Versioned journeys

An automation journey is stored as a graph. Publishing creates an immutable version with a version number, graph, checksum, publisher, and publication time. Runs should retain the version that started them even after the automation is edited.

Typical nodes

• Entry trigger from a form, tag, commerce event, schedule, or provider event
• Condition or segment check
• Wait until a time or for a duration
• Send email or SMS
• Update a contact, tag, audience, or entitlement
• Request approval before a sensitive action
• Exit, failure, or recovery path

Execution records

Automation step runs expose which node is running, complete, waiting, failed, or retried. Dead-letter records preserve work that exceeded retry policy. Approvals record the decision and actor for steps that require human control.

Design guidance

• Make every side effect idempotent.
• Put a ceiling on retries and wait duration.
• Add explicit exits for unsubscribed or suppressed contacts.
• Re-check consent immediately before communication.
• Publish a new version for every graph change.
• Keep a manual recovery path for failed steps.