How to
Importing and exporting flows

You can import and export Pendula flows as .flow files. This makes it easy to:

• Promote flows from development or UAT Pendula tenants to production tenants, as part of a structured development release process
• Import and customise a flow template provided by the Pendula team

Export an existing flow

You can export a flow in two places:

1. Method 1: From the All flows page
   • Navigate to the All flows page
   • Find the flow you wish to export
   • Click Export flow from the menu (3 dots) on the right of each flow

2. Method 2: From the Flow details page
   • Open the Flow details page for your target flow - can choose a version
   • Click the More dropdown
   • Select Export

3. Complete the export
   • Confirm the flow export
   • The .flow file will download to your local machine

What is in a .flow file?

Import flow

1. Prepare for import in the target environment
   • Log into the target Pendula environment
   • Navigate to the All flows page
2. Import the flow file
   • Above the flows table, click the New button and select Import flow
     
     
   • Select the .flow file you want to import
   • Wait for the import process to complete (this may take time depending on flow complexity and attachments).
   • The flow will be created as Version 1 of a new flow, with the version name as it was exported (e.g. Exported Flow (Version 3) )
   • Webhook triggers will have regenerated POST URLs in the imported flow
3. Configure connections after import
   • Once imported, review the flow to identify nodes requiring connections
   • You may need to authenticate your external systems again through the Integrations tab
   • Select appropriate connections for each node that requires them
   • This is particularly important for integration nodes such as Salesforce or Web request nodes
4. Test before activation
   • Thoroughly test the imported flow before activation
   • Verify all connections are working correctly
   • Update any external systems that need to send inbound webhooks to the new flow's address
   • Once testing is complete, activate the flow for use in the new environment

Key things to note

As mentioned above, there are a few key things to note with flow import and export:

Webhook URLs will regenerate

Upon importing a flow with a webhook trigger, the URL that triggers the flow will regenerate automatically. This is to prevent the external system from triggering multiple flows unintentionally. For a migration process, ensure that any external production systems are updated with the new webhook trigger URL for the new flow, as well as any flow-to-flow connections using webhooks.

Connections are matched by API names

On import, the nodes will look for the connections based on their API names (not their descriptive names). These will show as flow errors on the edit screen of the Canvas.

Note that if you do have an existing connection that has the same API name as the one used in that node from the previous tenant, it will assume a successful match and not show as an error in the editing screen. It could, however, error the flow if it is trying to connect to the incorrect service. This is why it is essential to test the new flow in the target environment to ensure it behaves as expected and is connected to the correct external system.

Attachment files are migrated

Attachment files that have been uploaded to email nodes within the flow are included in the .flow file (i.e. are downloaded with the export, and re-uploaded to the new tenant with the import). Learn more about how attachments work in Pendula here.

Uploaded image files are not migrated

Unlike attachment files, images that have been uploaded via the Email builder are not migrated and will maintain their existing URL path. This means they will not be visible from the uploaded images tab in the target environment.