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Overview

Workflows are the backbone of collaboration in Tessact. A workflow defines how work moves from step to step across teams, which AI agents run (generative and analytical), and where manual review layers apply. You attach a workflow to one or more projects to run the same process consistently at scale.
Workflow Builder canvas

Workflow Builder canvas with steps, teams, and connections

Key characteristics
  • Composable steps: Each step belongs to a team, has a type, and exposes statuses (with one default).
  • Semantic automation: Status transitions can be triggered by inputs; completed statuses emit outputs. You wire outputs → inputs to automate orchestration across steps.
  • Multi-agent execution: Invoke Tessact’s first-party agents (e.g., remix, compliance, captioning, thumbnail generation) or bring your own third-party AI via connectors and webhooks.
  • Safety by design: Orchestration enforces acyclic flows (no infinite loops) and validates wiring before publish.
Attach the same workflow to many projects. Each project tracks its own run state, artifacts, and audit history without duplicating design work.

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Core Concepts

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Steps, Types, and Statuses

  • Step — A unit of work owned by a team (e.g., Ingest, Edit, Compliance Review, Publish).
  • Type — Optimised configuration for that step’s work mode. Examples include:
    • Watch Folders — Monitor Connected Folders and react to file events.
    • AI Agent — Run one or more agents (e.g., Generate YouTube thumbnails, Blog post from webinar, Compliance scan).
    • Video Creation — Editor-centric step for timeline edits and remixes.
    • Manual Review — Gate with assignments, SLAs, and decision outcomes.
    • Publishing — Prepare deliverables and push to destinations/CMS.
    • Utility / Transform — Transcode, proxy, sprite sheet, metadata extraction.
    • Webhook / External Action — Call external systems and wait for callbacks.
  • Statuses — Each step has a default status (e.g., Not started), plus additional statuses (e.g., In progress, Needs edit, Approved, Rejected). Statuses power both visibility and automation.
Step configuration

Step configuration: team, type, default status, and additional statuses

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Inputs & Outputs (Wiring)

  • Inputs are triggers that cause a step’s status to change automatically (e.g., AgentCompleted, FileMoved, ReviewApproved, TimeElapsed, WebhookReceived, MetadataUpdated).
  • Outputs are signals emitted when a status is reached (e.g., Edit.Completed → outputs.Done).
Wiring rules
  • Connect Output → Input to propagate progress across steps.
  • Multiple Outputs → one Input act as an AND-gate: the Input fires only when all connected Outputs are true.
  • One Output → multiple Inputs (fan-out) is allowed.
  • No loops: A step status cannot simultaneously use its own IN and OUT as triggers. The builder validates flows as a DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph).
Recurring loops are disallowed. The builder prevents connections that would create cycles or self-triggering feedback.
Status wiring

Status wiring with AND/OR patterns and validation

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First-Party and Third-Party AI Agents

Tessact ships with first-party agents (remix, captioning, translation, compliance, summarisation, blog/title/thumbnail generation, etc.). You can also add third-party AI (LLMs, vision, audio) via connectors or webhooks and treat them as workflow steps.
Configure a Thumbnail Generator agent:
  • Inputs: Asset.Ready (from Ingest), optional MetadataUpdated:Brand
  • Parameters: aspect ratios, brand palette, overlay template
  • Outputs: Thumbnails.Created (array of images), Quality.OK/Fail
Agents can run in parallel within a step or as separate steps; use conditions to branch on their outputs (e.g., Compliance.Fail → Manual Review).

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Designing Workflows

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Typical End-to-End Pattern

  1. Ingest (Watch Folders / Library) → asset appears and analyses automatically.
  2. AI Agent Pack → captioning, compliance, thumbnails, social remixes.
  3. Manual Review → approval gate with assignments and SLAs.
  4. Publish → deliver to CMS/social, archive to Connected Folder.
Example flow

Example: ingest → AI pack → review → publish

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Advanced Patterns

  • Editorial factory: AI Search for Clips → Remix → QC → Publish.
  • Knowledge expansion: Blog Generation from Video → SEO title & description → Manual copy edit → Publish.
  • Compliance with regional overrides: Compliance EU AND Compliance US → both must pass before Publish.

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Create a Workflow (Step-by-Step)

1

Open Workflow Builder

Go to Workflows in the sidebar → New Workflow.
2

Add steps

Drag Step onto the canvas. Choose Type, assign Team, and define Statuses (set a default).
3

Configure agents or actions

For AI Agent steps, select agents and parameters. For Watch Folders, choose a Connected Folder and event triggers.
4

Wire statuses

Connect Output → Input between steps. Use multiple Outputs to gate a single Input when all must be true.
5

Set manual review

Add a Manual Review step with assignment rules, due-by (SLA), and decision outcomes (Approved, Needs edit, Rejected).
6

Validate and publish

Click Validate to ensure the graph is acyclic and all required Inputs are satisfied. Then Publish the workflow.
A green check indicates the workflow is ready to attach to projects.
Validation panel

Validation panel with DAG check and unresolved inputs

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Attach to a Project

  • Create or open a Project → Workflow → select the published workflow.
  • Provide any step-level parameters required by chosen types (e.g., which Connected Folder to watch, or agent presets).
  • On save, the project enters the workflow’s initial status and begins execution when triggers fire.
A single workflow can be attached to many projects. Parameters are stored per project, not globally.

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Manual Review Layers

  • Assignments — Round-robin, owner-based, or group-based.
  • Checklists — Define criteria (e.g., brand safety, loudness).
  • SLA timers — Overdue states emit alerts and can auto-escalate.
  • Decisions — Approved, Needs edit, Rejected emit Outputs you can wire forward.
Manual Review UI

Manual Review step with assignees, checklist, and SLA

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Execution & Monitoring

  • Run History — Timeline of step/status changes, agent jobs, and callbacks.
  • Retries & Backoff — Transient failures auto-retry with exponential backoff; hard failures surface with actionable logs.
  • Idempotency — External calls include a run-scoped idempotency key to avoid duplicate work.
  • Alerts & Webhooks — Subscribe to events (e.g., Step.Failed, Publish.Completed).
Webhook (event subscription)
{
  "event": "workflow.step.failed",
  "workflow_id": "wf_3bpv9",
  "project_id": "proj_9f2mx",
  "step": "Compliance Review",
  "status": "Failed",
  "attempt": 3,
  "run_id": "run_1a2b3c",
  "timestamp": "2025-08-25T10:45:12Z"
}

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Performance & Cost Management

  • Concurrency — Limit concurrent agent executions per workflow or step.
  • GPU quotas — Reserve or cap GPU-bound steps for predictable throughput.
  • Caching — Reuse deterministic outputs (e.g., transcripts, embeddings) across runs.
  • Agent-compute minutes — Usage accrues per agent runtime; see org-level analytics.
Place heavy transforms behind success-gated compliance checks to avoid wasted compute on assets that will be rejected.
Troubleshooting
Remove or reroute connections creating loops. The DAG validator highlights offending edges.
Check upstream Outputs—if multiple are wired to the same Input, all must be true. Inspect the Run History for missing signals.
Verify the callback URL and idempotency key. Confirm firewall rules and TLS. Use the Resend action in Run History.
Increase concurrency limits or schedule during off-peak hours. Review compute minutes and cache eligibility.
You’ve designed a robust, loop-safe workflow that orchestrates agents and people across projects. Attach it to a project to begin automated, traceable media operations at scale.

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Next Steps