41 Sample Workspace and Demo Flows
41.1 Overview
This guide describes how to set up a sample workspace with pre-configured knowledge, agents, and email so new users can try Sophea Automations immediately.
41.2 Sample Workspace Configuration
41.2.1 Prerequisites
- Sophea platform running locally or on staging
- At least one workspace with knowledge indexed
- Workspace email configured (see Admin Guide)
- At least one Nous agent configured (for agent-related flows)
41.2.2 Recommended setup
For a complete demo experience, configure the following:
Knowledge base: Index at least 10 documents covering:
- Company policies (remote work, expense, security)
- Product documentation (API guides, user manuals)
- Internal wiki (team processes, onboarding checklists)
AI model: Ensure
workspace_defaultmodel alias is configured in LiteLLMAgent: Configure a web-search agent for research flows
Email: Configure SMTP so email-sending flows work end-to-end
41.3 Demo Flows
41.3.1 Demo 1: Create your first flow (5 minutes)
Goal: Search the knowledge base and display the answer.
- Open the automations builder
- Create a new flow with a Manual Trigger
- Add the
ask_nous_knowledgeaction - Set the question to: “What is our remote work policy?”
- Test the step
- Publish the flow
- Run the flow manually
What this demonstrates: Knowledge search, AI grounding, citation support.
41.3.2 Demo 2: Generate a flow with AI (3 minutes)
Goal: Use AI to generate a flow from a description.
- Open the automations builder
- Click “Generate with AI”
- Enter: “Every day at 9 AM, search the knowledge base for recent updates and email a summary to the flow runner”
- Review the generated flow
- Test each step
- Publish the flow
What this demonstrates: AI flow generation, schedule triggers, knowledge search, email.
41.3.3 Demo 3: Set up an approval workflow (5 minutes)
Goal: Use AI to review content before publishing.
- Open the automations builder
- Create a new flow with a Manual Trigger
- Add the
llm_approvalaction - Set the criteria to: “Approve if the content is professional, accurate, and free of sensitive data”
- Set the subject to a draft blog post or marketing copy
- Set the confidence threshold to 0.8
- Test the step
- Add a
send_workspace_emailaction after the approval - Configure the email to notify the runner of the decision
- Publish and run
What this demonstrates: LLM approval gates, conditional flow, email notification.
41.3.4 Demo 4: Run a research agent (5 minutes)
Goal: Use a Nous agent to research a topic and summarize results.
- Open the automations builder
- Create a new flow with a Manual Trigger
- Add the
start_agent_runaction - Set the agentId to your web-search agent
- Set the message to: “Research the top 3 competitors in enterprise AI platforms”
- Add the
get_agent_run_artifactsaction - Add the
send_workspace_emailaction to email the results - Test each step
- Publish and run
What this demonstrates: Agent lifecycle, async execution, artifact retrieval, email.
41.3.5 Demo 5: Batch knowledge search (3 minutes)
Goal: Search multiple queries in one step.
- Open the automations builder
- Create a new flow with a Manual Trigger
- Add the
batch_search_knowledgeaction - Set the queries to: [“current sprint goals”, “open customer issues”, “recent deployment notes”]
- Set the limit to 5
- Test the step
- Add the
ask_workspace_modelaction to summarize the results - Publish and run
What this demonstrates: Batch search, multi-query RAG, AI summarization.
41.4 Template Gallery Tour
The template gallery has 43 domain templates across 9 categories, plus 8 starter templates. For a quick tour:
- Knowledge: Try the “FAQ answer generator” template
- Approvals: Try the “Security review gate” template
- Research: Try the “Competitor analysis” template
- Reports: Try the “Executive summary generator” template
- Email: Try the “Weekly knowledge summary” template
Each template lists setup requirements so you know what needs to be configured before use.
41.5 Troubleshooting
41.5.1 Flow does not start
- Check that the trigger is configured correctly
- For schedule triggers, verify the timezone and time
- For webhook triggers, verify the URL and HMAC configuration
- Check the run history for error messages
41.5.2 Knowledge search returns no results
- Verify that documents are indexed in the knowledge base
- Check that the user running the flow has access to the documents
- Try a broader search query
- Check the RAG service logs for errors
41.5.3 Email not sent
- Verify SMTP configuration in the Nous backend
- Check that the recipient is a workspace member
- Verify the email body is not empty
- Check the Nous backend logs for SMTP errors
41.5.4 AI model returns an error
- Verify the LiteLLM proxy is running
- Check that the model alias is configured
- Verify the model is available and not rate-limited
- Check the LiteLLM logs for circuit breaker trips