Workflow Runs and Approvals

Last updated: May 20, 2026

How runs progress, where to watch them, and how approval gates work.

What a run is

When a workflow's trigger fires, a run is created. A run is a single instance of the workflow executing on a specific target entity (or no target, for purely scheduled workflows).

A run has:

  • A reference to the workflow definition

  • A target entity (where applicable)

  • An ordered list of phase executions

  • A status (active / waiting / completed / failed / cancelled)

  • A timestamp of each phase's start and end

Run lifecycle

TRIGGERED → ACTIVE → (Phase 1 runs) → (Phase 2 runs) → ... → COMPLETED
                                                          ↘
                                                            FAILED (if any phase errors)
                                                          ↘
                                                            CANCELLED (manual)

Some phases can transition the run to WAITING (approval gates, scheduled waits). The run sits there until the wait condition resolves, then resumes.

Watching runs

Three places:

  1. Workflow detail page — list of all runs for a specific workflow, filterable by status.

  2. Run detail page — full timeline of a single run, phase-by-phase, with inputs, outputs, and durations.

  3. Ella command center — surfaces runs you're involved in across all spaces.

Approval gates

An approval phase pauses the run and waits for designated approvers to either approve or deny. Properties:

  • Approver list — specific space members, or anonymous external reviewers via tokenized email, or both

  • Required count — how many approvals are needed before the gate opens (e.g. "any one" or "all of these")

  • Timeout — optional; if no one approves within X hours, the gate auto-denies or escalates

Approval mechanics

When a run hits an approval gate:

  1. Approvers get an in-app notification (and email, if configured)

  2. The run sits in WAITING status

  3. Each approver clicks Approve or Deny on the run page (or via the tokenized email link)

  4. Comments can accompany the decision

  5. When the required-count threshold is reached, the run resumes the next phase (Approve path) or terminates (Deny path)

Anonymous email-based approval

External reviewers (with no Rella account) can approve via a secure email link. The link is short-lived and unique to that reviewer. Clicking it opens a guest review page where they can read the content, leave a comment, and approve or deny.

Approval visualization

The workflow builder shows approval gates as distinct phase shapes on the canvas, with clear approve and deny exit paths.

Editing entities during an active run

If a workflow is mid-run and the target content item or task gets edited (for example, someone changes the caption), Rella handles it as follows:

  • Approval-gate phases re-evaluate based on the current state

  • Mutation phases (which intend to change the item) check for staleness before applying

  • Read-only phases continue as-is

Manual run controls

From the run detail page you can:

  • Cancel the run (terminates it; phases stop)

  • Re-run a completed run (creates a new run on the same target)

  • (Sometimes) Skip an active phase if it's stuck

Failures

When a phase errors, the run enters FAILED. The run page shows the error and the phase that produced it. Common failure causes:

  • A mutation phase couldn't apply (the target went stale or was deleted)

  • An AI phase exceeded its budget or returned invalid output

  • A notification phase had no valid recipients

  • An external service (such as publishing or sending an email) errored

Failed runs can sometimes be re-run from the failure point, depending on the phase type.

Concurrency

Multiple runs of the same workflow can be active simultaneously on different targets (or even the same target). Organization-level flow control limits how many runs are active per organization at once, to keep costs predictable.

Audit

Every run is recorded permanently — inputs, outputs, decisions, and timestamps. This is useful for answering questions like "who approved this content?" or "why did this workflow fail?"

Bulk operations

For high-volume workflows, you can bulk-cancel or bulk-delete runs from the runs dashboard. These actions ask for confirmation and are recorded in the audit log.