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Building Your First Flow: A Content Research Tutorial

Learn how to create a simple content research flow that gathers information, analyzes it, and produces a summary

Updated over a month ago

What you'll learn

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to:

  • Add and configure basic steps and assistant steps

  • Connect steps together in a logical sequence

  • Test and run your flow

  • Troubleshoot common issues

  • Understand when to use basic steps vs. assistant steps

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have built a working content research flow that can gather information on any topic, analyze the findings, and produce a structured summary.

Before you start

You should have:

  • An elvex account with Creator permissions

  • Basic familiarity with elvex assistants and how they work

  • Understanding of what datasources are (though you won't need any for this tutorial)

What we're building

We'll create a simple content research flow with three steps:

  1. Research step - Gather information about a topic from the web

  2. Analysis step - Analyze and organize the gathered information

  3. Summary step - Create a structured summary with key findings

This flow will take a research topic as input and produce a comprehensive research summary as output.

Step 1: Access the flow builder

  1. Look for the Flows section in the sidebar or main navigation

  2. Click Create New Flow or the + button

You should now see the flow builder interface with an empty canvas.

Step 2: Set up your flow basics

Before adding steps, let's configure the basic flow settings:

  1. Name your flow: Click on "Untitled Flow" at the top and rename it to "Content Research Flow"

  2. Add a description: "Researches a topic, analyzes findings, and creates a structured summary"

  3. Set the input: Your flow will need a topic to research, so we'll configure this as a text input

Step 3: Add your first step - Research

Now let's add the research step that will gather information:

  1. Click the + Add Step button on the canvas

  2. Choose Basic Step from the options

  3. Configure the step:

    • Step name: "Web Research"

    • Instructions: "Search the web for comprehensive information about the given topic. Focus on finding recent, credible sources and gather key facts, statistics, and expert opinions."

    • Input: Connect this to your flow's main input (the research topic)

This basic step will use elvex's web browsing capabilities to gather information about your research topic.

Step 4: Add the analysis step

Next, we'll add a step to analyze and organize the research:

  1. Click + Add Step below your research step

  2. Choose Assistant Step this time

  3. Configure the step:

    • Step name: "Research Analysis"

    • Select assistant: Choose an existing assistant designed for analysis, or create a new one with these settings:

      • Name: "Research Analyzer"

      • Instructions: "You are a research analyst. Take the provided research information and organize it into clear categories: key findings, important statistics, expert opinions, and emerging trends. Identify the most credible sources and highlight any conflicting information."

    • Input: Connect this to the output of your "Web Research" step

Step 5: Add the summary step

Finally, let's add a step to create the final summary:

  1. Click + Add Step below your analysis step

  2. Choose Basic Step

  3. Configure the step:

    • Step name: "Create Summary"

    • Instructions: "Create a comprehensive research summary with the following structure:

      Research Summary: [Topic]

      Executive Summary

      [2-3 sentence overview]

      Key Findings

      [Bullet points of main discoveries]

      Important Statistics

      [Relevant numbers and data]

      Expert Opinions

      [Notable quotes or perspectives]

      Sources

      [List of credible sources used]

      Format the output in clear, professional markdown."

    • Input: Connect this to the output of your "Research Analysis" step

Step 6: Connect your steps

Now you should see three connected steps in sequence:

Research Topic (Input) → Web Research → Research Analysis → Create Summary → Final Output

The flow builder should show lines connecting each step, indicating the flow of information.

***To delete a connection click anywhere on the line and hit delete on your keyboard.

Step 7: Test your flow

Before using your flow, let's test it:

  1. Click the Test Flow button

  2. Enter a sample research topic, such as "artificial intelligence in healthcare"

  3. Click Run Test

Watch as each step executes:

  • The research step will gather web information

  • The analysis step will organize the findings

  • The summary step will create the final formatted output

Step 8: Review and refine

After your test run:

  1. Check the output: Does the final summary meet your expectations?

  2. Review each step: Click on individual steps to see their outputs

  3. Identify issues: Look for steps that didn't work as expected

Common issues and fixes:

Research step returns too little information:

  • Refine the instructions to be more specific about the type of information needed

  • Add instructions to search multiple sources

Analysis step is too generic:

  • Make the assistant instructions more specific about categorization

  • Add examples of the type of analysis you want

Summary format is inconsistent:

  • Make the formatting instructions more explicit

  • Add specific examples of the desired output structure

Step 9: Save and use your flow

Once you're satisfied with the results:

  1. Click Save Flow

  2. Your flow is now ready to use!

  3. You can run it anytime by providing a new research topic

Understanding step types

Now that you've built your first flow, let's understand when to use each step type:

Basic Steps

Use basic steps when you need:

  • Simple, straightforward processing

  • Built-in elvex tools (web browsing, data analysis, etc.)

  • Quick operations that don't require complex reasoning

  • Consistent, repeatable actions

Examples: Web searches, data formatting, file operations, simple text processing

Assistant Steps

Use assistant steps when you need:

  • Complex reasoning or analysis

  • Consistent personality or expertise as defined by an assistant

  • Reusable logic across multiple flows

  • Custom instructions that you want to refine over time

Examples: Content analysis, expert evaluation, creative writing, complex decision-making

What's next?

Now that you've built your first flow, you can:

  • Experiment with different topics: Try your flow with various research subjects

  • Add more steps: Consider adding steps for fact-checking or citation formatting

  • Create variations: Build flows for different types of research (market research, academic research, etc.)

  • Share your flow: Make it available to your team if it proves useful

  • Build more complex flows: Try flows with conditional logic or multiple output formats

Tips for success

  • Start simple: Begin with basic flows and add complexity gradually

  • Test frequently: Run tests after adding each step to catch issues early

  • Be specific: Clear, detailed instructions lead to better results

  • Iterate: Don't expect perfect results on the first try - refine your steps based on testing

  • Document your flows: Add clear names and descriptions to make them easy to understand later

Troubleshooting

If your flow isn't working as expected:

  1. Check connections: Ensure all steps are properly connected

  2. Review instructions: Make sure each step has clear, specific instructions

  3. Test individual steps: Run steps in isolation to identify problems

  4. Simplify: If a step is too complex, break it into smaller steps

  5. Check inputs: Verify that each step is receiving the right type of input

Remember, building effective flows takes practice. Don't hesitate to experiment and iterate until you achieve the results you want.

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