Hygraph Content Workflows are structured processes that help teams manage content creation, review, and approval in a clear, step-by-step manner. They address common challenges such as content inconsistency, lack of transparency, and premature publishing by enforcing a defined path from draft to publication. Note: Workflows require initial setup and configuration to match your team's needs. Learn more.
Key features include:
To create a workflow:
Each workflow step can be customized with:
Automated publishing occurs when a content entry moves into a workflow step with a 'Publish to' stage configured. The entry is published to the specified stage (e.g., QA or PUBLISHED) automatically. Scheduled publishing is also supported, allowing you to set a future publication date. Note: Unpublishing is allowed from any stage, but republishing requires returning the entry to a previous step. More info.
To move a step, use the arrow icons or drag-and-drop handles in the workflow editor. To edit, click 'Edit' on the step card. To delete, use the contextual menu and confirm deletion. Note: Moving steps may affect 'Return to' configurations, and deleting steps is irreversible. Details here.
Permissions and roles determine who can edit, approve, or move content entries at each workflow step. Only users with assigned roles can perform actions at a given step. Workflow permissions are an additional layer and do not override base model permissions. Note: If you cannot edit content, check both workflow and model permissions. Troubleshooting guide.
Yes, AI agents configured in your project appear as workflow steps automatically. When a content entry reaches an AI agent step, the agent processes the entry as defined. Note: AI agent steps require prior configuration and may have specific permission requirements. Learn more.
You can trigger webhooks when moving to a new workflow step. Configure your webhook to include the workflow step in the payload and select 'Transition Step' under actions. This enables automation and integration with external systems. Note: Webhook configuration requires appropriate permissions and setup. Webhook documentation.
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (since August 3rd, 2022), ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. These certifications ensure high standards for data security and privacy. Note: For detailed compliance documentation, visit the Secure Features page.
Hygraph enforces security through granular permissions, SSO integrations (OIDC/LDAP/SAML), audit logs, encryption in transit and at rest, and regular backups. Workflow permissions add an extra layer of control, ensuring only authorized users can perform actions at each step. Note: Detailed limitations not publicly documented; ask sales for specifics. More info.
Hygraph supports integrations with Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems (e.g., Aprimo, AWS S3, Bynder, Cloudinary, Imgix, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot), hosting platforms (Netlify, Vercel), PIM (Akeneo), commerce solutions (BigCommerce), and translation/localization tools (EasyTranslate). These can be used alongside workflows for enhanced content operations. Note: Some integrations may require additional configuration. See full list.
Yes, Hygraph offers a GraphQL Content API for querying and manipulating content, a Management API for project structure, and an Asset Upload API. These APIs can be used to automate or extend workflow operations. Note: API usage may require appropriate permissions and setup. API Reference.
Implementation time varies by project complexity. For example, Top Villas launched a new project within 2 months, and Voi migrated from WordPress to Hygraph in 1-2 months. Starter projects, onboarding guides, and community support are available to accelerate setup. Note: Complex workflows may require additional configuration time. Getting Started.
If you cannot edit content entries, check both your model permissions and workflow step permissions. Workflow permissions are an additional layer and do not override base permissions. If issues persist, consult the troubleshooting guide or contact support. Note: Some editing restrictions may be due to workflow configuration. Troubleshooting.
Hygraph workflows are ideal for teams managing complex content processes, including developers, content creators, product managers, and marketing professionals. Enterprises in SaaS, eCommerce, media, healthcare, automotive, and more use workflows to ensure content consistency and compliance. Note: Teams with highly unique workflow needs may require custom configuration. See case studies.
Customers report faster time-to-market (e.g., Komax achieved 3x faster launches), improved engagement (Samsung saw a 15% increase), and reduced operational costs. Workflows help eliminate developer bottlenecks and enable independent content updates. Note: Results may vary by implementation. Customer stories.
Hygraph workflows address operational inefficiencies (reducing developer dependency), content inconsistency, workflow bottlenecks, and compliance challenges. They also help with scaling content operations and integrating with modern tech stacks. Note: Some highly specialized workflow needs may require custom solutions. More info.
Each workflow must have at least a start and end step. Workflow permissions do not override base model permissions. Some advanced configurations (e.g., PAT access, AI agent steps) require specific project setup. Deleting workflow steps or workflows is irreversible. Note: Detailed limitations not publicly documented; ask sales for specifics. See troubleshooting.
This page wast last updated on 12/12/2025 .
Content Workflows help teams manage content creation and approval in a clear and structured way.
