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# Core Concepts

> The building blocks behind every workflow, from nodes and variables to secrets, triggers, and templates.

Once you have built a workflow or two, a handful of ideas explain how everything
fits together. This section covers the concepts that show up again and again:
how steps connect and pass data, how to compute values on the fly, how to keep
sensitive information safe, how a workflow gets started, and how to test it
before you rely on it.

You do not need to read these in order. Start with whatever you are trying to
do and follow the links from there.

## The essentials

#### [Nodes & Connections](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/nodes-connections)

How steps and the arrows between them form a workflow.

#### [Variables & Data Flow](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/variables-data-flow)

How data travels from one step to the next as a run proceeds.

#### [Expressions](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/expressions)

Build text and compute values from the data your steps produce.

#### [Secrets](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/secrets)

Store API keys and passwords safely and reference them by name.

## Running and starting workflows

#### [Starting a Workflow](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/starting-a-workflow)

Define the information a run needs, including file attachments.

#### [Triggers & Webhooks](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/triggers-webhooks)

Let another system kick off a workflow with a single request.

#### [Timeouts & Retries](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/timeouts-retries)

What happens when a step is slow or fails.

#### [Testing & Debugging](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/testing-debugging)

Step through a run and watch what each step does.

## Reuse

#### [Templates](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/templates)

Save a workflow's design and reuse it as a starting point.