.flow

• Create a new Flow project (

  uip maestro flow init

  )

• Edit a

  .flow

  file — add nodes, edges, variables, subflows, transforms, triggers
• Explore available node types via the registry
• Validate or format a Flow file locally
• Apply Node ownership — Edit/Write for user-owned nodes, CLI for CLI-owned nodes (see Author capability)
• Configure connector, connector-trigger, or managed HTTP nodes; scaffold inline-agent projects
• Add IxP / document-extraction nodes to a flow, or list IxP models available to Maestro Flow through the flow registry
• Plan a complex flow before building

• Push a flow to Studio Web (

  uip solution upload

  )
• Deploy a flow to Orchestrator (

  uip maestro flow pack

  +

  uip solution publish

  )

• Debug a flow end-to-end against real systems
• Trigger a deployed process
• Check job status or stream traces
• Pause, resume, cancel, or retry a running instance

• Triage a failed

  flow debug

  or deployed process run
• Read incidents, runtime variables, deployed BPMN
• Recognize known failure modes (MST-9107, MST-9061, HITL-stuck, reused reference IDs, single-nested layout)

• Create evaluators (

  exact-match

  ,

  json-similarity

  ,

  contains

  ,

  llm-judge-*

  ) for a Flow project
• Create eval sets, add data points (test cases), pin entry points
• Start Studio Web eval runs, poll status, fetch results, compare runs

• Decide whether to call

  uip solution upload

  (almost always: don't auto-run; ask first)

Tool vocabulary. Tool names in this skill use Claude Code conventions:

Edit

= in-place string replacement,

Write

= full-file write,

Read

/

Glob

/

Grep

= file read/search,

Bash

= shell, progress list = the harness's task list. On another harness, map each to its equivalent — the semantics (reviewable in-place diff vs wholesale rewrite, shell as last resort for file edits) carry unchanged.

1. ALWAYS use

   --output json

   and prefer

   --output-filter

   for extraction on all

   uip

   commands when parsing output programmatically.

   --output-filter <jmespath>

   is a global CLI flag applied to the

   Data

   envelope before printing — write expressions starting at

   Data

   (no

   Data.

   prefix). Canonical recipe:

   uip maestro flow registry search <keyword> --output json --output-filter "[*].{NodeType:NodeType,DisplayName:DisplayName,Description:Description,AvailableOnTenant:AvailableOnTenant}"

   .

   registry search

   returns

   Data

   as a flat array of PascalCase objects (

   NodeType

   ,

   DisplayName

   ,

   Description

   ,

   AvailableOnTenant

   ) — NOT

   Data.Nodes

   , lowercase

   type

   , or lowercase

   category

   . With

   --local

   ,

   AvailableOnTenant

   is omitted (no tenant lookup) — drop it from the projection. External parsers (

   python3 -c

   ,

   jq

   ) remain valid for transforms JMESPath cannot express; reach for them only after the shape is verified. Full mechanics, fall-back guidance, and shape-inspection probes: cli-conventions.md §3.
2. Do NOT run

   flow debug

   without explicit user consent — debug executes the flow for real (sends emails, posts messages, calls APIs).
3. Resource discovery order — search before creating. When the prompt references an existing resource by name ("use the X agent", "call the Y API workflow", "invoke the Z RPA process"), follow this order strictly before deciding the resource doesn't exist:
   1. Pull, then search the tenant registry —

      uip maestro flow registry pull --force && uip maestro flow registry search "<name>" --output json

      . Always pull first:

      search

      reads the local cache (populated by

      pull

      , expires after 30 min), so a search before a fresh pull can return empty for a resource that exists. Requires

      uip login

      ; returns published resources.
   2. In-solution local discovery —

      uip maestro flow registry list --local --output json

      , or

      uip maestro flow registry search "<name>" --local --output json

      for keyword match. No login required; returns sibling projects in the same

      .uipx

      solution. An empty

      search --local

      is not proof of absence (the keyword may not match the project's naming) — confirm with

      list --local

      before concluding the resource is not in the solution.
   3. Only then create/scaffold — scaffold an inline agent, mock, or create-new-resource only when both searches return no match AND either the user explicitly asks to embed/inline/create, or no published resource can satisfy the requirement.
   The words "coded" and "low-code" describe the implementation style of a published agent — they are NOT synonyms for "inline".

