> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tela.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Inputs and references > Declare what a Workflow receives and pass values from Inputs and previous steps into each module A Workflow receives **Inputs** and passes values from step to step through **references**. This page covers both: how to declare an Input, how to point a step at an Input or at the output of a previous step, and what each step is allowed to see. In the running example, the Workflow has two Inputs, a `contract` file and a `requester` text, and the Extract Data step reads the contract while the Approval Letter step uses both the extracted values and the requester. ## Declaring Inputs Inputs live in the **Inputs** section of the right-hand pane in **Craft**. They are the variables the Workflow receives on every run, from the person running it in Craft, from a Test Case, from a Workstation App or from the API. **1. Add a variable** Click **Add Variable** in the Inputs section (or **New Variable** in the pane menu). Give it a **Name**: this is how you will refer to it in every step, so pick something short and clear, like `contract`. **2. Choose the type** **Type** is **Text** or **File**. A text Input receives typed content; a file Input receives one or more uploaded files. **3. Decide if it is required** Turn on **Required** when a run cannot happen without this Input. Required Inputs are also required in Test Cases, in the App and in API calls. **4. For files, choose how the AI reads them** A file Input is **parsed** by default: Tela extracts its text and the AI steps receive that text. Turn on **Multimodal** to send the file itself to the model instead, so it can look at scans, images, layout or audio. The tooltip in the dialog says it plainly: enabling multimodal disables the default data extraction. ![New Variable dialog with Name, Type, Required and Multimodal](https://mintcdn.com/meistrari/M2w7BduKZAFA1Sbx/images/workflow/new-variable.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=M2w7BduKZAFA1Sbx\&q=85\&s=1e27c863c9ae31071536a15a01076f6c) Once declared, each Input appears as a card in the Inputs section where you type text or drop files before clicking **Run**. Click an uploaded file to open it full screen. Inputs can be renamed, edited or deleted from the same cards; the pane menu is disabled while a run is in progress. > [!TIP] > > Choose **parsed** for text PDFs, Word files and spreadsheets: it is cheaper and gives the model clean text. Choose **Multimodal** for scanned documents, photos, forms whose layout matters, and audio. See [Supported file formats](https://docs.tela.com/en/supported-file-formats.md) for what the parser accepts. ### Rules for names Step names and Input names share one namespace. The editor refuses to save when: * two steps have the same name, or two Inputs have the same name; * a step and an Input have the same name; * a step or an Input has no name. Rename one of them and save again. New steps are created as *Untitled Step*, so name every step as soon as you add it; the name is what you will see in the `@` menu, in results and in code. ## Referencing Inputs and previous steps Anywhere a module accepts a value (the prompt of an AI Module, the file of a Split, a placeholder of a Document Templater, a variable of an Existing Canvas), type `@` to open the reference menu. ![The @ menu inside an AI Module prompt, listing Workflow variables and Expected Outputs from previous steps](https://mintcdn.com/meistrari/M2w7BduKZAFA1Sbx/images/workflow/at-menu.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=M2w7BduKZAFA1Sbx\&q=85\&s=7b3b761f6e2173162075f623268ae7f9) The menu has two groups: * **Workflow variables**: the Inputs you declared. * **Expected Outputs**: the outputs of the steps before this one, labeled with the step name and number. A step with an Output Format expands into its attributes, so you can pick `Extract Data › total_value` instead of the whole output. Nested attributes expand the same way. Use the search field to filter by name, and **Select all** to insert every attribute of a step. Picking an item inserts a chip into the field. In the running example, the prompt of **Extract Data** contains `@contract`, and the **Approval Letter** step maps its `{counterparty}` placeholder to `@Extract Data › counterparty` and `{requester}` to `@requester`. ### How a reference is used Each chip shows how the value is **used as**: **Parser**, **Multimodal**, **JSON**, **String** or **Raw**. The default depends on the field and the value: | Value | Default | Other options worth knowing | | - | - | - | | Text Input or text output | inserted as text | — | | File (Input or output of Split, Crop or Generate Document) in an AI prompt | **Parser**: the file's extracted text | **Multimodal**: attaches the file itself for the model to look at | | Structured output (object or list) in an AI prompt | **Parser**: an AI-friendly text rendering of the fields | **JSON** | | Number or yes/no in an AI prompt | **String** | — | | A file or list in a field that expects a file or a list (Split, Crop, Map) | **Raw**: the value is passed as is | — | The rule of thumb: when the **whole field** is a single reference, the value keeps its type (a file stays a file, a list stays a list). When the reference is **embedded in text**, it is turned into text in the chosen format. > [!WARNING] > > In an AI Module, a file Input only reaches the model as an attachment when the reference is used as **Multimodal**. With **Parser** the model receives the extracted text instead. For scans and images, choose Multimodal; otherwise the model gets little or nothing to read and the step still finishes with empty fields and no error. ### Nested values and lists When a previous step returned an object, pick the attribute you need from the menu rather than the whole object. For lists, a reference to the list is what a **Map** iterates over, and inside the Map you refer to one item at a time through the **Map Variable** (see [Split, Crop and Map](https://docs.tela.com/en/workflow/documents-split-crop-map.md#map)). In **Code Execution** and in a Condition in code mode you do not use `@`. Values arrive in an `input` object keyed by Input and step names: `input["contract"]`, `input["Extract Data"].total_value`. See [Code Execution](https://docs.tela.com/en/workflow/code-execution.md#what-input-contains). ## What a step can see A step can reference: * every Input of the Workflow; * the output of every step **before it on its own path**. Inside a Condition branch, that includes the steps before the Condition plus the earlier steps of the same branch. Inside a Map, that includes the steps before the Map plus the earlier steps inside the Map and the Map Variable. It cannot reference steps that come later, steps on a different branch, or steps inside a Map from outside the Map (from outside, you reference the Map step itself or an inner step and get the list of results, one per item). The `@` menu only lists what is available at that step, so if you do not see a step in the menu, it is not reachable from where you are. > [!NOTE] > > After a **Connect** joins two branches, the steps after the junction run whichever branch was taken. A value produced by a step on the branch that was not taken is not available on that run. Design the steps after a junction to rely on values produced before the Condition, or add a shared step after the branches join and have it read the value from whichever branch ran. ## Inputs when the Workflow runs elsewhere The Inputs you declare are exactly what each surface asks for: * **Test**: each Test Case fills every Input, and files can be dropped to create cases automatically. * **Workstation App**: each input your team sends becomes a task; see the [note about one variable per App](https://docs.tela.com/en/workstation/creating-apps.md#creating-an-app). * **API**: send the Inputs as `variables`, with text or [files](https://docs.tela.com/en/completion-api/variables-and-files.md). > [!NOTE] > > For developers: in the saved Workflow, a reference is a URI, `{{input://}}` for an Input and `{{step://?path=}}` for a step output, with an optional `format` (`raw`, `string`, `json`, `ai-xml`). The chips in the editor are these URIs. Inputs are referenced by ID, so renaming an Input does not break references. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.