Automation Flow Generate

Goal

Generate Salesforce Flow metadata by running the required 3-step MCP pipeline (fetchGroundedObjectMetadata → flowElementSelection → flowElementGeneration) and return the flow XML.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Create any type of Flow (Screen, Autolaunched, Record-Triggered, Scheduled)
• Generate Flow metadata XML
• Automate business processes without code
• Build user-guided workflows or background automation
• Troubleshoot deployment errors related to Flows

Specification

Flow Metadata Specification

Overview

Salesforce Flows are powerful automation tools that enable complex business process automation without code. Flows can collect and process data through interactive screens, execute logic and calculations, manipulate records, call external services, and trigger based on various events. Flow types include Screen Flows (user-guided), Autolaunched Flows (background processing), Record-Triggered Flows (database events) and Scheduled Flows (time-based).

Flow Generation Pipeline

MANDATORY: You MUST follow this exact 3-step pipeline. No exceptions. No shortcuts. No skipping steps. Do NOT manually create flow metadata XML or attempt to generate flow metadata outside of this pipeline. Do NOT attempt to use any other tool, API, or method to generate flow metadata. This pipeline is the ONLY supported way to generate flows. Any deviation will produce invalid or broken metadata.

MCP Connection Details

All 3 pipeline steps MUST be called using this MCP tool:

• MCP Tool Name: execute_metadata_action
• The `action` parameter selects which pipeline step to run: "fetchGroundedObjectMetadata", "flowElementSelection", or "flowElementGeneration"

Flow generation is a strict 3-step pipeline. ALL steps must be called in order. Every step is required. There is no alternative approach — this is the only way to generate flow metadata:

Step 1 (REQUIRED): Fetch Grounded Object Metadata (fetchGroundedObjectMetadata)

Fetches org schema metadata relevant to the flow generation request. This step is mandatory and must always be called first.

Inputs (all required):

• userPrompt (STRING, REQUIRED): The user's natural language request
• inflightMetadata (ARRAY, REQUIRED): Custom objects/fields from local sfdx project. Use empty array [] if none needed.

Outputs:

• groundingMetadata (STRING): Grounded object metadata for org schema relevant to the request, returned as a JSON string. You must pass this directly to Step 2 — it is already a string and does not need to be serialized again.

Step 2 (REQUIRED): Flow Element Selection (flowElementSelection)

Selects flow elements (assignments, decisions, record ops, etc.) and their connections based on the user prompt and grounded metadata. This step is mandatory and must be called after Step 1.

Inputs (all required):

• userPrompt (STRING, REQUIRED): The user's natural language request (must be the same value as Step 1)
• groundingMetadata (STRING, REQUIRED): Org schema metadata (must be the exact string returned from Step 1 output — pass it directly, do NOT serialize it again)
• operationId (STRING, REQUIRED): Operation ID (use empty string "" for first call)

Outputs:

• operationId (STRING): Operation ID. You must pass this to Step 3.
• userOutput (STRING): Reasoning for next steps. You can show this to the user.

Step 3 (REQUIRED): Flow Element Generation (flowElementGeneration)

Generates flow metadata element by element. This step is mandatory and must be called after Step 2. Must be called repeatedly in a loop until `isComplete` is `true`.

Inputs (all required):

• operationId (STRING, REQUIRED): Operation ID from Step 2 output
• requestSource (STRING, REQUIRED): The source of the request. Use `"A4V"` to get flow metadata in XML format.

Outputs:

• isComplete (BOOLEAN): Indicates if the flow generation is complete. You must check this value.
• result (STRING): Result of the flow element generation. Contains the final flow metadata only when `isComplete` is `true`.

MANDATORY: Loop until complete. NEVER pause or ask the user to confirm continuation.

• A flow can have any number of elements. Each call generates one element at a time, so you may need many iterations.
• Call flowElementGeneration with the operationId from Step 2 and requestSource (use "A4V" for XML output, empty string or other value for JSON).
• Check the isComplete output and the result field after each call.
• If isComplete is false and no errors are returned, you MUST call flowElementGeneration again with the same `operationId` from Step 2. Do NOT ask the user if they want to continue. Do NOT pause. Do NOT summarize progress mid-loop. Just keep calling — there is no maximum number of iterations.
• When isComplete is true, extract the flow metadata from the result field.
• If errors are returned, stop the loop and surface the error to the user.

STRICT CONSTRAINTS (CRITICAL) — These rules apply to the XML returned by the generation pipeline:

• DO NOT modify the content, values, or child nodes inside any block.
• DO NOT add new nodes, tags, attributes, or text (do not add missing labels, X/Y coordinates, etc.).
• DO NOT remove any existing nodes.

Canvas mode. A net-new canvas-based flow needs a <processMetadataValues> CanvasMode=AUTO_LAYOUT_CANVAS entry (independent of BuilderType) or it opens in Free-Form. STRICT CONSTRAINTS forbid hand-editing the XML, so this must come from the generation pipeline — if the returned XML lacks it, surface a pipeline gap; do NOT hand-edit. (Non-canvas types like CustomerLifecycle carry none — don't flag those.)

inflightMetadata Format

DATA TYPE: ARRAY (not string)

STRICT NAMING CONVENTION - MUST FOLLOW EXACTLY: | Property | Correct Name | Do NOT Use | |----------|-------------|---------------| | Object API name | apiName | objectApiName, name, objectName | | Field API name | apiName | fieldApiName, name, fieldName | | Field type | type | fieldType, dataType | | Lookup target | referenceTo | relatedTo, lookupTo, reference |

When custom objects are needed (sample format showing multiple field data types):

[
  {
    "type": "CustomObject",
    "apiName": "CustomerRequest__c",
    "label": "Customer Request",
    "fields": [
      {
        "apiName": "Status__c",
        "type": "Picklist",
        "label": "Status",
        "values": ["New", "In Progress", "Completed"]
      },
      {
        "apiName": "Priority__c",
        "type": "Number",
        "label": "Priority"
      },
      {
        "apiName": "AssignedTo__c",
        "type": "Lookup",
        "label": "Assigned To",
        "referenceTo": "User"
      },
      {
        "apiName": "Description__c",
        "type": "Textarea",
        "label": "Description"
      },
      {
        "apiName": "Email__c",
        "type": "Email",
        "label": "Contact Email"
      },
      {
        "apiName": "DueDate__c",
        "type": "Date",
        "label": "Due Date"
      },
      {
        "apiName": "IsUrgent__c",
        "type": "Boolean",
        "label": "Is Urgent"
      },
      {
        "apiName": "Amount__c",
        "type": "Currency",
        "label": "Amount"
      }
    ],
    "relationships": []
  }
]

Supported field types: Text, Textarea, Number, Picklist, Lookup, Email, Phone, URL, Date, Datetime, Boolean, Checkbox, Currency, Percent

When no custom objects needed:

[]

MANDATORY Decision Logic for inflightMetadata (DATA TYPE: ARRAY)

1. REQUIRED - First: Scan the local sfdx project for custom objects and fields that are relevant to the user's flow request.