Core Concepts

Understanding these core concepts will help you build effective workflows in Jinba Flow.

Key Terms

Term	Definition	Example
Flow	A workflow that connects multiple Steps with dependencies	Email received → AI summarizes → Slack notification. This refers to the entire sequence of processing.
Step	An individual unit of processing that makes up a Flow	Each individual process like receiving email, AI summarization, Slack notification.
Tool	A component that performs a specific action	AI models, API integrations, file processing
Secrets	Securely stored sensitive values	API keys, OAuth tokens
Workspace	A space to organize your Flows, Secrets, and team resources	Project workspace

The diagram below shows how these concepts relate to each other:

A single Workspace can be shared by multiple Accounts, and one Account can belong to several Workspaces.
Each Workspace contains one or more Flows, and every Flow is composed of ordered Steps.
Each Step implements its functionality through exactly one Tool.
Secrets live at the Workspace level, but the same Secret can be reused across multiple Flows and Steps inside that Workspace.
Secrets are how Steps reach External Services (APIs, OAuth integrations) without exposing credentials in flow definitions.