How to Create Automations (Flows) in Kalimna

Welcome to this comprehensive guide on creating Automations (Flows) in Kalimna. Automations allow you to connect external systems—like web forms, CRMs, and websites—to Kalimna workflows, triggering actions automatically without manual intervention.

While Mid Call Tools handle actionsduring live calls, Automations happen outside calls. They're perfect for instant lead follow-up: when someone fills out your contact form in Dubai, an automation can instantly add them to an outbound campaign, and your Arabic or English AI phone agent calls them within minutes.

This guide demonstrates a common workflow: Web Form → Webhook Trigger → Add Lead to Campaign → AI Agent Calls Lead. This pattern is used by businesses across Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman for instant response to inquiries, dramatically improving conversion rates.

Watch the Full Automations Tutorial

Follow along with this step-by-step video walkthrough presented by Salma from Kalimna AI:

💡 Tip: Watch the video while following the written steps below for the best learning experience.

What Automations Are (and When to Use Them)

Automations (also called Flows) are event-driven workflows that connect external events to Kalimna actions. In simple terms:

• Trigger: Something happens outside Kalimna (form submission, CRM update, scheduled time)
• Action: Kalimna does something in response (add lead to campaign, send notification, update database)

Automations vs. Mid Call Tools

Mid Call Tools: Used during an active call (check CRM, book appointment while talking)

Automations: Used outside calls (trigger outbound campaigns, process form submissions, scheduled follow-ups)

Step 1 – Open the Automations Platform

Navigate to the Automations section from your Kalimna dashboard. This opens the Automations platform where all your flows are managed.

The dashboard shows all your existing flows. If you're new, it will be empty—you're about to create your first automation.

Step 2 – Create a New Flow

Click New Flow to start building your automation. You have two options:

• Start from scratch: Build a completely custom workflow (advanced users)
• Use a template: Start with a pre-built flow and customize it (recommended for beginners)

For this guide, we'll use a template to get started quickly.

Step 3 – Use a Template (Web Form → AI Agent Calls Lead)

Click "Use a template" to browse available templates. For this example, choose the template where a web form submission leads to your AI agent calling the user.

Click Use Template on your chosen option. The template includes:

• A Trigger: The event that starts the automation (in this case, Catch Webhook)
• An Action: What happens after the trigger (in this case, add lead to a campaign so your AI agent calls them)

Understanding Triggers and Actions

Every automation has two main parts:

Trigger (The "When")

The trigger is the event that starts the automation. In our example:

• Catch Webhook: When Kalimna receives a webhook request (e.g., from your website form)

Other trigger types might include: scheduled time, CRM update, or other external events (depending on Kalimna's capabilities).

Action (The "Then")

The action is what Kalimna does after the trigger fires. In our example:

• Add Lead to Campaign: Takes the data from the webhook (name, phone number) and adds it to an outbound campaign, triggering your AI agent to call them

Step 4 – Configure the Trigger (Catch Webhook)

Click on the trigger step in your flow to open its configuration.

The Webhook URL

You'll see a webhook URL. This is the endpoint you need to call from your application or web form to trigger this automation.

How to use it: Embed this webhook URL in your contact form, website, or application. When someone submits the form, your system sends a POST request to this webhook URL with the form data (name, phone, email, etc.), which triggers the Kalimna automation.

Secure the Webhook with Credentials

Below the webhook URL, you can add credentials for security. This ensures only your application can trigger this webhook.

Best practice: Always add authentication credentials (API key, bearer token, username/password) so unauthorized systems can't trigger your automation. This prevents spam and protects your campaign from abuse.

Step 5 – Test the Trigger

Once you've configured your trigger, test it before proceeding. Click Test Trigger.

Now go to your connected web form (or use a tool like Postman to send a test webhook request) and submit sample data. If everything is configured correctly:

• Kalimna receives the webhook request
• The trigger captures the sample data
• You'll see the received data displayed in the interface

This sample data is important—it shows you what fields are available to use in the next step (action configuration).

Step 6 – Configure the Campaign Action (Add Lead to Campaign)

Now that your trigger works, configure the action that follows. Click on the action step to open its configuration.

Choose the Action Type

For this tutorial, keep it as "Add lead to campaign". This action takes the webhook data and creates a new lead in your outbound campaign.

Select Campaign

Choose which outbound campaign the lead should be added to. This should be a campaign you've already created (see Outbound Campaigns guide).

Allow Duplicates

This option controls whether the same lead can be added multiple times. Choose based on your use case:

• Enable duplicates: If someone can submit the form multiple times and you want to call them each time (e.g., multiple property inquiries, repeat service requests)
• Disable duplicates: If you only want to call each phone number once, even if they submit the form again (prevents redundant calls)

Field Mapping (Phone Number)

The action needs to know where to get the phone number from the webhook data. Typically, this is automatically mapped based on the test data you captured in Step 5.

If you have additional parameters you want to pass to the campaign (name, email, custom fields), configure them here.

Secondary Contacts

If your webhook data includes multiple phone numbers (e.g., mobile + work), select how many secondary contacts to add. Most web forms have one phone number, so this is typically set to 0.

Step 7 – Reliability & Error Handling

Configure how the automation behaves if something goes wrong:

Continue Even If This Step Fails

If enabled, the workflow continues to the next step even if this one fails. For our use case (where this is the last/only step), this doesn't make sense—if adding the lead fails, there's nothing else to do. Keep this disabled.

Auto-Retry

If enabled, the automation will automatically retry up to 4 times if the step fails. This is useful for handling temporary issues (API timeout, brief network problems).

Recommended: Enable auto-retry for production automations to improve reliability.

Test the Step

Before going live, use the "Test step" function to validate that leads are being added to the campaign correctly with all the right data. This dry-run ensures everything works before real leads arrive.

Common Use Cases for Gulf Businesses

Automations are incredibly versatile. Here are real-world examples from businesses across Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman:

Best Practices for Automations

1. Use Clear Naming for Flows

Name your flows descriptively (e.g., "Website_ContactForm_to_LeadQualification_Campaign") so you can easily identify them when you have multiple automations running.

2. Always Secure Webhooks with Credentials

Never leave webhooks completely open. Add authentication to prevent unauthorized access, spam submissions, and abuse of your automation.

3. Test Triggers Before Building Complex Actions

Always test your trigger with real sample data before adding multiple actions. Confirm the webhook is receiving data correctly and in the expected format.

4. Start Simple, Then Expand

Begin with a single trigger and single action (like this guide's example). Once that works reliably, you can add more sophisticated logic, multiple actions, or conditional branches.

5. Monitor Results

Use the Campaigns, Call History, and Leads dashboards to monitor how your automation-triggered calls are performing. Look for patterns and optimize.

What's Next?

Congratulations! You've built your first automation in Kalimna. You now know how to use templates, configure webhook triggers, and automatically add leads to outbound campaigns for instant AI phone agent follow-up.

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