Workflows Quickstart

Kestrel Workflows let you automate incident response, cloud resource provisioning, CI/CD pipelines, developer requests, and more — with AI-powered workflows that build themselves. Chain actions across 15+ integrations, triggered by Kubernetes signals, AWS cloud signals, Slack /kestrel-workflow requests, PagerDuty incidents, PostHog events, Vercel deployment events, custom webhooks, or on-demand runs. Build workflows with the Workflow Agent using natural language, a drag-and-drop canvas, the CLI, SDK, or MCP.

Prerequisites

A Kestrel account at platform.usekestrel.ai
At least one integration connected (see Integrations)

Create Your First Workflow

Navigate to Workflows

From the Kestrel dashboard, go to Workflows → New Workflow.You can start from a blank canvas or choose a template. Templates cover common use cases like incident response, cloud provisioning, and CI/CD automation.

Describe your workflow in natural language

Type a plain-English description of what you want automated. The Workflow Agent generates the workflow steps for you.Example:

When a pod crashes in the payments namespace, trigger root cause analysis, send a Slack message with the root cause to #incidents, and create a Jira ticket assigned to the payments team.

The Workflow Agent assembles the trigger, actions, and connections. Review the generated workflow on the canvas and adjust as needed.

You can also build workflows entirely with the drag-and-drop canvas — add trigger and action nodes, connect them, and configure each step manually.

Configure the trigger

Every workflow starts with a trigger. Select the event source that kicks off the workflow:

Trigger Type	Trigger Blocks
Kubernetes Signals	Deployment Replicas Failing, Nodes Unavailable, Pod CrashLoopBackOff, Pod ImagePullBackOff, Pod OOMKilled, Pods Failing, Pods Restarting, StatefulSet Replicas Failing, Node Memory Pressure, Node Disk Pressure, DaemonSet Failing, Any Kubernetes Incident
AWS Cloud Signals	IAM Security Event, Root Account Activity, KMS Key Change, Secrets Manager Event, Security Hub Finding, S3 Bucket Change, EC2 Instance Issue, Lambda Function Issue, ECS/EKS Container Issue, RDS Database Issue, DynamoDB Issue, VPC/Network Change, CloudWatch Alarm, Application Log Errors, Config Rule Non-Compliant, AWS Service Health Event, Any AWS Cloud Incident, Cost Anomaly Detected, Budget Threshold Exceeded
Slack Requests	Create K8s Resource, Edit K8s Resource, General Kubernetes Request, Create AWS Resource, Edit AWS Resource, General Cloud Request, Any Slack `/kestrel-workflow` Request
PagerDuty	Incident Triggered, Incident Acknowledged, Incident Resolved, Any PagerDuty Incident, High Urgency Incident
PostHog	Session Error/Exception, Console Error, Rage Click, Any PostHog Event, Log Error Alert
Vercel	Deployment Failed, Deployment Succeeded, Deployment Created, Error Anomaly, Usage Anomaly, Domain Issue, Firewall Attack Detected, Deployment Checks Failed, Production Rollback
Jenkins	Build Failed, Build Unstable, Build Succeeded, Build Completed, Build Started
CircleCI	Workflow Failed, Workflow Succeeded, Workflow Completed, Job Failed
Terraform Cloud	Run Created, Run Planning, Run Needs Attention, Run Applying, Run Completed, Run Errored, Drift Detected, Assessment Check Failed
Pulumi Cloud	Update Succeeded, Update Failed, Preview Failed, Destroy Succeeded, Deployment Started, Deployment Succeeded, Deployment Failed, Drift Detected, Drift Run Failed, Policy Violation, Stack Created, Stack Deleted
Custom Webhook	Any HTTP POST to your workflow’s unique webhook endpoint with HMAC signature verification

Configure trigger-specific filters to control when the workflow fires — for example, limit a K8s trigger to a specific namespace, cluster, or set of AWS accounts.

Configure actions and template variables

Add action steps to your workflow. Each action targets an integration and performs a specific operation — sending a Slack message, creating a Jira ticket, running an RCA, applying a Kubernetes manifest, and so on.Use the variable picker to insert dynamic values from the trigger or from previous action outputs into any field. Variables use the {{variable_name}} syntax and are type-checked at build time.

Actions execute sequentially by default. Use parallel branches on the canvas to run actions concurrently.

Set cooldown and save

Configure a cooldown period to prevent the same trigger from firing the workflow repeatedly in a short window. For example, set a 5-minute cooldown so a pod crash-looping every 30 seconds doesn’t generate dozens of duplicate tickets. You can also select “No cooldown” for workflows that should fire on every event.Click Save to activate the workflow.

Test the workflow

Use the Test button to simulate a trigger event and trace the workflow execution step by step. Each action shows its input, output, and execution time.

You can also trigger a test run from the CLI with kestrel workflow test <workflow-id>.

Example Workflows

Use Case	Trigger	Actions
Self-healing K8s incident	Pod CrashLoopBackOff	RCA → Slack alert → Apply fix → Jira ticket
Cloud provisioning via Slack	Slack `/kestrel-workflow` request	Parse request → Provision AWS resource → Confirm in thread
CI/CD automation	GitHub PR merged	ArgoCD sync → Run tests → Notify Slack on failure
Cost anomaly response	AWS cost spike detected	Investigate resources → Slack alert to #finops → Linear ticket
Vercel deployment failure	Vercel Deployment Failed	Get build logs → AI investigation → Slack notification
Jenkins build failure RCA	Jenkins Build Failed	Get console log → AI investigation → Slack alert to #ci → Jira ticket
CircleCI flaky-build retry	CircleCI Workflow Failed	Rerun from failed → Wait for pipeline → PagerDuty page if it fails again
Terraform apply approval	Terraform Run Needs Attention	Get run plan summary → Slack approval → Apply or Discard run
Pulumi update failure retry	Pulumi Update Failed	AI investigation → Slack approval → Run deployment (update) → Wait for result
PostHog exception alert	PostHog Session Error	Session summary → Slack alert → Jira ticket if critical

What’s Next

Create Custom Integrations — build custom HTTP action blocks and webhook triggers for any API or service
Workflow Observability — monitor execution history, latency, and failure rates
Set Up Integrations — connect the tools your workflows need

​Prerequisites

​Create Your First Workflow

​Example Workflows

​What’s Next

Prerequisites

Create Your First Workflow

Example Workflows

What’s Next