Versions and publishing
A flow has two states at once: the draft you're editing, and the published version that its triggers run. Editing never changes what runs live until you publish. That lets you work on a flow, and test it, while the previous version keeps handling real events.
Draft and published versions
| Draft | Published version | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The flow as it is in the editor now. Changes are saved automatically, and the canvas shows Auto-Saved time - Unpublished to remind you they aren't live yet. | A saved copy of the flow from the last time you clicked Publish. |
| Run by | Run in the editor. These are test runs, shown as Unpublished in Executions. | Webhook, schedule and event triggers, and Call Sub Flow from another flow's live run. Shown as Published: Version n. |
A sub-flow follows the same rule. Called from a live run, it runs its published version; called while you test with Run, it runs its draft. See Call a subflow.
What publishing changes
Click Publish in the editor. AI Studio first checks the flow:
- If a required field is missing, publishing stops with Your flow is not completed. Fill in the fields it points to.
- If the flow calls sub-flows that have never been published, Publish the Flow lists them. They must be published for this flow to run. Click Publish Anyway to go on, then publish each sub-flow.
- If you have unsaved changes, confirm with Save and publish.
Publishing then:
- Saves the current draft as a new version and makes it the one triggers run from then on.
- Adds a System entry to Version history, marked Current version.
- Turns the flow on, if it was off.
Publish stays unavailable until you change the flow again.
Turning a flow off
To stop a flow from running without deleting it, switch its status off in the Flows list and confirm with Disable. Its triggers stop starting runs until you turn it back on. Publishing also turns it back on.
Version history
Click Version history in the editor to see a flow's saved versions. Each entry shows its name, when it was saved, and a badge:
| Badge | Created | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| System | Automatically, each time you publish. | By default the newest 50 are kept. Older ones are removed automatically. |
| Manual | When you click + at the top of the panel (or Add new version if the list is empty), give it a Version Name and optionally describe what changed. Use it to keep a checkpoint before a big change. | By default 100 per flow. The panel shows how many you've used. Delete one to add more. |
From an entry's menu you can Rename it, Restore this version, or Delete it. Only manual versions can be deleted, and not while they're the current version.
Restoring an earlier version
- Open Version history and find the version.
- Choose Restore this version from its menu.
- Confirm:
- Restore replaces the draft with that version. Your current changes are lost.
- Save and restore first saves your current draft as a new version, then restores.
Restoring changes the draft only. Live runs keep using the published version until you Publish again.