> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.firsttouch.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Publish and Route Flows

> Publish flows, assign ownership, and manage live flow behavior.

Publishing makes a draft flow live.

## Before You Publish

Before publishing, make sure:

* the flow has a trigger
* the flow has at least one step
* validation errors are resolved

<Note>
  If publish is unavailable, review the validation banner and the flow trigger first.
</Note>

## Routing & Ownership

Use flow settings to control who works each contact.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="CRM Owner Mapping" icon="people-arrows">
    Route work using your CRM owner field when your CRM is connected.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Round-Robin Assignment" icon="arrows-rotate">
    Distribute work across selected team members when round-robin is the better fit.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Tip>
  Configure routing in [Flow Settings](/WebApp/Flows/flow-settings).
</Tip>

## Safety & Exclusion

Flows can use exclusion checks and other safeguards to prevent unwanted outreach.

### Common Stop Conditions

Common reasons a contact may stop progressing include:

1. **Reply handling:** email follow-ups can stop when a reply is detected.
2. **Exclusion match:** a contact or company matches an exclusion rule.
3. **Qualification logic:** the flow disqualifies the contact based on configured criteria.

## Pausing and Unpublishing

* **Unpublish** to stop a live flow from continuing as normal.
* A published flow can also pause if it runs out of credits.

## Monitoring Active Flows

Use the flow builder and flows table to monitor enrollments and overall activity.

<Card title="Key Metrics" icon="chart-simple">
  Track flow status, enrollments, replies, and other performance metrics from the flow and dashboard views.
</Card>

<Tip>
  If a live flow pauses because of credits, top up credits to resume activity.
</Tip>