Howly Docs
Getting started
Connecting HubSpot
When you first sign in to Howly, you will be prompted to connect your HubSpot portal. Click Connect HubSpot and you will be redirected to HubSpot's authorization screen. Log in with the HubSpot account that has access to the portal you want to visualize, then grant Howly the requested permissions.Howly uses OAuth 2.0, which means your HubSpot credentials are never stored by Howly. Access is granted through a secure token that HubSpot issues directly.Once authorized, you will be redirected back to Howly and your workflows will begin loading automatically.
Connecting HubSpot
Howly fetches your workflows from HubSpot when you first connect and caches them for your session. If you make changes in HubSpot and want to see them reflected in Howly, refresh the page, or click the refresh button. The data will sync fresh from HubSpot at the start of each new session.Howly pulls all workflows from your portal regardless of status or object type, including active workflows, inactive workflows, workflows with no actions, and archived automations that are still visible through the API.The first sync takes 10 to 15 seconds depending on workflow volume. For instances with 100 or more workflows, this can take up to 25 seconds. Watch: 3 Minute Howly Demo | 3:07 overview video
Trust and Compatibility
Strictly Read-Only: Howly uses OAuth 2.0 with read-only access. We cannot edit, write, or change anything in your HubSpot portal.
Data Privacy: We access workflow metadata such as names, triggers, and connections. We do not store full contact records, list memberships, or sensitive object data.
API Performance: Our sync engine batches API calls to respect HubSpot rate limits. It is built to render large portals with hundreds of workflows reliably without disrupting your other integrations.
API Version: Howly is built on HubSpot's V4 API, ensuring compatibility with the latest workflow and automation endpoints.
HubSpot Tiers: Compatible with all HubSpot Professional and Enterprise portals.
Revocable Access: You remain in full control and can revoke Howly’s access at any time directly from your HubSpot Connected Apps settings.
Plans and Limits
Free Trial: New accounts start with a 7-day trial that gives access to the core workflow map, detail panel, search, filters, connections, Impact Analyzer, and Recent Changes. Pro features including the Health Checker, Benchmarks, all export formats, and AI Insights require a paid subscription.
Free Plan: When your trial ends, your account moves to the free plan. You keep an explorable workflow map showing up to 50 workflows (your 50 most recently updated), with connections, filters, Impact Analyzer, and Recent Changes. The paid features, Health Checker, Benchmarks, AI Insights, MCP, exports, and branded reports, require a Pro or Agency subscription.
Howly Pro and Agency: Paid plans unlock unlimited workflows plus the Health Checker, Benchmarks, AI Insights, MCP, all export formats, and branded reports. Your layout and settings are preserved, so upgrading picks up where you left off.
Pricing
Free — $0. After your 7-day full-access trial, keep an explorable workflow map.
See up to 50 workflows, all connections, filter by trigger and action type, and recent changes.
No credit card required.
Pro — $119/month (billed annually at $1,429/year) or $149/month pay as you go.For individuals who manage HubSpot and want full visibility into their workflows. Includes 1 user seat.
See every workflow on one map
Plan and preview workflow impact
Monitor workflow health and automation health score
Export to PDF or Lucidchart
Direct support from Howly
Agency — $379/month (billed annually at $4,549/year) or $499/month pay as you go. Most popular.For teams managing client portals that need shared workspaces. Includes 5 user seats.
Everything in Pro
Connect all client portals, no limit
5 seats with individual workspaces
Branded audit reports with your logo
See how your portals compare (Benchmarks)
Priority support from Howly
Enterprise — Custom pricing.For organizations needing custom seats, dedicated onboarding, and hands-on support. Flexible seat counts for larger teams.
Everything in Agency
Flexible seat counts
Dedicated onboarding specialist
Fast setup on new client portals
SLA-backed support
Direct line to the Howly team
Start a 7-day trial at app.howly.io, or contact [email protected] for Enterprise.
