# What is Lodol?

> Lodol runs your automations for you. Say what should happen and when, and Lodol does it every time, with your keys kept safe and every run on the record.

Web page: https://docs.lodol.com/docs

A Lodol **workflow** is a short list of steps that runs on its own. It starts when something happens in one of your apps, on a schedule, or when you start it, and then works through its steps the same way every time. There is no server to keep running, no script to maintain and no keys sitting in a file.

<WorkflowPreview
  title="Log Stripe payments"
  steps={[
    { step: 'New Stripe payment', app: 'Stripe', trigger: true },
    { step: 'Append row', app: 'Google Sheets', note: 'Revenue sheet' },
    { step: 'Send a message to a channel', app: 'Slack', note: '#sales' },
  ]}
  caption="A real workflow: each new Stripe payment adds a row to a sheet and posts in Slack."
/>

This one workflow replaces a script, a cron job, a server and an alert. It starts itself when a payment comes in, uses your Stripe, Google and Slack connections without ever showing their keys, records every run step by step, and emails you if a run fails. The rest of these docs build on this example.

## Three ways to build a workflow

<Cards>
  <Card
    title="Ask your AI tool"
    description="Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another AI tool and describe what you want. It builds the workflow in Lodol for you."
    href="/docs/build-with-ai"
  />
  <Card
    title="Start from a template"
    description="Pick one of the prebuilt workflows for sales, finance, support and more, then connect your apps."
    href="https://www.lodol.com/workflows"
  />
  <Card
    title="Build it yourself"
    description="Add a trigger and steps in the visual editor, one at a time. The concepts below explain each part."
    href="/docs/concepts/workflows"
  />
</Cards>

You can also start workflows and read their results from your own code with the [developer API](https://docs.lodol.com/docs/api.md).

## The parts of a workflow

| Part | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| [Trigger](https://docs.lodol.com/docs/concepts/triggers.md) | What starts the workflow: an event in an app, a schedule, or you. |
| [Steps](https://docs.lodol.com/docs/concepts/steps-and-data.md) | What it does, in order: app actions such as **Append row**, and built-in steps such as **If** or **Request approval**. |
| [Data](https://docs.lodol.com/docs/concepts/steps-and-data.md#every-step-hands-its-result-to-the-steps-after-it) | What each step produces, which later steps read with `@` references such as `@payment.amount`. |
| [Inputs and outputs](https://docs.lodol.com/docs/concepts/inputs-and-outputs.md) | Values a workflow can be given when it starts, and values it hands back. |
| [Runs](https://docs.lodol.com/docs/concepts/runs.md) | Each time the workflow runs, recorded step by step. |
| [Connections and secrets](https://docs.lodol.com/docs/concepts/connections.md) | Your app accounts and API keys, kept encrypted and used by name. |

## Where to go next

<Cards>
  <Card title="Build with your AI tool" description="Connect your AI to Lodol in a minute and build this workflow by describing it." href="/docs/build-with-ai" />
  <Card title="Browse integrations" description="Every app and built-in step, with each action's inputs and outputs." href="/docs/integrations" />
  <Card title="Run workflows from your code" description="Start a run and read its result with the developer API." href="/docs/api/quickstart" />
</Cards>