Your First Flow

This guide walks you through creating a simple automation flow from scratch. We’ll build a temperature-based fan control — if the temperature exceeds a threshold, turn on the fan.

Prerequisites

Before building a flow, you need:

  1. A controller connected and online (see Hardware Overview)
  2. A temperature sensor added (see Device Wizard)
  3. A fan actuator added and mapped to a relay channel

Step 1: Open the Flow Editor

  1. Click Flows in the left navigation
  2. Click New Flow (top right)
  3. The Flow Editor opens with a blank canvas containing two blocks: Start and End

Step 2: Add a Sensor Read Block

  1. In the Palette (left sidebar), find Sensor Read 🌡️
  2. Click and drag it onto the canvas, between Start and End
  3. Connect Start → Sensor Read → End using the handles (small circles on the blocks)
  4. Click the block to select it
  5. In the Properties Panel (right sidebar):
    • Device → select your temperature sensor
    • Variable → type temperature (this creates a new variable)

Step 3: Add a Condition Block

  1. Drag an IF Condition block ❓ onto the canvas
  2. Place it after the Sensor Read block
  3. Rewire: Start → Sensor Read → IF Condition
  4. Click the IF block, configure in Properties:
    • Variable → temperature
    • Operator → >
    • Value → 28 (degrees)

Step 4: Add an Actuator Set Block

  1. Drag an Actuator Set block ⚡ onto the canvas
  2. Connect the TRUE output of the IF block to this new block
  3. Connect the FALSE output of the IF block directly to End
  4. Click the Actuator Set block, configure:
    • Device → select your fan actuator
    • Action → Turn On

Step 5: Connect to End

  1. Connect Actuator Set → End

Your flow should look like:

START → Sensor Read → IF (temp > 28°C) → TRUE → Actuator Set (Fan ON) → END
                                        → FALSE → END

Step 6: Save the Flow

  1. Click Save Flow in the toolbar
  2. Give it a name: Temperature Fan Control
  3. Click Save

The system validates the flow. If everything is correct, it saves as Active (ready to run).

Step 7: Test It

  1. Click Run ▶️ in the toolbar
  2. The Test Dialog opens — click Start
  3. Watch the flow execute block by block with live feedback
  4. Check the result: was the fan turned on or off based on the current temperature?

What’s Next?

This was a simple one-shot flow. In real automation you’d typically:

  • Loop the reading continuously (use a Loop block)
  • Add a Wait between readings (e.g., check every 5 minutes)
  • Add a “Turn Off” path when temperature drops below threshold
  • Use a Program to run this flow on a schedule

Explore more: