Last updated 03 June 2026
If you edit a published flow and republish it, existing running instances are never affected. This is one of the most important things to understand about how Aitomic Flow versioning works.
Every time you publish a flow, Aitomic Flow creates a new version number (1, 2, 3, …). Each flow instance is permanently linked to the version that was active at the moment it was triggered.
This behaviour is intentional. Changing rules mid-flight for a running instance would produce unpredictable results — a step a user already completed might suddenly require new fields, or a branch might route differently.
You add a new required field to an Action step
Instances already triggered will not see the new field. Only new instances will have it. If all instances must capture this data, wait for current ones to finish before publishing the change, or handle it via a separate process for in-flight work.
You fix a branch condition
The fix applies to new instances only. If an existing instance has already passed the branch node or is stuck because of the old condition, the fix does not retroactively correct it. Consider cancelling the stuck instance and asking the requester to re-trigger.
You rename a step or change a description
Cosmetic changes do not affect running instances — old instances display the original name in their history.
Open the instance detail (Admin → Instances → click an instance). The header shows the version number and flow name, confirming which published version is in use.
If you unpublish a flow (return it to Draft), all running instances continue to completion on the version they started. Unpublishing only blocks new triggers.