Do Nothing

Use Do Nothing to merge branches or anchor canvas paths while passing data through unchanged.

At a glanceVerified in app · Oct 29, 2026

Use it to: Pass data through unchanged as a visual anchor or placeholder on a branch
Find it: Tools → Flow → Do Nothing
Cost: Free (0 Step credits)
Limits: Passes its predecessor's output through unchanged
Output: Forwards the upstream Step's output
Instead: Stop and Error (when the branch should fail the run instead of succeeding)

Use it to join several branches back into one line, or to keep a long connection tidy. It also works as a placeholder for a Step you have not built yet. When a branch runs through Do Nothing, the Step passes that predecessor’s output on under {{ N.ret }}.

Setting it up

Place it on the canvas and connect it. It has no fields to fill in.

Connect the incoming branches

Route several branches into one Do Nothing step and they meet at a single point.

Connect what comes next

Connect its output to the Step that should follow. Check the input join mode: OR runs for each incoming branch that arrives; AND waits for all incoming branches. Use OR for mutually exclusive paths. If several branches can arrive, OR can repeat downstream actions. See Steps and Connections.

Name it

Rename the step to say what it is for: “Merge notifications”, “Add the API call here”. A canvas of steps all called Do Nothing tells the next person nothing.

What it passes on

Do Nothing passes on the output of the predecessor Step whose branch ran it, stored under {{ N.ret }} (for example, {{ 5.ret.email }}).

Directly on a Repeater’s Each time output: {{ N.ret }} holds the current pass’s item.
On a Repeater’s When finished output: {{ N.ret }} holds the loop’s { results, items, stats, message } aggregate.
When waiting for all incoming branches (AND / await: all): {{ N.ret }} holds the output of one of the arriving branches (which branch is not guaranteed, so reference specific upstream Steps by number such as {{ 3.email }}).
No predecessor output (such as a paused Step or empty error branch): {{ N.ret }} falls back to {}.

You can also continue to reference earlier Steps directly by their Step number (such as {{ 3.email }}) when that Step ran on the active path.

Examples to copy

Merging Branches

A Switch step may trigger three different actions (Slack, Email, SMS). Merge all three branches back into a single Do Nothing step before the final database update. Keep Switch’s Send to all matching branches off and use OR at the join so only the selected path starts the update.

Verify it works

Run: Connect an upstream Step to Do Nothing and run a test.
You should see: Do Nothing succeeds in 0 Step credits and forwards the incoming Step's output under {{ N.ret }} in the Execution log.

What’s Next?

See the branching steps a Do Nothing step usually merges back together in the Switch Step.
Learn the rest of the canvas layout in Steps and Connections.