> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.metal.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Run and review Metal AI workflows

> Run a Metal AI workflow, provide required and optional inputs, follow it on the run canvas, and review the output, artifacts, and reports.

Workflows automate multi-step research — screening targets, gathering data, drafting work product — so your team doesn't do it by hand. Open **Workflows** in the sidebar to see the ones available to you.

## Run a workflow

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find a workflow">
    On the **Workflows** page, find the one you want and click **Run**. (Workflows that run on events or email show **View runs** instead.)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Provide inputs">
    In the **Run workflow** dialog, fill in any required inputs, then click **Run**. Optional fields can be left blank — a blank optional field is omitted from the run rather than sent as an empty value. If **Run** is disabled, its tooltip names the specific required fields that still need a value. Fields supplied by a webhook or event trigger, and fields reserved for manual runs, appear in their own section. They are optional for manual runs; on triggered runs, the workflow fills them itself.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Watch it run">
    You're taken to the run page as it executes.
  </Step>
</Steps>

You can also start workflows from resource pages when the workflow is meant to run against a specific company, deal, or project. Look for **Run Workflow** on the company, deal, or project page, then choose the workflow and provide its inputs.

## Run a comparable-company workflow

Comparable-company workflows, sometimes called comparable-deals workflows, are configured for specific organizations. They do not appear as a separate default section for every customer.

If your organization has one configured:

1. Open **Workflows** from the sidebar, or open the relevant company, deal, or project page and click **Run Workflow**.
2. Select the comparable-company workflow.
3. Provide the required inputs. These usually include the target company or deal, and may include documents, folders, or scoring context depending on how your workflow is configured.
4. Open the run page to watch progress and review the output.

If you do not see the workflow, it usually means one of these is true:

* The workflow has not been configured for your organization yet.
* You do not have permission to see or run it.
* The workflow is private, unpublished, or tied to an event/email trigger rather than manual runs.

Ask your Metal admin or Metal contact to confirm the workflow is configured, published, and shared with the right users.

## Review results

On a run page you'll find:

* A **Steps** tab showing each step as it runs.
* An **Output** tab with the result once the run completes (it opens automatically).
* Downloadable artifacts, including an **Output report** where applicable.

Find past runs under **Recent Runs** on the Workflows page.

### Run canvas

Workflows that use conditional **branch** steps are drawn on a canvas that lays each arm out as its own lane. The lane the run took is drawn normally; the arm that was not taken is dimmed, along with the edges into it, so you can see at a glance which path the workflow chose. Steps in the dimmed arm are marked as skipped, and you can still open them to see what they would have run. Click any card — including a skipped one — to open its details in a pane beside the canvas without collapsing the rest of the run.

## Run workflows from MCP

If your admin has enabled the [Metal MCP server](/mcp/overview), an MCP-compatible assistant can run the same workflows you can access in the app.

Ask the assistant to:

1. Use `list_workflows` to find the comparable-company workflow.
2. Use `get_workflow` to inspect the required input schema.
3. Use `run_workflow` with the required inputs.
4. Use `get_workflow_run` to poll the run and read the output, artifacts, and citations.

MCP access follows your Metal user permissions. If the assistant cannot find the workflow, confirm that you can see and run it in the Metal app first.

<Tip>
  Building automations programmatically? See [Automate research with workflows](/guides/automate-workflows) in the Developers product.
</Tip>


## Related topics

- [Workflows, runs, and branch steps](/concepts/workflows.md)
- [Automate research with workflows](/guides/automate-workflows.md)
- [Metal MCP server](/mcp/overview.md)
- [Navigating Metal](/help/navigating.md)
- [Set up NDA Library](/help/admin/nda-library.md)