Workflow Map
Reading the Map
When your portal loads, every workflow is displayed on the canvas as a card. Cards are organized by object type, with section labels grouping Contacts, Deals, Companies, Tickets, Leads, and any custom objects.Each card shows the workflow name, its object type, and a status indicator in the top corner:🟢 Green dot - The workflow is active and enrolling records
🔴 Red dot - The workflow is inactive and not running
🟣 Purple dot - The workflow has connections to other workflowsCards with connections between them are linked by lines on the canvas. The type of connection is indicated by the line style and a label.Watch: How to Navigate within Your Howly Workspace | 4:55 overview video
Reading the Map
Howly gives you two ways to draw the connection lines between workflows. A Direct / Routed toggle in the canvas toolbar switches between them, and your choice is saved per portal.
Direct draws each connection as a straight line between two workflow cards. This is the cleanest view when you have a small number of connections and want to see relationships at a glance.
Routed draws connections as rounded, stepped lines that bend around cards instead of crossing through them. This keeps a dense portal with many overlapping connections readable, since the lines separate cleanly instead of bunching up.
Both modes use the same connection labels, so a list-based or property-based connection reads the same way regardless of which view you are in. Switch between them at any time depending on how busy your canvas is.
Active and Inactive Workflows
Active workflows are displayed at full opacity. Inactive workflows are displayed at reduced opacity so you can visually distinguish what is running from what is turned off. When you apply a filter or search, inactive workflows that match your criteria are also shown at full opacity so nothing gets lost.
Connections and Connection Types
Howly automatically detects three types of relationships between workflows and draws them as connecting lines on the canvas:
Direct enrollment - One workflow has an "Enroll in workflow" action that explicitly sends a record into another workflow. This is the most explicit type of connection and is shown as a direct line between the two workflow cards.
List-based connections - One workflow adds or removes records from a HubSpot list, and another workflow uses that list as an enrollment trigger. Howly detects this relationship and draws a connection between the two, labeling it with the list name.
Property-based connections - One workflow sets a property value on a record, and another workflow is triggered when that property meets a specific condition. Howly identifies these chains and connects the workflows, labeling the connection with the property and value involved.
When you click a workflow on the canvas, Howly highlights that workflow and dims everything that is not directly related to it. Connected workflows remain at full opacity. This makes it immediately clear how a given workflow fits into the larger automation picture in your portal.
Search and Filters
Search: Press the / key anywhere on the canvas to open the search overlay. Type any part of a workflow name to filter the canvas in real time. Press Escape to close search.Filters: The filter toolbar at the top of the canvas lets you narrow workflows by:
Status - All, Active, or Inactive
Object type - All, Contacts, Companies, Deals, Tickets, Leads, or custom objects
Trigger type - Filter by what causes enrollment, such as property change, form submission, list membership, date-based, event-based, and more
Action type - Filter by what the workflow does, such as setting a property, sending an email, enrolling in another workflow, and others
Filters can be combined. All active filters persist when you refresh the page so your view is restored when you return. When no workflows match the active filters, the canvas shows a message indicating there are no results. Clear or adjust your filters to see workflows again.
Keyboard Shortcuts
/ - Open workflow search
Escape - Close search or overlay
Scroll - Zoom in and out on the canvas
Click and drag (canvas background) - Pan around the canvas
Click and drag (workflow card) - Move a workflow to a new position
Canvas Lock
The lock button in the bottom toolbar prevents workflow cards from being accidentally dragged while you are exploring the map. When the canvas is locked, you can still pan, zoom, and click workflows, but their positions cannot be changed. The lock state persists between sessions.
Position Auto-Save
The position of every workflow card on your canvas is automatically saved to your account. When you return to Howly, your layout is restored exactly as you left it. If you want to reset all positions back to the default grid layout, use the Reset layout option in the toolbar, which reorganizes all workflows into a clean automatic arrangement.