   uipath.agent.autonomous

   (inline) is only correct when the user explicitly asks to embed/inline/create a new agent inside this flow. Only use

   core.logic.mock

   when the resource is not in the same solution and not yet published. See the relevant resource plugin's

   impl.md

   (e.g., rpa, agent).
   The same "search before deciding it doesn't exist" discipline applies to connector connections. The connector key MUST come from a

   registry search

   node type (

   uipath.connector.<connector-key>.<activity>

   ) — never inferred from the service's brand name. The registry key is frequently prefixed or qualified differently than the product name, so a guessed key silently misses the real connector. Any

   uip is connections list

   used for discovery MUST pass

   --all-folders

   . An empty result from an unverified key or without

   --all-folders

   is a false negative, never authoritative — do not conclude "no connection exists" or ask the user to create one until both hold.
   It also applies to ANY external service named in the prompt — not just in-tenant resources. Before picking a node type for a named service (Slack, open-meteo, Stripe, any REST API), run

   uip maestro flow registry search "<service>" --output json

   and follow the Selecting External Service Nodes ladder (connector → managed HTTP → RPA). Manual

   core.action.http.v2

   is the bottom of that ladder, chosen only after a search finds no connector — never a first guess from the brand name. This holds even when full planning is skipped (see greenfield.md — Select the node type for each external service).
   Two tells that you skipped the search and took the brand-name shortcut — both are build defects, not valid manual-mode HTTP: (a) you authored a manual-mode

   core.action.http.v2

   node whose

   url

   targets a well-known SaaS API domain that has a connector (

   slack.com/api/*

   ,

   api.github.com

   ,

   *.salesforce.com

   ,

   graph.microsoft.com

   , …); (b) you declared an

   in

   variable to hold that service's API token or secret (e.g. a

   slackToken

   holding an

   xoxb-…

   bot token, an

   apiKey

   , a bearer token). A connector-backed flow never carries the raw credential — the IS connection does. If you find yourself writing either, stop: run

   uip maestro flow registry search "<service>"

   and

   uip is connections list "<connector-key>" --all-folders

   , then use the connector activity (or connector-mode HTTP:

   authentication:"connector"

   +

   targetConnector

   + a bound

   connectionId

   /

   folderKey

   ). Manual mode is legitimate only for a service the search proves has no connector.
4. Never invoke other skills automatically — when a flow needs an RPA process, agent, or app, identify the gap and provide handoff instructions. Let the user decide when to switch skills.
5. Always present user questions as a dropdown with a "Something else" escape hatch — Whenever this skill needs a decision from the user (which solution to use, publish vs debug vs deploy, which connector to pick, which trigger type, which resource to bind, etc.), ask the user a question with the enumerated choices as options AND include "Something else" as the last option so the user can supply free-form string input. Never ask open-ended questions in chat when a finite set of sensible defaults exists. If the user picks "Something else", parse their string answer and continue. No structured-question facility on the harness → ask in chat as a numbered list with "Something else" last. Running non-interactively (CI/headless — no user available to answer) → take the pre-selected/recommended option, proceed, and record the decision prominently in the final report; if no option is marked recommended, stop and report the open decision instead of guessing. Exception: consent gates (

   flow debug

   , destructive operations) are never auto-answered — in non-interactive mode, stop and report the blocked step instead. These fallbacks define "ask the user" / "confirm with the user" wherever this skill's references require it.

1. Discover the target solution before you scaffold — a Flow project MUST live inside a solution (layout is always double-nested:

   <Solution>/<Project>/<Project>.flow

   ). Before any

   uip solution init

   or

   uip maestro flow init

   for a NEW Flow, run

   find . -maxdepth 2 -type f -name '*.uipx' -print

   . If it lists one or more solutions, STOP — do not scaffold, initialize, delete, or repair anything. Ask which solution to use (dropdown per rule #5): one option per discovered solution, "Create a new solution", then "Something else" last; continue only after the answer. This holds even when the user says they want a new solution or supplies only a Flow-project name — never silently adopt an existing solution, and when they pick "Create a new solution", ask for its name rather than defaulting to the Flow-project name. If none are found, create one automatically (default its name to the Flow name unless the user specifies otherwise). Prefer solution-first — it works on every CLI version and lets you set the two names independently:

   uip solution init "<SolutionName>" --output json && cd "<SolutionName>" && uip maestro flow init "<FlowName>" --output json

   →

   <SolutionName>/<FlowName>/<FlowName>.flow

   , with the project auto-registered in the parent

   .uipx

   (

   Data.SolutionRegistration.Status: "Registered"

   );

   <SolutionName>

   and

   <FlowName>

   are independent and need not match. On a current CLI, running

   uip maestro flow init "<FlowName>"

   outside any solution instead auto-scaffolds

   <FlowName>Solution/<FlowName>Solution.uipx

   with the project at

   <FlowName>Solution/<FlowName>/

   (response carries

   Data.AutoCreatedSolution

   ) — convenient, but it forces the

   <FlowName>Solution

   name, so use it only when the solution name doesn't matter.

