Variables

Use a Variables step to assign named values for use in subsequent steps.

Beta feature

This feature is currently in beta, and should be considered ‘under development’. Learn about the automations beta.

Overview

A Variables step assigns one or more named values using JSONata expressions. Once assigned, variables are available to all subsequent steps in the workflow, referenced directly as $variableName.

Configuration

Each Variables step contains one or more variable definitions, listed as key/value rows:

The key field (placeholder key) is the variable name used to reference the value later, for example, fullName
The value field (placeholder value) is a JSONata expression whose result is assigned to the variable, for example, $trigger.current.FirstName & ' ' & $trigger.current.LastName to build fullName

Click + Add to add another variable definition. Variables are evaluated in order, top to bottom. A variable defined earlier in the same step can be referenced by a later definition in the same step.

Tip

Clicking Use variable → switches the entire set of variable definitions to a single raw JSONata expression instead of individual key/value rows. Click ← Build manually to switch back to the row-based editor.

Referencing variables in later steps

Once a Variables step has run, any step that follows can reference its values using $variableName.

Example: reference a variable named fullName in a subsequent action argument:

$fullName

When to use a Variables step

Avoid repetition: compute a value once and reference it in multiple places, rather than duplicating a complex expression.
Improve readability: give a meaningful name to an expression that would otherwise be hard to scan in an action argument field.
Reshape data: transform or combine values from the trigger or previous actions into the exact shape needed by a downstream step.
Conditional logic: pre-compute a value used in a Choice condition to keep the condition expression simple.

Expression examples

Goal	Expression
Combine first and last name	`$trigger.current.FirstName & ' ' & $trigger.current.LastName`
Extract a nested value from a previous action	`$getRecord.result.data.AccountId`
Build a default value with a fallback	`$trigger.current.Description != null ? $trigger.current.Description : 'No description provided'`
Format a date from a trigger field	`$fromMillis($toMillis($trigger.current.StartDate), '[D01] [MNn] [Y]')`
Combine two previous variables	`$firstName & ', ' & $jobType`

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