Getting Started with Needle

Learn how to build AI workflows and create searchable knowledge bases in minutes.

Build your first AI workflow

Watch how to create, test, and publish a workflow in under 5 minutes.

Build with AI

Describe what you want, the agent builds it

50+ Templates

Sales, marketing, support, research

>40 Connectors

Gmail, Slack, Drive, Notion, and more

Version Control

Track changes, debug runs, roll back

Common questions about workflows

What does a workflow do?

A workflow is a chain of automated steps that run on their own. The outcome depends on what you build — for example a daily email summary, auto-sorted files, or AI-generated reports.

How do I create a workflow?

Go to Home, click "+ New" on the top right. Choose Workflow to start with a template, or start from scratch. Then use "Build with AI" chat to describe what you want in plain English.

What are the steps in a workflow?

Each workflow is a chain of nodes: triggers, AI agents, tool actions, and code blocks. You connect them in sequence to automate tasks end to end.

Can it connect to my tools?

Yes. Needle supports >40 connectors including Gmail, Slack, Google Drive, Notion, and many more. In the video above you can see Gmail being connected mid-build.

What does "Build with AI" do?

It's an AI agent inside the workflow builder. Describe what you want and it generates the nodes, connects your tools, tests the workflow, and self-fixes errors — all automatically.

How do I observe workflow runs?

Every workflow has a Runs tab that logs each execution. You can see exactly which node failed, inspect its inputs and outputs, and fix the issue. Version history lets you roll back anytime. In each node you can observe Input and Output, which can point to specific issues as well.

Popular templates to get you started

Ask questions about your knowledge base and get context-aware answers sourced directly from your document collection using a RAG-powered AI agent.

Answer Questions With RAG

Mohith Srinivas

This workflow checks whether someone you are considering to be an employee, partner, collaborator etc fits your vibe - based on what you are looking for and what you are working on, based on deep psychological and sociological research and personality frame...

RXRay

Shikhar Aya Yale Edu

255

Automatically generates AI-powered draft replies for incoming emails. Runs daily at 8 AM, finds unread emails from the last 24 hours, filters out automated/no-reply senders, generates professional replies with GPT-4, and saves them as Gmail drafts for review before sending.

Gmail Smart Auto-Responder

Dante Harker

305

Generates a daily HTML email digest of your Slack activity. Lists all channels you are a member of, searches for messages from the last 24 hours, uses AI to create a beautifully styled HTML email with channel summaries, key topics, and action items, then sends it to your inbox.

Daily Slack Activity Digest Email

Dante Harker

309

AI-powered email filter that classifies incoming Gmail messages by importance and forwards only urgent, actionable emails to your Telegram - cutting through the noise of newsletters and spam.

Filters Your Gmail with AI and Sends Only Important Emails to Telegram

Roshan Ramani

280

Generates a daily HTML email digest of your GitHub activity. Fetches your notifications, pull requests, and issues from the last 24 hours in parallel, uses AI to create a styled HTML email with sections for each activity type, and sends it to your inbox every morning.

Daily GitHub Activity Digest Email

Dante Harker

318

Browse all templates

Create a searchable knowledge base

Upload your documents, connect data sources, and ask questions with AI.

Add PDFs, Docs, and more.

Give AI the right context.

PDF, DOCX, TXT, CSV, JSON, HTML, MD, XLSX, PPTX, PNG, JPG

Connect your data sources

Upload your files

Drag and drop PDFs, Word docs, text files, or URLs. Connect Gmail, Google Drive, Notion, or Slack to auto-sync your data.

Ask questions with AI

Open the collection chat and ask anything in natural language. Needle returns precise answers with source references.

Share or embed

Invite teammates with role-based permissions, or embed a chat widget on your website so anyone can search your knowledge base.

Common questions about collections

What file types can I upload?

PDF, DOCX, TXT, CSV, JSON, HTML, Markdown, XLSX, PPTX, PNG, and JPG. Pro plans also support image and table extraction from PDFs.

Which data sources can I connect?

Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, Notion, GitHub, Confluence, Jira, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox, Airtable, Zendesk, HubSpot, and more. Connected sources auto-sync so your data stays current.

How does the AI search work?

Needle splits your documents into chunks, generates vector embeddings, and stores them in a database. When you ask a question, it performs a semantic search to find the most relevant chunks and uses an AI model to generate a grounded answer with source references.

Is there a file upload limit?

Free plans have a file upload limit. Pro plans scale to thousands of documents per collection.

Can I embed the chat on my website?

Yes. Every collection can be shared via a public link or embedded as a chat widget on any website with a simple code snippet. You can also use collections inside workflows for automated RAG pipelines.

How do I manage access?

Collections support role-based permissions at the workspace, project, and collection level. You can invite teammates as owners, editors, or viewers, and revoke access at any time.