Planned Workflows
Planned workflows let you map out a new workflow before building it in HubSpot. Click the pencil icon in the left toolbar to add one to your canvas.Once added, configure it using the sidebar panel:
Name — give the planned workflow a name
Object type — select Contact, Deal, Company, Ticket, or Lead
Enrollment — add enrollment triggers using the same conditions available in HubSpot
Actions — add actions such as Set a property or Enroll in workflow
As you configure actions, Howly automatically draws connection lines to any existing workflows that would be affected. If you add a Set a property action, Howly finds every workflow triggered by that property change and draws a line. If you add an Enroll in workflow action, a line draws directly to the target workflow.Connection lines for planned workflows only appear when the planned workflow node is selected, or when All Connections is toggled on.When you are done, delete the planned workflow from the sidebar. Your canvas returns to its normal state.Watch: See How a New HubSpot Workflow Connects Before You Build It | 7:09 overview video
Workflow Detail Panel
Opening the Detail Panel
Click any workflow card on the canvas to open the detail panel on the right side of the screen. The panel shows the full contents of that workflow: its name, status, object type, enrollment count, and the date it was last modified in HubSpot.Click anywhere outside the panel, or click the same workflow again, to close it.
Triggers
The Triggers section shows what causes a record to enroll in this workflow. Howly reads the enrollment criteria from HubSpot and formats them into plain language. Examples include:
Contact property equals a specific value
Contact is a member of a named list
A form was submitted
A deal stage changed to a specific value
A date-based condition was met
If a workflow has multiple enrollment triggers, all of them are listed. If no triggers are configured, this is flagged as a health issue.
Actions
The Actions section shows every step the workflow performs, in order. Each action is described in plain language rather than raw API identifiers. This includes:
Property updates (what property is being set and to what value)
Email sends (the email or template being sent)
Delays (how long the workflow waits before continuing)
Branching conditions (what property or criteria the branch evaluates)
Enrollments into other workflows (which workflow is being triggered)
Task creation, notifications, and other HubSpot actions
Delays are shown in human-readable units (minutes, hours, or days). Branches show the conditions being evaluated and the different paths a record can take.
Upstream and Downstream Connections
At the bottom of the detail panel, Howly surfaces which workflows connect to the one you are viewing.
Upstream (starts this workflow) shows workflows that feed records into the current one, whether through direct enrollment, a shared list, or a property value chain.
Downstream (started by this workflow) shows workflows that this one feeds records into through those same three connection types.
Each connection includes the mechanism: the list name, the property and value, or the direct enrollment action. Clicking any connected workflow in this section navigates directly to that workflow's detail panel.The Connections header in the detail panel shows the total number of upstream and downstream connections for the selected workflow.If a workflow has no upstream or downstream connections, it appears on the canvas with a green dot rather than purple and is flagged as an orphan in the Health Checker.
Deactivation Impact
The detail panel indicates when a workflow is connected to others downstream. If you are considering turning off a workflow in HubSpot, reviewing the downstream section first shows you which other automations depend on it, either for enrollment or through shared list or property logic. Deactivating a workflow that feeds into others can break enrollment chains and trigger the Broken Enrollments flag in the Health Checker.
Health Checker
Health Checker
The Health Checker analyzes every workflow in your portal and produces a score from 0 to 100. The score reflects how much of your portal is free from structural issues.The color of the score indicates its range:
Green - 70% or above. Your portal is in good shape.
Amber - 50 to 69%. There are issues worth addressing.
Red - Below 50%. Your portal has significant structural problems.
The score is calculated based on the number of workflows affected by warnings. Each workflow flagged with an issue reduces the overall score. Informational flags are surfaced for awareness but carry no scoring penalty.Watch: How to Navigate within Your Howly Workspace | 4:55 overview video
Warnings:
Stale Workflows - A workflow has not been modified in over 6 months. It may be outdated or no longer relevant to current business logic.
