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Understanding Nodes

Nodes are the building blocks of FluidGrids workflows. Each node represents a specific action, transformation, or integration point in your automation.

FluidGrids ships 51 available nodes you can place as steps: 21 built-in nodes for flow control, data handling, and actions, plus 30 store nodes for external services and AI. In the builder they live in the Node Blocks panel (built-in and installed nodes) and the Node Store (everything available to the workspace, with Install / Update / Uninstall). A read-only Node Catalog page at /workflows/nodes lists every node registered in the workspace with its status.

Separately, five trigger node types start a workflow — Trigger Manually (API), Webhook, Schedule, Form, and Error. See Workflows for what each one does.

Built-in Nodes​

The 21 built-in nodes are always available in every workspace, with no installation or credentials.

Flow Control Nodes​

  • IF — branch on a condition
  • Switch — route to one of several branches by value
  • Loop — iterate over a collection
  • Merge — combine multiple branches back into one
  • Wait — pause execution for a delay or until resumed
  • No Operation — a pass-through placeholder, useful for labelling a branch
  • Error — fail the run deliberately with a typed error
  • Subworkflow — call another workflow as a step
  • Compare Datasets — diff two collections and route the differences

Data & Transform Nodes​

  • Set — assign or reshape fields on items
  • Filter — keep only items that match a condition
  • Sort — order items by one or more keys
  • Limit — cap the number of items passed downstream
  • Split Out — expand an array field into separate items
  • Remove Duplicates — drop duplicate items by one or more key fields
  • Aggregate — roll many items up into one
  • Transform — apply custom transformation logic
  • Validate — check items against a schema
  • Code — run a custom JavaScript or Python step over the items in a hardened sandbox

Action Nodes​

  • HTTP Request — REST and generic HTTP calls with authentication, retries, and error handling
  • Log — write structured log entries during a run

Store Nodes​

Thirty store nodes are available and cover the services teams automate most often. A store node has one or more operations (Gmail alone has 32); you pick the operation when you add the node, and most operations need a connection to the service:

  • Developer tools — GitHub
  • CRM & Sales — Salesforce, HubSpot
  • Finance & Payments — Stripe, QuickBooks
  • Support — Zendesk
  • Communication & Email — Gmail, SendGrid, Slack, Google Chat
  • Google Workspace — Google Sheets, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Calendar
  • Data — PostgreSQL, Airtable
  • Reviews & Social — Twitter/X, Trustpilot, G2, App Store Connect
  • Project management — Linear
  • Platform — BigConsole DataSink
  • AI & parsing — AI Agent, Anthropic Chat Model, OpenAI Chat Model, Structured Output Parser, PDF Extract
  • AI tools — Calculator Tool, Code Executor Tool, HTTP Request Tool

See Integrations for details on each connector and AI Capabilities for the AI nodes.

Building Your Own Node​

Two paths exist:

  • Ask FluidGrids AI. The assistant's Build a node mode scaffolds a complete node package from a description and hands you a zip. See AI Assistant.
  • Write it by hand. A node is a self-contained microservice — a manifest.json describing its operations, a GraphQL schema, resolvers, and handlers — under nodes/<node>/<version>/ in the fluidgrids-nodes repository, with gmail_node as the reference. See Custom Nodes.

Getting a node into a workspace goes through the Developer Portal › Applications submission and review flow; once approved it appears in the Node Store.