Steps and Connections

Connect Steps on the canvas to control execution order, pass data downstream, and merge parallel branches. This page covers what a step is made of and what a link decides: the model underneath the canvas, rather than the panels you click.

At a glanceVerified in app · Oct 30, 2026

Use it to: Wire Steps on the canvas to control execution order, inspect link payloads, merge parallel branches, and route errors
Find it: Canvas step terminals, link hover toolbar (Data, Edit label, Add step in between, Remove connection), and ALL / ANY merge chip
Instead: Combine Step (when you need to merge two lists into one collection rather than wait at an AND/OR junction)

In Glow, connection can mean two different things. A canvas connection is the line that carries a run from one step to another. An app connection is the account a step uses to act in Slack, HubSpot or another service. This page is about canvas connections; Connecting an App covers accounts.

For the panels themselves, see The Dock & App drawer.

Steps

Every step on the canvas carries a number, assigned as you add it. That number is its identity: it is how other steps refer to its output. Renaming the step or changing a trigger or action’s operation in place keeps the same step number, connections, and connected account, so downstream {{1.…}} references stay intact. When an app step has no operation chosen yet, its drawer header shows Action required and pre-run checks report "This step needs an action selected". See Variable Reference Syntax.

A step has:

A type: what it does, set by which dock entry created it. A Webhook, a Slack action, an AI Prompt.
Inputs: terminals on its left edge, where incoming links arrive.
Outputs: terminals on its right edge, where outgoing links leave.

A step can have several of each, which is what lets an automation branch and merge.

Links

A link joins one step’s output to another’s input. It settles two things at once: what runs after what, and which data is available where. A step can reference the output of anything upstream of it.

Drag to connect

Drag from an output terminal towards the step you want to reach.

Snap to input

Get close and the link snaps to the nearest input terminal. Release to confirm.

Quick add

Or click the + on an output terminal. The dock opens inline, and the step you pick is placed and connected in one action.

Working with an existing link

Hover over a link and its controls appear on the line:

Control	What it does
Data	Opens what actually travelled along this link on the last run (see below).
Edit label	Name the link. The label sits on the line, so a branch can say “high value” or “needs review” on the canvas itself.
Add step in between	Insert a step into the link. Glow splits the connection and rewires both halves for you, rather than making you delete and redraw.
Remove connection	Delete the link, leaving both steps in place.

Labelling links is worth the few seconds on anything with branches. Where every line is unnamed, the next person has to open each condition to work out which path is which.

Seeing what flows along a link

Click Data on a link and Glow shows the data that reached the step at its far end. It answers the question a canvas otherwise cannot: what is actually passing between these two steps. You never have to open either of them.

From there, Open Data Flow widens the view to the whole automation. Follow a value from where it entered to where it is used, then compare the configured references and transformations with the recorded data.

Both read from the last run, so run the automation at least once before expecting anything there.

Merging parallel branches

When parallel branches meet at a Step, that Step decides how they rejoin. No separate merge step is needed. A Step with multiple incoming links shows an ALL / ANY chip on the canvas; changing it preserves the Step’s retry settings.

ALL chip selectedAND (Data from all steps)

Waits for every incoming branch to finish and deliver data before running once.
Use for parallel work that always runs, such as fetching customer and billing records side by side.
Combine always waits for both of its inputs, so give it two branches that both run.

ANY chip selectedOR (Data from any step)

Runs as soon as any incoming branch delivers.
Runs once per branch that arrives. If two branches both deliver, the Step runs twice.
Use for mutually exclusive routes, such as a Switch with Send to all matching branches turned off.

When you connect two parallel branches that share the same execution root and routing prerequisites, Glow selects ALL automatically (except on Repeater and Combine). For alternative routes, different trigger roots, or a third input, check the ALL / ANY chip on the Step card after connecting:

Both branches can deliver	Choose
Yes, and you want one result from both	AND
No, they are alternative routes	OR
Yes, and running twice is fine	OR

If you need to merge two lists into one collection, use a Combine step.

Error paths

A step can send failures somewhere other than its normal output. Set its If this step fails to Continue and a Select Error Path button appears beneath the setting. Pick the step a failure should route to, either an existing one or a new one you add there, and Glow draws the error path on the canvas as its own line beside the normal output.

See Error Handling.

Verify it works

Run: Connect two Steps on the canvas, run the automation once, then hover the connection line and click Data.
You should see: The link inspector displays the exact payload that travelled between the two Steps on the last run.

What’s Next?

👉 Triggers and Actions →: learn what starts a run and what the later steps do.
Learn where steps come from and how to configure them in The Dock & App drawer.