Orphan Workflows - An active workflow has no connections to any other workflows and is not part of any chain. It may be redundant or forgotten.
Empty Workflows - A workflow is configured with no actions. Records may be enrolling into it with nothing happening.
Info:
Inactive Workflows - Workflows that are currently turned off, surfaced for inventory and awareness.
Possible Duplicates - Workflows with similar names that may indicate redundancy or accidental duplication. Consider consolidating if they serve the same purpose.
Each issue in the Health Checker is clickable. Clicking a workflow name within an issue category jumps directly to that workflow on the canvas.
PDF Audit Report
Available on Howly Pro and Agency. Click Export report in the Health Checker to generate a PDF audit document. The report includes:
Your portal's health score
A complete breakdown of every issue found, organized by category and severity
A full workflow inventory grouped by object type
A benchmarks page showing how your portal compares to similar portals
The PDF is formatted for sharing with clients, stakeholders, or internal teams who may not have access to Howly directly.
SOP & Documentation
If you add a purpose and notes to any workflow, Howly compiles them into an SOP and documentation page in your exported audit report. The page includes a coverage summary (documented vs. undocumented workflows, and how many are flagged high risk), then a table of each documented workflow with its risk level (high, medium, low) and your notes. The page only appears when at least one workflow has notes saved, and continues across multiple pages if needed.
Benchmarks
Available on Howly Pro and Agency. The Benchmarks panel compares your portal's metrics against real data from similar-sized HubSpot portals. Your portal is automatically placed into one of four tiers based on your total workflow count:
Small - 1 to 25 workflows
Medium - 26 to 75 workflows
Large - 76 to 200 workflows
Enterprise - 200 or more workflows
Within your tier, your portal is compared on ten metrics: health score, total workflow count, active workflow ratio, stale workflows, orphan workflows, circular dependencies, broken enrollments, empty workflows, possible duplicates, and average actions per workflow.For each metric, Howly shows where your portal falls relative to the 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile of comparable portals. A visual bar plots your position across this range, and a comparison table shows the exact numbers side by side.
Impact Analyzer
What It Surfaces
The Impact Analyzer scans every workflow in your portal and builds a complete map of every HubSpot property that is referenced anywhere across your automation. This includes:
Properties used as enrollment triggers
Properties evaluated in branching conditions
Properties being set or updated by workflow actions
Results are organized by property category (Contact properties, Deal properties, Company properties, and so on) and ranked by how many workflows reference each property.Watch: Using the Impact Analyzer in Howly | 5:08 overview video
How to Use It
Open the Impact Analyzer from the toolbar. Use the search bar to find a specific property by name. When you select a property, the panel shows every workflow that references it and the role that property plays in each one, whether it is being read as a trigger condition, used in a branch, or written to as an action.Click any workflow name in the results to navigate directly to that workflow's detail panel on the canvas.The primary use case is change impact assessment. Before renaming a property, deprecating it, or changing its values in HubSpot, run it through the Impact Analyzer to see exactly which workflows would be affected. For high-use properties this can reveal a significant blast radius that is not obvious from looking at individual workflows.
Recent Changes
What It Tracks
The Recent Changes panel shows every workflow in your portal that has been modified in the last 30 days, based on the last-updated timestamp HubSpot returns for each workflow.
How It Works
Open Recent Changes from the toolbar. Workflows are grouped by date, with the most recent changes first. Groups are labeled Today, Yesterday, and then by calendar date for older changes. The exact modification time is shown for each entry.Click any workflow in the list to navigate directly to it on the canvas and open its detail panel. This makes it easy to quickly review what changed across your portal after a busy week, before a handover, or during an audit.Recent Changes is purely read-only. No edits are made through Howly. All modifications happen inside HubSpot.