   --skip-solution-registration

   opts out of both auto-scaffold and registration, leaving a bare single-nested

   <Flow>/<Flow>.flow

   that fails Studio Web upload and packaging. If a non-empty directory already exists at the path you typed, init warns and leaves it untouched. Never drop the

   cd

   between

   solution init

   and

   flow init

   —

   flow init

   in the old directory auto-scaffolds a duplicate

   <FlowName>Solution/

   . One

   project.uiproj

   at finish; delete strays. See author/greenfield.md Step 2.

1. Narrate progress in plain English only when the user has opted into verbosity — silent by default. Engage when the user asks for narration / progress ("walk me through it", "show your steps", "verbose", "be detailed") or signals a verbosity preference; otherwise work quietly and surface only decisions, failures, consent gates, and the final result. When engaged: one short line per logical step, in user terms ("checking your tenant login", "adding the Slack node and wiring its inputs", "running validate") — no flag-level or JSON-structure-level detail, applied uniformly across

   uip

   CLI calls, shell builtins, file edits, and bulk searches. See shared/ux-narration-and-todos.md §When to engage.
2. Maintain a user-facing progress list only when the user has opted into progress tracking / verbosity. In silent mode there is no user-facing todo list (the agent MAY track privately). When engaged: any journey above the trivial threshold gets a granular list — one logical step ≈ one todo, granularity per-step not per-phase. The count emerges from the journey's actual steps; do not target a number. Bash plumbing inside a step (registry lookups, JSON parsing, intermediate file reads) is invisible — do not surface as todos. See shared/ux-narration-and-todos.md for the engage triggers, granularity rules, threshold table, and pivot rules.
3. Every node has exactly one author — Edit/Write or CLI, never both. Connector activities (

   uipath.connector.<key>.<op>

   ), connector triggers (

   uipath.connector.trigger.<key>.<trigger>

   ), wait for events (

   uipath.connector.event.<key>.<event>

   — a mid-flow event wait, configured exactly like a trigger), and managed HTTP (

   core.action.http.v2

   ) are CLI-owned — use

   uip maestro flow node add

   +

   uip maestro flow node configure

   . Every other node type — triggers, control flow, logic, HITL, patterns, agents, resource nodes, queue — is user-owned: author the

   .flow

   JSON directly with

   Edit

   — or

   Write

   , but never a full-file

   Write

   on a flow that also contains CLI-owned nodes (it clobbers their CLI-set

   bindings[]

   /

   inputs.detail

   ;

   Edit

   in place, or re-run

   node configure

   as the last step).

   inputs.detail

   on CLI-owned nodes is a

   =jsonString:essentialConfiguration

   envelope that the validator rejects when hand-authored. Inline-agent CLI is limited to agent project lifecycle (

   uip agent init / refresh / validate --inline-in-flow

   ); the

   uipath.agent.autonomous

   flow node itself is user-owned. Scripting languages (

   python

   ,

   node

   ,

   jq

   ,

   sed

   ,

   awk

   , inline shell heredocs) are a last resort for user-owned edits and require explicit user approval after the trade-offs (state bypass, opaque diff, no interruption point) are surfaced. Canonical source of truth: author/CAPABILITY.md — Node ownership (full table); author/editing-operations.md — Tool Selection Ladder (per-operation ladder).
4. Batch tool calls into one assistant turn whenever data dependencies allow — minimize wall-clock round-trips. A typical greenfield build is 3 turns, not 10+: (T1) one chained

   Bash

   for scaffold + registry pull + CLI-owned

   node add

   , in parallel with

   registry get

   and

   Read

   calls for any extra discovery; (T2) one

   Read

   of the scaffolded

   .flow

   in parallel with the

   Edit

   /

   Write

   calls that add the End node and wire edges; (T3) one chained

   Bash

   for

   node configure && validate && format

   . Within an assistant message: chain sequential

   uip

   calls with

   &&

   in a single

   Bash

   , and emit independent

   Bash

   /

   Read

   /

   Edit

   calls as parallel tool uses. Only split turns where a later call truly depends on an earlier call's stdout or on a file mutation. See author/references/greenfield.md — Three-turn execution map for the canonical pattern.
5. Cross-node bindings inside

   =js:

   need the

   $vars.

   prefix — a bare node reference resolves to

   undefined

   at runtime.

