Available with any of the following subscriptions, except where noted:
🟢 Starter (up to the plan’s step limit) | 🟣 Optimizer | ⚫ Enterprise
It’s time to take control of your data and your processes. Puzzle’s Entities & Attributes feature gives you complete visibility into how information moves through your systems, so you can manage complexity, reduce risk, and make smarter decisions faster.
With this powerful tool, you can document every critical data point, track how information flows across your tools, and visually connect your entire automation landscape.
And now, with enhanced functionality, you can display attributes for multiple steps directly on your process canvas—perfect for showcasing how your systems work and proving the value behind your automations.
Feature Benefits
🔎 Search and Track Data Instantly: Visualize where data fields (attributes) are used without digging through every automation, saving time and reducing guesswork.
⚡ Confident System Changes: Make updates with clarity by understanding how data points interact across your processes, minimizing risk and downtime.
🎨 Visualize Data Flow Across Your Canvas: Display attributes for multiple steps directly on the process canvas—ideal for walkthroughs, client presentations, or understanding how information moves through your system.
📂 Simplified System Documentation: Document entities, attributes, and data relationships visually, giving your team a structured, organized view of your automation landscape.
What Are Entities & Attributes?
This feature is based on the Entity-Relationship (ER) model, which helps show how data is organized in a system. An Entity is a thing or object, like a contact, company, order, or product, that you want to track.
Definition: An Entity is a thing or object. For example, in a CRM there are likely Entities like Contact, Company, Order, or Product, that you want to track.
Each Attribute describes details about the Entity, like a contact's first name or a product's price. In system diagrams, entities and their attributes help map out how different parts of your system are connected.
Definition: An Attribute is a property of an Entity. For example, if the Entities are Student and Course, relates attributes would be Student_ID, and Course_ID.
Refer to the visual below to understand how Attributes are related to Entities.
Watch: Entities & Attributes in Action
🎥 See how to track data usage, organize attributes, and show how information flows across your workflows:
Step-by-Step Guide to use Entities & Attributes Feature
With these straightforward steps, you’ll be able to leverage the full potential of the Entities & Attributes feature. Follow the guide below to easily track where endpoints are used across your processes. If you prefer an interactive tour, visit this link to watch a step-by-step walkthrough of the Entities & Attributes feature.
1️⃣ Adding Entities to a Tool
1️⃣ Adding Entities to a Tool
🛠️ In your Workspace, go to the Tools canvas.
🔎 Select any tool already placed on your Tool Canvas, and click the database icon in the tool's sidebar.
🖱️ Click Add Entity to create a new Entity for that tool.
✏️ A modal will open so you can immediately name the Entity. Once saved, it will appear under that tool in your sidebar.
⋯ To rename an Entity later, click the three-dot menu beside its name and select Edit Entity.
2️⃣ Adding Attributes to an Entity (One by One)
2️⃣ Adding Attributes to an Entity (One by One)
You can add attributes individually when you need more control over each field’s details.
📂 Click the blue arrow next to the Entity name to expand it, then click the + Add Attribute pill.
📝 This opens the Attribute Detail Sidebar, where you can:
Set the attribute name
Enter an API name
Select a type from the dropdown:
Single-Line Text
Multi-Line Text
Phone Number
Single Checkbox
Multiple Checkbox
Dropdown Select
Radio Select
Date Picker
Number
File
Tag
Formula
Email
ID
URL
User
Lookup
🔎 Each attribute shows a step usage indicator (e.g., "0 Steps") to help you track where it's being used.
Workflows canvas.
✏️ To edit an attribute later, click the pencil icon next to its name. This reopens the Attribute Detail Sidebar, where you can make updates and view any associated steps. You can click any step name to navigate directly to it.
3️⃣ Adding Attributes to an Entity in Bulk
3️⃣ Adding Attributes to an Entity in Bulk
If you have a list of fields to document, you can bulk-add multiple attributes at once.
⋯ Click the three-dot menu next to the Entity name and select Bulk Add Attributes.
