Human-in-the-loop (HITL) means a real person must review, decide, or act before a workflow continues. MergePoint handles this with two canvas nodes — Create Task and User Approval — and the form you design in Form Studio.
Why it exists
Some decisions shouldn't be automated. An invoice above a certain amount needs a manager's sign-off. A vendor application needs a compliance review. A contract draft needs legal approval. HITL workflows let you build these checkpoints into your automations: the workflow pauses, a task lands in someone's queue, they act on it, and the workflow picks up from where it stopped.
The two nodes
Create Task
Placed on the canvas where the workflow should pause. When the run reaches this node, it creates a task in the Tasks view and holds there until the assignee completes it.
You configure it by picking a task type — this auto-attaches the task layout (the form the assignee sees) and sets the bucket the task will appear in. If no task types exist yet, you can create one from the node's inspector.
Example: In an invoice approval workflow, the Create Task node fires after the invoice data is extracted. A task called "Invoice Review – Acme Corp, $12,400" lands in the Finance Review queue.
User Approval
Placed alongside Create Task (typically before it on the canvas) to configure assignment and define what happens after the person acts.
Assignment — three modes:
- Role — assigns to everyone holding a named role, like "Finance Manager". Useful when you want any available person in that role to handle it.
- People — assigns to specific named individuals.
- From workflow — resolves the assignee from an earlier step's output. Use this when the right reviewer depends on data in the run (e.g., the department the invoice belongs to).
Decisions — define the outcomes the assignee can choose. The defaults are Approve and Reject, each routing the workflow to a different downstream branch. You can rename these and add additional outcomes. In simpler confirmation flows, there's a single Submit button with no branching.
Example (continued): The User Approval node is configured with Role = "Finance Manager". When the task arrives, the two Finance Managers on the team both receive it. The first to respond wins. They see Approve and Reject buttons. Clicking Approve continues the workflow to payment processing; Reject routes to a notification step that flags the invoice for revision.
What the assignee experiences
- A task appears in their Tasks view (and they receive an email notification with a direct link)
- They open the task and see the form designed in Form Studio — relevant data, input fields, and action buttons
- They fill in any required fields and click the action button (Approve, Reject, Submit, or a custom label)
- If a confirmation dialog is configured on the button, it appears before the action commits
- The workflow resumes
Form Studio
Form Studio is not a canvas node — it's the editor where you design the form the assignee sees when they open the task. You access it by opening the linked task layout from the Create Task node's inspector. The form controls what data is shown, what the assignee can fill in, and what the action buttons are labelled.
Next steps
- Task Assignment — configure User Approval node assignment rules in detail
- Form Studio Overview — design the task interface
- Approve / Reject Tasks — the assignee experience at runtime