Testing a Workflow with Debug Mode

Last updated: August 27, 2026

Testing a Workflow with Debug Mode

Category: Workflows & Automation

Previously, the only way to see how a workflow would actually behave for a given CRM record was to trigger it for real — wait for a live run, inspect the result, then clean up whatever project it created. Debug Mode lets you pick a real CRM record and see the resolved outcome of your workflow — branch taken, account, owner, dates, and mapped fields — before anything is committed.

How It Works

Debug Mode runs in one of two modes:

  • Preview (default) — genuinely side-effect-free. OnRamp resolves everything your workflow would do — branch selection, account matching, owner lookup, field mapping — and shows you the result, then rolls the whole thing back. No project, execution, or record is created or changed.

  • Run and Create Records — a real execution. This does create a project, the same as a live trigger would, but it's tagged as a debug run so it doesn't count toward the workflow's daily execution volume and can be filtered out anywhere execution history is shown.

How to Use It

  1. Open the workflow in the editor and enter edit mode. A Debug button appears next to Save/Publish.

  2. Click Debug and choose the CRM record you want to test against.

  3. Leave the mode on Preview to see the resolved outcome without creating anything, or switch to Run and Create Records if you want a real (but debug-tagged) project created.

  4. If the record doesn't actually match your trigger's criteria, Debug will tell you so and stop — toggle Ignore triggering criteria on if you want to see what the workflow would do anyway.

  5. Review the step-by-step results: which branch was taken and why, the resolved account and owner, and every mapped field and date.

If a workflow has never been published, switching to Run and Create Records shows an extra warning, since you'd be creating a real project from a workflow that's never gone live.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

Debug Mode always tests your current draft — including any unsaved edits — not the last published version.

It's not the same check that decides whether your trigger fires in production. That matching happens upstream, on the CRM/integration side, before OnRamp is ever involved. A Debug verdict on "why didn't my trigger fire" is a strong indicator, but it isn't the authoritative answer — if a record genuinely never reaches OnRamp, Debug can't diagnose that from inside the workflow builder.

A pre-flight problem — the trigger isn't configured, the record couldn't be found, the ramp is paused — now surfaces its actual reason in Debug instead of a generic error, so you can tell what's actually wrong.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Preview mode ever create anything?
No — Preview runs your workflow's full logic but rolls everything back afterward, so no project, account, or execution row is left behind.

Does a debug run count against my workflow's execution limits?
No — runs made through Run and Create Records are tagged as debug and excluded from the ramp's daily volume counters.

Can I clean up a project created by Run and Create Records?
Yes — it's a real project like any other, so you can delete or archive it the normal way once you're done testing.

Can I use Debug Mode to figure out why a workflow isn't firing at all?
Partially. Debug shows you what happens once a record reaches the workflow. If the record never reaches OnRamp in the first place, that's a trigger-matching issue on the CRM side, not something Debug Mode evaluates.