Branching, Filters, and Routers
Real workflows are not a single straight line. A refund request and a sales lead should go down different paths. Filters stop a flow when a condition is not met; routers split the flow into multiple paths based on the data. Mastering these turns toy automations into ones you can trust with real work.
Filter: gate the flow
A filter is a checkpoint. If the condition passes, the flow continues; if not, it stops silently. Use it to ignore noise, like skipping internal emails or test submissions, before you spend an AI call on them.
Router: split into paths
A router (called a Switch in n8n, a Router in Make, Paths in Zapier) sends each item down one of several branches based on a value. The classic pattern: classify with AI first, then route on the category.
Always include a fallback branch (Other or Else). Inputs will arrive that match none of your categories, and a flow with nowhere to send them will error or drop data.