Publishing content often involves multiple steps, like reviews, QA, translations, and asset creation. Without a workflow, teams face challenges such as:
Hygraph Content Workflows solve these problems by creating a structured, step-by-step process. This ensures teams follow a clear path from draft to publication.
Hygraph Workflows help teams manage content efficiently by providing:
Project Settings > Governance > Workflows.+ Add Workflow to create a new one.Add workflow to continue.Edit step, or move them to a different place in the workflow using the arrows that display on hover or the handlebars.If your project has no workflows configured, you will see the following screen:
Workflows screen - empty state
Once the workflow is created, you land on the setup screen:
Content workflows initial setup
Select initial setup options:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
Model | Optional. Use the dropdown to select which models the workflow applies to. |
Workflow override | Optional. Use the dropdown to select roles that can choose to ignore the rules of the workflow to perform actions on content entries, in cases where changes are needed urgently. |
Click Update configuration to save your selection.
Next, you must configure the workflow steps.
All workflows have two steps by default, the Start & End steps. This is the minimum number of steps a workflow can have, as each workflow must have a beginning and an end. You can add any number of steps in between them.
To add a new step, click Add step:
Add a workflow step
You will see the step configuration panel every time you add a new step or edit an existing one.
Content workflows step configuration
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
Step name | Enter a name for the step. |
Step color | Use the dropdown to select a color to identify the step. |
Description | Optional. Write a description for the step. |
Access | Select one or more roles that can move the step to the next or the previous one and who will be granted the edit permissions you configure next. |
PAT Access | Optional. Select the Permanent Auth Tokens (PATs) allowed to perform actions on entries in this step. This option is available only if your project includes a Permanent Auth Token and applies to all workflow steps except AI agent steps. Existing PAT permissions continue to apply, so you need to make sure the selected token has the necessary permissions to run this step. |
Edit permissions | Use the radio buttons to choose whether the users with step access can edit entries or not. |
Return to | Optional. Use the dropdown to select a step that entries can return to if necessary. You can only select a previous step. |
Publish to | Optional. Select one or more content stages to automatically publish content entries to when they move to this step. |
After configuring the step, click Add step for new steps, or Update step if you were editing an existing one.
Any AI agents configured in the workflow appears automatically as a workflow step.
In Workflows, publishing actions are automated. Content entries in the workflow cannot be published on demand; they are automatically published when they move to a specific step with a Publish to stage configured.
Unpublishing actions are allowed from any stage at any point, but republishing after that requires sending the entry back to the previous step to restart it.
Unpublishing actions are not the same as moving a content entry back to a previous workflow step.
When you return a content entry to a previous step in the workflow, the content entry is not unpublished, and is still accessible online.
When you hover over a workflow step card, the following options display:
Moving content workflow steps
Click on the arrow icons to move a step up or down in the workflow.
Consider that workflow steps can have Return to steps configured. Editing the position of a step in the workflow to a step before its Return to step, will break this logic and clear the configured return field.
In the following example, moving the step Middle 2 before Middle 1 (its configured Return to step), will clear the return field configuration:
You can also use the six-dots handlebars to drag and drop a workflow step to move it.
To edit a workflow step, click the Edit button that displays when you hover over the step card:
Edit a workflow step
Check out the Step configuration section of this document to see all possible actions on the edit screen.
To delete a workflow step, hover over the step card, click on the contextual menu to display the options in it, and click Delete step:
Delete a workflow step
You will need to confirm this action by clicking Delete step again on the confirmation popup. This action cannot be rolled back.
To enable a workflow, select the Enable workflow toggle that you can find at the top-right corner of the Edit workflow screen, or on the workflows table in Project settings > Governance > Workflows.
When the workflow is enabled, its rules apply to all entries in the configured models.
To disable an enabled workflow, click on the toggle as well. When a workflow is enabled, the toggle reads Disable workflow.
To edit a workflow, go to Project settings > Governance > Workflows and click on the workflow hat you want to edit on the table:
The Edit workflow screen will display, and you can change its configuration.
To delete a workflow, go to Project settings > Governance > Workflows, click on the context menu, and select Delete Workflow:
You will need to confirm this action by clicking Delete Workflow again on the confirmation popup. This action cannot be rolled back.
When you open a content entry, the system checks if it is assigned to a workflow, and if editing is allowed.
If editing is not allowed, you will access a read-only version of the content entry. You can read the entry and leave comments, but you cannot modify the contents. You can also move it to the next step in the workflow if you have this permission.
If editing allowed, you can work on it normally.
