> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cogniagent.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Running your workflows and flows
> Your AI coworker uses the automations your team already built — running them, checking on them, and proposing new ones for you to approve.
Your coworker can use the automations you've already built — and build new ones, with your approval.
## What it does
You've probably already automated some of your work: an onboarding workflow, a nightly sync, a sales conversation flow. This capability lets your coworker use them.
It can look up what exists, start one, and check whether a run finished. Ask for something in plain English — "run the onboarding workflow for Northwind" — and it finds the right one and starts it.
It can also **build** automations. That half works differently: anything it wants to create or change arrives as a proposal you approve first.
## When you'd use it
* "Run the onboarding workflow for this new customer"
* "Start a conversation with this lead using our sales flow"
* "Did last night's sync actually run?"
* "Build me a workflow that files these weekly" — and review what it proposes
* Kick off an automation as the last step of a longer job
* Check the result of a run before deciding what to do next
## Turning it on
Open your coworker, choose **Capabilities**, and find **Manage workflows and flows** in the Built-in tools list. It's on by default.
> **Manage workflows and flows** — Read, build, and run your workspace automations. Changes wait for your approval.
## Reading and running versus changing
The distinction is worth holding onto, because it's the whole safety story of this capability.
| Your coworker wants to… | What happens |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------- |
| List what automations exist | Just does it |
| Start one | Just does it |
| Check on a run | Just does it |
| Create a new one | **Waits for your approval** |
| Change an existing one | **Waits for your approval** |
When it proposes a change, you get a card in the conversation showing what it wants to do before anything happens. Approve it and it goes ahead; decline and it doesn't, and it carries on with the rest of the job.
## Good to know
This is the fastest way to get value out of automations you already have. A coworker that can start your existing onboarding workflow is useful on day one, with nothing new to build.
You can make this stricter or looser with [Permission rules](/cowork/control/permission-rules) — for example, letting a trusted coworker run automations without asking while still requiring approval for anything it wants to change.
## Common questions
Not without you saying yes. Every change to an existing automation waits for your approval, and the approval card shows what would change before it happens.
It reads what's in your workspace and matches on the name and what the workflow does. If more than one could fit, it asks rather than guessing.
A workflow runs steps in order. A conversation flow holds a conversation with a customer. Your coworker can use both. See [Cowork vs workflows vs conversation flows](/cowork/vs-workflows).
Yes — it can check on a run and read what came out, then use that in the rest of the task.
## Next steps
How a proposed change reaches you.
Loosen or tighten what needs asking.
The automations this capability uses.
Which tool fits which job.