Salesforce Flow is the platform's primary automation tool, replacing older automation features like Workflow Rules and Process Builder that Salesforce has retired. Flow allows administrators and developers to build automated business processes, guided user experiences, and integration logic inside Salesforce using a visual builder, without writing Apex code for the majority of use cases.
Flows can be triggered by record changes, user actions, scheduled times, or external API calls. They can query and update records, send emails and notifications, call external APIs, launch subflows, and guide users through multi-step input processes. For most automation needs in a well-managed Salesforce org, Flow is the first tool to reach for.
Flow is also the primary automation layer for Salesforce Agentforce. When an AI agent needs to perform an action in Salesforce, such as updating a case, creating a record, or triggering a business process, it does so by invoking a Flow. Organizations with well-built, well-named Flows are significantly better positioned to get value from Agentforce than those whose automation is ad hoc, poorly documented, or built on legacy tools.
Despite being a low-code tool, Flow can become technically complex at scale. Flows that are poorly designed, excessively nested, or that lack error handling can cause performance problems, create governance risks, and become difficult to maintain. As with code, Flow quality matters. Naming conventions, documentation, modularization, and testing are as relevant to Flow development as to any other engineering practice.