AllyOneCRM / Journey vs. Chat Flow vs. Automation

Which engine to use

All three solve "do something automatically" — the real difference is in what triggers it and on what time scale.

Rule of thumb

A group of contacts over days/weeks → Journey. An individual conversation, right now → Chat Flow. A one-off event, without drawing a flow → Automation.

Comparison

	Journey	Chat Flow	Automation
Triggered by	Audience event (contact created, tag added, joined a list)	Conversation event (new conversation, message received)	A single system event
Time scale	Days to weeks	Real time, inside the conversation	Instant, one action
Interface	Visual canvas with nodes	Visual canvas with nodes	Declarative form — no canvas
Has wait/condition?	Yes — `wait`, `condition`, A/B split	Yes — `delay`, `condition`	No — it's always 1 event → N actions
Frequency control	Per journey rule	Per conversation session	`once_per_contact`, `cooldown_hours`

Journey — real nodes

trigger: manualcontact_createdtag_addedlist_added waitconditionab_splitsend (WhatsApp/email/social) add_tagadd_to_listupdate_scoreexit

Chat Flow — real nodes

trigger_new_conversationsend_textsend_buttonssend_audio ai_replycollect_emailcollect_phonecollect_input conditiondelaycrm_create_dealcrm_enroll_journey transfer_agentreopen_conversation

A Chat Flow can enroll the contact in a Journey (crm_enroll_journey) — the two engines connect when it makes sense, without duplicating logic.

Automations — anatomy

{
  "trigger_event": "deal.status_changed",
  "filters": [{ "field": "deal.stage", "op": "eq", "value": "won" }],
  "actions": [
    { "type": "add_tag", "value": "active-customer" },
    { "type": "add_to_list", "value": "onboarding" }
  ],
  "once_per_contact": true,
  "cooldown_hours": 0
}