   "recordId": "=js:$vars.createEntityRecord1.output.Id"

   is correct;

   "recordId": "=js:createEntityRecord1.output.Id"

   (missing

   $vars.

   ) silently resolves to

   undefined

   . Pattern:

   =js:$vars.<nodeId>.output...

   , never

   =js:<nodeId>.output...

   . See variables-and-expressions.md — IS Activity Inputs Require

   =js:

   .
6. Node and edge

   id

   s MUST start with a letter — never a bare UUID. Edges:

   edge_<sourceNodeId>_<sourcePort>_<targetNodeId>_<targetPort>

   . Nodes: descriptive camelCase. UUIDs only for the top-level flow

   id

   /

   entryPointId

   .

• Never use

  --format json

  on any

  uip

  command — the flag is

  --output json

  (rule #1).

  --format

  produces

  error: unknown option '--format'

  and exit code 3 on every

  uip

  subcommand, not a helpful message pointing you at

  --output

  .
• Avoid piping

  uip ... --output json

  to

  python3 -c

  /

  jq

  for simple field extraction — use

  --output-filter

  instead (rule #1). The common failure mode: the agent assumes

  Data.Nodes

  (or another nested shape) and the external parser silently returns

  []

  against

  Data

  's actual flat array, prompting a second and third retry with different access paths.

  --output-filter

  does not rescue a wrong-shape guess by itself — a valid expression that doesn't match (e.g.

  "Nodes"

  against the flat array) still returns

  Data: []

  with exit 0; only an invalid expression (bad syntax, or a type error like

  keys(@)

  on an array) exits non-zero. The fix is the pinned shape in rule #1, so you write the right expression on call #1. Reserve external parsers for transforms JMESPath cannot express (multi-step joins, format conversion); when in doubt, verify the shape first — see cli-conventions.md §3 for the

  type(@)

  first-probe sequence (note:

  keys(@)

  throws on arrays, so use

  type(@)

  first).
• Never run

  flow debug

  as a validation step — debug executes the flow with real side effects (rule #2). Use

  flow validate

  for checking correctness.
• Never silently pick the first match from

  uip maestro flow registry search

  . When a search returns multiple connectors for the same intent, apply the canonical Connector Disambiguation ladder via connector/planning.md — Disambiguation, which defers to the Integration Service rules.
• Never conclude "no connection exists" from a bare

  uip is connections list

  — discovery requires

  --all-folders

  and a connector key derived from

  registry search

  , not a brand name (rule #3). Without both, "No connections found" is a false negative; do not surface it as an Open Question or ask the user to create one.
• Never write

  customFieldsRequestDetails.parameterValues

  as a JSON object map — Studio Web's TS port emits

  Map<string,string|null>

  via

  Array.from(entries())

  , so the on-wire shape is

  [[key, value], ...]

  tuples. Object-form

  {key: value}

  is rejected by the CLI at validate time. Inner keys are camelCase (

  objectActionName

  ,

  parameterValues

  ), not PascalCase. See connector/impl.md Step 6c.
• Never treat a

  flow validate

  exit code of 0 as "done" when it printed warnings. Warnings are build defects the validator chose not to hard-fail — read every one and resolve it before declaring the flow complete. The connector-keyword warning (

  node "…" mentions the "<connector>" connector keyword but uses the generic Managed HTTP type core.action.http.v2 with no connection binding

  ) means you took the brand-name shortcut (rule #3) — fix it by binding the connector, do not ship past it. A green exit with an unresolved connector warning still fails downstream connector checks and runs against an undefined endpoint at debug time.
• Never issue setup or finalization CLI calls one-per-turn. Each separate Bash call adds a model round-trip — the dominant wall-clock cost. Chain them per rule #10 and the Three-turn execution map.

Trouble? If something didn't work as expected, use

/uipath-feedback

to send a report.