Workflows

A workflow is a playbook: you teach Zinley how you handle a recurring kind of situation, and it follows that procedure every time the situation comes up — on calls, in email, in chat.

Where a scheduled task fires at a time, a workflow fires at a situation: "whenever a landlord writes about the lease…", "when a recruiter calls…".

The Workflows list with a New workflow button and a workflow card showing its name, description, who it applies to, how it acts, and when it was updated. — Your saved playbooks — each with who it applies to and how it acts.

What goes into a playbook

Name — what the playbook is called (e.g. Landlord / lease matters).
When to use it — the trigger, in situation terms (e.g. "a landlord or property manager writes about the lease, rent, or repairs"). Keep this concrete — it's what decides whether the playbook fires.
Applies to — who it covers (see below).
What Zinley should do — the steps and what to collect, in your own words. Loose prose is fine; Zinley owns the wording and the order.
Avoid — the hard boundaries. This one is non-negotiable while the playbook runs.
Done when — what "finished" looks like, so Zinley knows when to close it out.
How it acts — the autonomy setting (see below).

Applies to

Setting	Who it covers
Anyone	Everyone who contacts your agent
Unknown people	First-time contacts only
Specific people	Just the people you name
Me (owner)	Your own calls and emails

How it acts

Ask me first (the default) — Zinley works the playbook but checks with you before it acts outwards.
On its own — Zinley carries it through without stopping. Still fully logged in your Activity.

Zinley only runs a playbook on its own if you clearly said so. When in doubt, it asks.

Creating one by asking

You don't need the form. Describe the situation in one plain sentence and Zinley drafts the whole playbook — trigger, steps, boundaries, autonomy — for you to read over and adjust.

"Whenever a landlord emails about the lease, get the dates and the amount, never quote a price, and check with me before replying."
"Make a workflow for recruiter calls: ask what the role and comp are, say I'm not looking right now, and send me a summary."
"For first-time callers, take a message and don't share my address."

Editing works the same way — "add to the landlord workflow: always ask for photos of the repair" — and so does listing them: "what workflows are you following?"

Pausing vs deleting

Pause — keep the playbook on file but out of force: "turn off the recruiter workflow for now." Turn it back on whenever.
Delete — retires it. Deletes are soft, so a playbook can be brought back if you change your mind: "delete the recruiter workflow."

Workflows, rules, and skills

Three things look similar. The difference is scope:

	What it is	Best for
Workflow	A procedure for a kind of situation, with a target audience and an autonomy setting	"Here's how I handle landlords"
Skill	Reusable know-how — how to do a task well	"Here's how I format the weekly report"
Guardrail	A line Zinley must not cross	"Never send an invoice unreviewed"

Zinley reads all three when it works. A workflow can lean on a skill; a guardrail overrides both.

Skills & guardrails — reusable know-how and the rules around it.
Scheduled tasks — jobs that fire on a clock instead.
People — the profiles a "specific people" workflow points at.
Calls and Email threads — where playbooks show their work.