---
title: "Workflows"
description: "Capture recurring AI tasks as reusable templates — with variables, steps, and a fixed output format."
canonical_url: "https://meingpt.com/en/docs/platform/workflows"
language: en
---

# Workflows

A workflow is a saved prompt template with variables, optionally several steps, and a fixed output format. Instead of retyping the same prompt every Monday, you fill in the input fields and hit **Run**.

20 minutes of copy-paste prompting turn into 30 seconds of filling out a form — if the template is built cleanly. This page shows what cleanly built means.

Not sure which tool to use? Two comparison tables help you decide:
[Workflow vs. Assistant](/en/docs/platform/assistants#assistant-or-workflow) and [Workflow vs. Prompt Library](/en/docs/platform/prompt-library#prompt-library-vs-workflows).

## Capabilities

- Any number of steps, executed in sequence
- Variable types: short text, text block, dropdown, on/off
- Per-step model choice
- **Per-step web search** toggle (useful when only research steps need live information)
- Pinned reference documents (always attached) plus optional per-run file upload
- Output formats: Markdown in chat, Word/PDF/text, Excel/CSV, PowerPoint, **structured JSON** (for downstream processing in Make/n8n or your own APIs)
- Share with a project → colleagues run the workflow without editing it

**PowerPoint and Excel as a fixed file output** (e.g. for a recurring, consistently formatted report) work via workflows with the document output toggle enabled. In a normal chat, an assistant can also generate or edit `.pptx` or `.xlsx` files - using the [Code Sandbox](/en/docs/platform/code-sandbox) or a [Skill](/en/docs/platform/skills) instead of a fixed output format. For a recurring process with a guaranteed consistent format, build a workflow; for a one-off or variable request, a normal chat is enough.

**Skills and the Code Sandbox only run in an assistant, not in a workflow.** If your recurring process needs custom code — e.g. a script that fills a Word template or calls an external API with no native connector — build it as a [Skill](/en/docs/platform/skills) in an assistant. A workflow step cannot mount a skill.

## Create and run workflows

How to build a workflow step by step, run it, and organize it — plus the mistakes to avoid along the way — lives on its own page: [**Create and Run Workflows**](/en/docs/platform/workflows-create).