Pill References

Pill references pass data between steps — the output of one step becomes the input to another.

Syntax

$<source>.<field>
$<source>.<field>.<subfield>

Sources

Trigger

Access fields from the triggering record:

$trigger.current.number
$trigger.current.short_description
$trigger.current.caller_id           # Reference field (sys_id)
$trigger.current.caller_id.email     # Dot-walk through reference

Input

Access subflow input parameters:

$input.my_param
$input.recipient.email    # Dot-walk on reference inputs

Variable

Access scratch variables:

$variable.counter
$variable.temp_record

Step Output

Reference outputs from earlier steps using the step’s id:

steps:
  - action: lookup_record
    id: find_user
    inputs:
      table: sys_user
      conditions: "sys_id=$trigger.current.caller_id"

  - action: send_email
    inputs:
      to: $find_user.record.email
      subject: "Hello $find_user.record.name"

Step IDs

Give a step an id to reference its outputs:

- action: lookup_record
  id: my_lookup
  inputs:
    table: incident

Then reference it as $my_lookup.<output>.

Common action outputs:

Action	Outputs
lookup_record	record, record_count
create_record	record, record_sys_id
run_script	Script-defined outputs

Embedding in Strings

Pill references work inline in text:

inputs:
  subject: "Incident $trigger.current.number needs attention"
  body: "Assigned to $find_user.record.name ($find_user.record.email)"

Validation

flowctl --validate checks that:

• $<step_id> references point to a step with that id
• Referenced steps appear before the referencing step (no forward references)
• $trigger, $input, and $variable are reserved and not checked against step IDs

If a pill reference points to an undefined step ID:

pill reference $find_user (in input "to") refers to undefined step id