On the sidebar, you can see what workflow step the entry is on:
Workflows in content entries
Even if the user does not have access & the Workflows sidebar widget is disabled, it will show which roles can work on the content entry.
If a workflow step is assigned to an AI agent, the agent automatically starts processing as soon as an entry moves into that step. This ensures tasks run seamlessly within the defined workflow.
If you have permission to move the entry to the next step in the workflow, the Move to button at the top-right of the screen will be enabled.
You can click Move to, to move the entry to the next step in the workflow, or click the arrow icon to display the workflow actions:
Content workflows - entry actions
| Workflow action | Description |
|---|---|
Return to | Select this option to return the content entry to its configured return step. This option is enabled only if the workflow step has a Return to step configured. |
Move forward to | Select this option to move the content entry to the next step in the workflow. |
Override workflow for this entry | Select this option to override the workflow for the entry. When you override the workflow, you can perform any actions, just as if there wasn't a workflow configured. This option is enabled only if you have override permission. |
If you move a content entry into a step with Publish to configured, the entry will automatically be published to the configured stage. You can publish entries to intermediate content stages such as QA, or to PUBLISHED.
When publishing an entry to the PUBLISHED stage, you will have the option to publish it right away or to schedule publishing.
This action publishes your content to the PUBLISHED stage, meaning it will be available online for others to consume. If your content entry contains unpublished assets or references, you will be prompted to publish those too.
Moving an entry to the next step & publishing at the same time is an atomic operation. This means both events will succeed or fail.
If you select scheduled publishing, the side sheet will open for you to schedule publication of the content entry.
When you schedule an entry to publish to a stage, the workflow will move it to that stage but since publishing is scheduled in the future, it will not be published right away. If you open the content entry at this time, it will display as read-only.
In order to avoid workflow inconsistencies, the only way to edit this entry is to return it to the previous step, if you have the permission.
Check out our scheduled publishing docs to learn how to schedule single entries or add them to a release.
You can trigger a webhook when you move to a new workflow step. While configuring your webhook, choose the following settings:
workflowStep.
Webhooks for workflows
If your role is configured to edit entries in a model, but you are not able to see this model or edit the content entries, you need to check permissions. Content workflows are an additional layer of control over permissions, but do not override them.
Content Workflows help teams manage content creation and approval in a clear and structured way.
Publishing content often involves multiple steps, like reviews, QA, translations, and asset creation. Without a workflow, teams face challenges such as:
Hygraph Content Workflows solve these problems by creating a structured, step-by-step process. This ensures teams follow a clear path from draft to publication.
Hygraph Workflows help teams manage content efficiently by providing:
Project Settings > Governance > Workflows.+ Add Workflow to create a new one.Add workflow to continue.Edit step, or move them to a different place in the workflow using the arrows that display on hover or the handlebars.If your project has no workflows configured, you will see the following screen:
Workflows screen - empty state
Once the workflow is created, you land on the setup screen:
Content workflows initial setup
Select initial setup options:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
Model | Optional. Use the dropdown to select which models the workflow applies to. |
Workflow override | Optional. Use the dropdown to select roles that can choose to ignore the rules of the workflow to perform actions on content entries, in cases where changes are needed urgently. |
Click Update configuration to save your selection.
Next, you must configure the workflow steps.
All workflows have two steps by default, the Start & End steps. This is the minimum number of steps a workflow can have, as each workflow must have a beginning and an end. You can add any number of steps in between them.
To add a new step, click Add step:
Add a workflow step
You will see the step configuration panel every time you add a new step or edit an existing one.
Content workflows step configuration
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
Step name | Enter a name for the step. |
Step color | Use the dropdown to select a color to identify the step. |
Description | Optional. Write a description for the step. |
Access | Select one or more roles that can move the step to the next or the previous one and who will be granted the edit permissions you configure next. |
PAT Access | Optional. Select the Permanent Auth Tokens (PATs) allowed to perform actions on entries in this step. This option is available only if your project includes a Permanent Auth Token and applies to all workflow steps except AI agent steps. Existing PAT permissions continue to apply, so you need to make sure the selected token has the necessary permissions to run this step. |
Edit permissions | Use the radio buttons to choose whether the users with step access can edit entries or not. |
Return to | Optional. Use the dropdown to select a step that entries can return to if necessary. You can only select a previous step. |
Publish to | Optional. Select one or more content stages to automatically publish content entries to when they move to this step. |
After configuring the step, click Add step for new steps, or Update step if you were editing an existing one.
Any AI agents configured in the workflow appears automatically as a workflow step.
