend to upgrade to the paid version. Zoho One, of course, gives me access to an entire suite of services/applications. One of the things I'd like to do is have a single place for clients (customers?) to log in and view current projects, invoices, contact information, etc. A single login for my clients. A single portal. I've come across documentation【開催報告】 大阪 ユーザー交流会 2025/11/20（木）Zoho CRM Plus 活用のアイデアとデータの“見える化”
皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 11/20（木）に、大阪 ユーザー交流会を開催しました。本投稿では、その様子をお届けします。 当日の登壇資料などもこちらに共有しますので、参加できなかった皆さまもご参照ください。 （Zoho 社員セッションの登壇資料については、11/28(金)に開催予定の東京回の開催報告で共有いたします） 今年2回目の開催となる大阪 ユーザー交流会では、株式会社KDDIウェブコミュニケーションズ 山田さんによる Zoho CRM Plus の事例セッションのほか、「ZohoEvery rating counts: Shaping customer experience
We are back to that beautiful time of the year. It is the season to reflect, be thankful, and appreciate everything that has happened throughout the year. Thanksgiving is a time we connect with our family, friends, and relatives to strengthen relationships,How to remove duplicate contacts
Custom Field for Subscription
Hi, I can't find a way to add a custom field (to contain a license key generated from our software) against a subscription? Is the only place to add this information in the Invoice module (as custom field for invoice)? When a customer views his subscription via the customer portal, there appears no way to display a license key for them? The invoice is not the natural place to store a license key for a particular subscription, so where else can this be stored and displayed?Custom View and Custom Fields on Zoho Books
Hi, I have some custom fields on Estimates and Invoices. I also use Custom Views so I can have a lot of information at a glance. I want to include my custom fields as columns in my custom views of estimates / invoice, but it looks like is not possible.Dropdown data depends on filters in another field.
In my quote form I have a lookup field called Reseller that pulls from Accounts. I would like it to pull from Accounts, but only those accounts with an account field 'Type' where that is 'Reseller'. Does anyone know a way to do this? Similarly, I'd likeIs it possible to adjust the web browser tab title (when a ZoHo Desk ticket is opened)
Hi All, When I open a ZoHo Desk ticket in a web browser, the tab title (text that appears at the top of the browser tab) uses the logic: *company icon picture* (xxxx) #ticket number - company name See below (highlighted in red) for reference. CompanyCollections Management: #7 Common Mistakes during Payment Collection
Payment collection may appear straightforward in most cases. Still, as your customer base expands and transaction volume increases, it becomes clear that even small inefficiencies can lead to delayed payments, increased support load, or even revenue loss.Rename Record Summary PDF in SendMail task
So I've been tasked with renaming a record summary PDF to be sent as part of a sendmail task. Normally I would offer the manual solution, a user exports the PDF and uploads it to a file upload field, however this is not acceptable to the client in thisRecruit API search
Hi all, Attempting to call the search api endpoint from Postman using the word element as mentioned in api docs Search Records - APIs | Online Help - Zoho Recruit When making the call to /v2/Candidates/search?word=Saudi receive response of { "code": "MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND",Text/SMS With Zoho Desk
Hi Guys- Considering using SMS to get faster responses from customers that we are helping. Have a bunch of questions; 1) Which provider is better ClickaTell or Screen Magic. Screen Magic seems easier to setup, but appears to be 2x as expensive for United States. I cannot find the sender id for Clickatell to even complete the configuration. 2) Can customer's reply to text messages? If so are responses linked back to the zoho ticket? If not, how are you handling this, a simple "DO NOT REPLY" asNext Page