OpenFn Lightning Beta

It’s been a wild year and we’re excited to announce the next generation of OpenFn’s digital public good for workflow automation, OpenFn Lightning ⚡

We’ve just “soft launched” OpenFn Lightning and here’s what you should know

Lightning represents our commitment to open source and the DPG community. It is a fully open source web application designed for governments and NGOs who need a flexible solution to integrate and connect any system. It reuses our existing tried and tested technology whilst lowering the technical barrier to building robust workflow automation solutions and integrations through a more intuitive, user-friendly UI.

Read more about Lightning on our docs page.

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At the time of writing, Lightning is still in beta and has some rough edges. 95% of OpenFn users are still building workflow solutions on the v1 (available at openfn.org) but we’ll be ready for a full migration later this year.

It’s free to use during the beta, but we’ll soon be providing a paid, enterprise-grade hosted service like you’ve become accustomed to on OpenFn.org.

Register for an account and share your feedback

Register for a free account at app.openfn.org. Help us out by carrying out our user test (~10 minutes) and adding your questions and comments to the Lightning thread on our community forum.

Take 15 minutes to carry out our user test

Get your thinking hat on! We need you to click around OpenFn Lightning and figure out how it works.

** 1. Start recording your screen, and speak out loud as you work through tasks 2 and 3.**

Use Loom to more easily share your recording - you can create an account for free.

As you record, make sure to tell us:

• What you see
• What you’re doing
• What you’re thinking
• What you expect

For example, start off by saying “I’ve just started recoding my screen, and now I’m going to start the first task. (…) I’ve registered for an account and I’ve just been taken to the workflow page. I can see …“

2. Register / Login on app.openfn.org.

Take 2 minutes to click around the app and view all of the different pages. As you click into them, tell us where your attention is drawn and what you think each page might be for.

3. Using the quick-start guide, figure out how OpenFn works and what you can do in the application.

4. Now, in your own words, explain to someone how to build a workflow.

What is a workflow and how do I build one?

What are jobs, trigger and adaptors? How do you run a job? What is the input?

Why can OpenFn be used for? What might discourage you from using it?

5. Send the recording to our product manager Amber at amber@openfn.org.

•Note: the recording will only be used internally. If you wish for it to be deleted once viewed please state so in the email.

If you would rather give your feedback in person, or have questions around using Lightning, please book office hours with our product manager Amber via the following link: https://calendly.com/amber-openfn/30min.