Exports
Branded Reports
Available on Howly Pro and Agency. The Branded Report is the flagship deliverable for agencies and admins who need to present their findings to clients or stakeholders. Instead of a raw map, this report synthesizes your entire portal audit into a high-fidelity document.You can customize the report by adding your organization’s logo, brand colors, and name in the Settings panel. Once configured, every exported audit includes:
Executive Summary: Your portal's 0-100 Health Score and active-to-inactive workflow ratio.
AI Findings: Prioritized risks, gaps, and opportunities surfaced by Claude.
Issue Breakdown: Detailed inventory of stale, orphaned, and empty workflows.
Benchmarks: Visual charts showing how the portal compares to similar-sized HubSpot instances.
Workflow Inventory: A categorized list of all automations grouped by object type.
Use this when you need a white-labeled, professional asset that justifies a cleanup project or proves the strategic value of your work.
PDF Canvas Export
Exports the current state of your workflow canvas exactly as it appears on screen. The PDF is formatted in landscape orientation and includes a header with the title "HubSpot Workflow Map," a Howly.io attribution, and the date of generation.The canvas image fills the PDF at the highest quality available, preserving your current layout, zoom level, and all visible connections. Controls, the minimap, and sidebars are excluded from the export.Use this format for presenting a high-level map of your portal to clients or leadership.
PNG Canvas Export
Exports the current canvas view as a PNG image file. Like the PDF export, it captures exactly what is visible on screen at the moment of export.Use this for embedding your workflow map in slides, documents, or reports.
LucidChart Export
Exports your workflow map as a BPMN file, which LucidChart can import directly. Each workflow becomes a task element in the diagram, preserving its name, status, object type, triggers, and actions as metadata. Connections between workflows are exported as sequence flows with labels indicating the connection type.After exporting, import the .bpmn file into LucidChart using the standard import option. This gives you a fully editable version of your workflow map inside LucidChart for further diagramming, annotation, or sharing with teams that work in that environment.
AI Insights
What It Is
AI Insights connects directly to Claude to analyze your HubSpot portal and return a set of specific, prioritized findings. The analysis runs inside Howly — no copy/paste, no switching tabs.
What It Looks For
Claude reviews your full workflow setup and organizes findings into three categories:
Issues — things that are broken or actively risky. Inactive workflows still enrolling contacts, conflicting trigger conditions, enrollment loops.
Gaps — missing automation coverage. Lifecycle stages with no nurture sequence, deal stages with no follow-up, contact sources with nothing triggered.
Opportunities — improvements worth making. Consolidation candidates, re-enrollment logic that could reduce manual work, sequences that could be connected.
Each finding includes a title, a plain-language description, and a priority level: high, medium, or low.
How to Use It
Click the Sparkles icon in the toolbar. Claude analyzes your currently loaded workflows and returns findings in about 15 seconds. Results are cached for 24 hours — reopen the panel any time to review them without waiting again.Watch: How to Audit HubSpot Workflows in Minutes Using AI | 4:22 overview video
MCP Integration
What It Is
Howly exposes its portal data through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, allowing AI assistants like Claude to query your HubSpot workflow health and issues directly — without opening the Howly app.
What You Can Do
Connect Howly's MCP server to any MCP-compatible AI client (such as Claude) to ask questions about your portal in natural language. Available actions include:
Portal health: Your overall health score and issue counts by category.
Workflow issues: A detailed list of issues, filtered by severity or category (broken enrollments, stale workflows, orphans, empty workflows, and more).
Workflow summary: A plain-language overview of what any single workflow does.
Full workflow details: The complete configuration of a workflow, including triggers, actions, and connections.
How to Connect
Add Howly as an MCP server in your AI client using the server URL from your Howly account settings. Once connected, your AI assistant can query live portal data directly from the chat interface.
Use Cases
Ask your AI assistant things like:
"What's wrong with my portal?"
"List all my inactive contact workflows."
"Walk me through what the Lead Nurture workflow does."
Answers come straight from your live Howly data, no copy/paste, no tab switching.