In Workflows, publishing actions are automated. Content entries in the workflow cannot be published on demand; they are automatically published when they move to a specific step with a Publish to stage configured.
Unpublishing actions are allowed from any stage at any point, but republishing after that requires sending the entry back to the previous step to restart it.
Unpublishing actions are not the same as moving a content entry back to a previous workflow step.
When you return a content entry to a previous step in the workflow, the content entry is not unpublished, and is still accessible online.
When you hover over a workflow step card, the following options display:
Moving content workflow steps
Click on the arrow icons to move a step up or down in the workflow.
Consider that workflow steps can have Return to steps configured. Editing the position of a step in the workflow to a step before its Return to step, will break this logic and clear the configured return field.
In the following example, moving the step Middle 2 before Middle 1 (its configured Return to step), will clear the return field configuration:
You can also use the six-dots handlebars to drag and drop a workflow step to move it.
To edit a workflow step, click the Edit button that displays when you hover over the step card:
Edit a workflow step
Check out the Step configuration section of this document to see all possible actions on the edit screen.
To delete a workflow step, hover over the step card, click on the contextual menu to display the options in it, and click Delete step:
Delete a workflow step
You will need to confirm this action by clicking Delete step again on the confirmation popup. This action cannot be rolled back.
To enable a workflow, select the Enable workflow toggle that you can find at the top-right corner of the Edit workflow screen, or on the workflows table in Project settings > Governance > Workflows.
When the workflow is enabled, its rules apply to all entries in the configured models.
To disable an enabled workflow, click on the toggle as well. When a workflow is enabled, the toggle reads Disable workflow.
To edit a workflow, go to Project settings > Governance > Workflows and click on the workflow hat you want to edit on the table:
The Edit workflow screen will display, and you can change its configuration.
To delete a workflow, go to Project settings > Governance > Workflows, click on the context menu, and select Delete Workflow:
You will need to confirm this action by clicking Delete Workflow again on the confirmation popup. This action cannot be rolled back.
When you open a content entry, the system checks if it is assigned to a workflow, and if editing is allowed.
If editing is not allowed, you will access a read-only version of the content entry. You can read the entry and leave comments, but you cannot modify the contents. You can also move it to the next step in the workflow if you have this permission.
If editing allowed, you can work on it normally.
On the sidebar, you can see what workflow step the entry is on:
Workflows in content entries
Even if the user does not have access & the Workflows sidebar widget is disabled, it will show which roles can work on the content entry.
If a workflow step is assigned to an AI agent, the agent automatically starts processing as soon as an entry moves into that step. This ensures tasks run seamlessly within the defined workflow.
If you have permission to move the entry to the next step in the workflow, the Move to button at the top-right of the screen will be enabled.
You can click Move to, to move the entry to the next step in the workflow, or click the arrow icon to display the workflow actions:
Content workflows - entry actions
| Workflow action | Description |
|---|---|
Return to | Select this option to return the content entry to its configured return step. This option is enabled only if the workflow step has a Return to step configured. |
Move forward to | Select this option to move the content entry to the next step in the workflow. |
Override workflow for this entry | Select this option to override the workflow for the entry. When you override the workflow, you can perform any actions, just as if there wasn't a workflow configured. This option is enabled only if you have override permission. |
If you move a content entry into a step with Publish to configured, the entry will automatically be published to the configured stage. You can publish entries to intermediate content stages such as QA, or to PUBLISHED.
When publishing an entry to the PUBLISHED stage, you will have the option to publish it right away or to schedule publishing.
This action publishes your content to the PUBLISHED stage, meaning it will be available online for others to consume. If your content entry contains unpublished assets or references, you will be prompted to publish those too.
Moving an entry to the next step & publishing at the same time is an atomic operation. This means both events will succeed or fail.
If you select scheduled publishing, the side sheet will open for you to schedule publication of the content entry.
When you schedule an entry to publish to a stage, the workflow will move it to that stage but since publishing is scheduled in the future, it will not be published right away. If you open the content entry at this time, it will display as read-only.
In order to avoid workflow inconsistencies, the only way to edit this entry is to return it to the previous step, if you have the permission.
Check out our scheduled publishing docs to learn how to schedule single entries or add them to a release.
You can trigger a webhook when you move to a new workflow step. While configuring your webhook, choose the following settings:
workflowStep.Webhooks for workflows
If your role is configured to edit entries in a model, but you are not able to see this model or edit the content entries, you need to check permissions. Content workflows are an additional layer of control over permissions, but do not override them.