⚡ Paste your list of attribute names into the input modal. This is especially useful if you're copying from a spreadsheet or exported system file (
.xls,.csv, etc.).🖱️ Click Save Entity to create all attributes in one go.
Once added, you can manage each attribute individually using the same steps outlined in Step 2 — including setting API names, types, and descriptions.
4️⃣ Tagging Attributes on Steps in the Workflows canvas
4️⃣ Tagging Attributes on Steps in the Workflows canvas
👉 Go to the Workflows tab and select a step.
📎 In the step's sidebar there are two ways to associate Attributes to the step.
Tagging the Attribute in the Notes section — within the step's notes section you can '@' tag the attribute by typing the name of Attribute and selecting it from the dropdown that appears in the text editor. This is the fastest way to tag Attributes.
Manually associating Attributes — Within the step's information sidebar, you can use the ‘+’ on the Attributes divider, found just below the Notes divider. This opens a modal where you can:
Select an Entity to filter the list of available attributes
Use the search bar to quickly locate specific attributes
Or click “Add All” to assign every attribute from that Entity, then remove any you don’t need before saving.
🚨 Important: If you don’t see the Attributes section in the Step Sidebar, you may need to enable it first.
How to Enable Attributes in Step Sidebar Configuration:
Go to Workspace Settings in Puzzle.
Navigate to Step Sidebar Configuration.
Toggle ON the Attributes input.
Click Save, and your Step Sidebar will update automatically.
Now, when you open a step, the Attributes section will appear, allowing you to tag and track Attributes seamlessly.
5️⃣ Filtering Workflows by Attributes
5️⃣ Filtering Workflows by Attributes
✅ Once you've documented your Attributes across your Workflow canvas, you can use the Attribute as a filter in the List View.
Open the List View in the Workflows canvas to view all your steps in a table view.
Use the Attribute filter criteria to easily filter the step table to only show the steps that involve a specific Attribute. This level of depth in your documentation makes fixing automations a breeze!
6️⃣ Display Attributes Directly on the Canvas
6️⃣ Display Attributes Directly on the Canvas
Puzzle lets you visualize attributes for multiple steps at the same time—without needing to open each step individually.
Click to expand attributes for any step directly on the canvas
Expand multiple steps to show how data connects across the process
Perfect for process walkthroughs, system reviews, and presentations
💡 This makes it easy to demonstrate how information flows across your automation, giving technical and non-technical audiences clear, structured visibility into your systems.
Best Practices for Using Entities & Attributes
🔧 Standardize Entity Names Across Tools: Use consistent, descriptive names for Entities across all tools and teams. This makes it easier to identify and reference the right data when mapping or editing processes.
🧩 Group and Document Attributes with Purpose: Only add attributes that represent meaningful fields in your system. Avoid clutter by focusing on attributes that are actively referenced in steps, tools, or reports.
📘 Use Descriptions and API Names: When editing an attribute, add a clear description and API name in the detail sidebar. This improves clarity for technical and non-technical collaborators, and ensures smooth integrations and audits.
🔗 Leverage Step Usage Indicators: Hover over an attribute pill to see how many steps reference it. Use this to quickly identify high-impact fields or confirm that attributes are being used as expected.
🎨 Present Data in Context During Reviews: Use public Views or presentations to show how attributes flow through your process. With pills and usage indicators visible in public views, stakeholders can understand the data model without needing access to Puzzle.
🔍 Review Regularly to Avoid Duplicates: Schedule occasional audits to catch duplicate attributes or outdated fields. Standardizing naming and using descriptions helps prevent confusion as your team scales.
Conclusion
Entities & Attributes give your team the structure and clarity needed to build confidently, maintain consistency, and scale effectively.
With detailed control over each data field and direct visibility into where attributes are used, you can streamline documentation, support integrations, and keep everyone aligned—from operations to engineering.
Use this foundation to strengthen your processes, reduce manual gaps, and ensure your workflows reflect how your organization actually works.