Plays overview

Plays are automated workflows that trigger based on changes in your data models. Unlike tools which are manually triggered, plays continuously monitor your data and execute when relevant changes occur. This guide covers everything you need to know about the play editor.

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The play editor

The play editor provides a visual canvas for building automation workflows. Each play connects to a data model and executes whenever matching changes are detected. Key concepts:

• Trigger defines when the play executes and what data it receives
• Nodes are the individual steps in your play (enrich, branch, write, etc.)
• Actions are the operations each node performs—Cargo offers 120+ actions across logic, AI, integrations, and more
• Connections define how data flows between nodes
• Fallbacks handle errors gracefully when nodes fail

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Publishing and enabling

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Draft mode

When you create or modify a play, changes are saved as a draft. You can leave and return later without losing progress.

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Publishing

Once you’re satisfied with your play design, click Publish to create a new version. Publishing makes your changes active for all future runs.

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Running and re-running

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Manual enrolment

You can manually enrol records into a play regardless of whether it’s enabled:

1. Navigate to the Records view in your play
2. Click the import button to enrol specific records
3. Monitor execution in the runs panel

This is useful for testing, backfilling data, or processing specific records on demand.

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Re-running failed runs

When runs fail due to errors, you can re-run them after making corrections:

1. Navigate to the Records view
2. Select the failed runs you want to retry
3. Choose your re-run strategy:

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Handling failures with fallbacks

Plays can encounter errors during execution. Rather than letting the entire run fail, you can define fallback paths to handle errors gracefully.

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Adding a fallback path

1. Right-click on the node you want to add a fallback to
2. Select Failure from the context menu
3. Choose the fallback option under the fail mode

This creates a new connection handle on the right side of the node. Any nodes connected from this fallback handle will only execute if the original node fails.

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Common fallback patterns

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Monitoring workflow health

Play health needs to be closely monitored to avoid disruptions in key processes. The editor provides real-time visibility into execution status.

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Health indicators

The play header displays:

• Success rate — Percentage of runs completing without errors
• Recent runs — Quick view of the latest execution results
• Active runs — Number of records currently being processed

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Setting up alerts

Configure notifications to catch issues early:

1. Open the Sync settings panel
2. Set a Batch Health threshold (e.g., 80%)
3. Connect a Slack channel for alerts
4. You’ll be notified when a batch falls below your threshold

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Best practices

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Next steps