A chat workflow can include a step that hands the visitor a Yaplet form, waits while they fill it in, and then carries on. This is the right pattern when you need specific answers before routing the conversation or triggering an action — no agent has to ask for them.
Add a Start a form step
- In the sidebar, open Brand → (your brand) → Workflows. A workflow belongs to one brand, and this is the only list of them.
- Open the workflow you want to edit, or click New workflow.
- On a card in the builder, click Add a step and pick Start a form from the list.
- In the panel that opens, choose the form from the Form dropdown. Forms are grouped under the name of their board, so you can tell two similarly named forms apart.
- Optional: under Fill in from this workflow, pre-fill the form's text questions with something the workflow already knows — type a value's name in double braces, such as
{{ order_id }}. The visitor can still change what appears. Leave a question empty to ask it as usual. - Connect the step to whatever should happen next, then save.
You need the Chat workflows right to open the builder at all, and the Forms right to have built the form in the first place.
A form step limits where the workflow can run
This is the part worth knowing before you design the flow. A form is a widget feature, so adding a Start a form step narrows the workflow to the chat widget only. The Workflows list shows this per workflow in its Channels column, and the builder marks the step itself:
- Chat widget — runs normally.
- Facebook Messenger and Instagram — refused. The list says "Cannot run on Facebook — it contains a form step".
- Phone calls — refused, for the same reason. A caller has no screen to fill a form in on.
If you need the same conversation on social or on the phone, collect the answers with question steps instead of a form, or keep two workflows.
What happens at runtime
When a visitor reaches the step, a card from Vex appears in the chat — "Vex would like you to fill this form:" — with one button carrying the form's name, and the workflow waits. Tapping it opens the form in the widget. Once they submit:
- The workflow continues to the next connected step.
- A ticket is created on the board that form feeds, with all the submitted data.
- The answers are available in the conversation for the rest of the flow.
Your team can send it during a live chat
A workflow an agent starts from the inbox runs even with an agent on the chat, whatever its trigger, which is what makes "send this intake form mid-conversation" work. For a workflow meant only for this, pick No automatic start as its trigger. Automatic triggers stay suppressed while an agent is handling the chat, deliberately, so a bot cannot interrupt a person.
Good use cases
- Lead qualification — before the bot answers a question, collect name, company, and use case.
- Support triage — gather issue type and order number before escalating to a person.
- Feedback loop — at the end of a workflow, ask for a quick rating with a numeric scale field.
A workflow belongs to exactly one brand and is deleted with it. To reuse one elsewhere, use Duplicate or Copy to another brand… in its row menu — the copy arrives switched off. For more on building workflows, see Build your first chatbot workflow.