Create Asset

Create Asset adds an asset to a deal: a vehicle, a machine, a property — whatever the deal is secured by or built around. It can also do the opposite and empty the deal of assets. It is a silent node; nothing is sent to the customer.

Assets belong to a deal, not to a customer, so this node always needs a deal ID. See Assets API for the record and Asset Fields API for its custom fields.

The two modes

Which deal

The deal comes from a flow variable or from a typed ID. The variable can be a dotted path, so a deal ID nested inside a structured variable is reachable.

The node does not check that the deal exists. A well-formed ID that belongs to no deal produces an asset hanging off nothing. Take the deal ID from the variable Deal wrote in Create mode rather than from anywhere else.

An empty deal ID exits through Error.

Create

The asset

These four text fields are templates. {{variable}} in the label, description, group or external ID is rendered with the conversation's variables before the asset is saved. This is the opposite of Deal, where the label is stored literally.

An empty label exits through Error.

Fields

Each row names a key from the asset field catalog and a value, fixed or from a variable. Variables can be dotted paths, and the value keeps its shape — a money value stays an object rather than being flattened into text.

A field that fails to write leaves an error notice and the node carries on with the remaining fields. A field whose value resolves to nothing is skipped without any notice at all, which is the quiet failure to watch for.

The picture

The picture comes from a fixed URL or from a variable, usually one written by Ask File. It is optional.

The asset is created first and the picture attached afterwards, so every picture problem leaves an asset behind:

• The variable holds several files. The first one is used and a warning notice names the rest.
• The variable holds nothing. A warning notice is left and the asset is created without a picture.
• The link expired. Files captured by Ask File are signed links with a limited life. The node renews an expired one on its own; only when the renewal fails does it leave an error notice, and the asset stays without its picture.
• The file type cannot be determined. Neither the URL nor the server says what the file is: "Could not determine the image file type from the URL. Use a direct link ending in the file extension (e.g. .jpg, .png)."

Only jpg, jpeg, png, webp, heic and heif are marked as the asset's main picture and shown in the deal's carousel. Another format is attached but does not become the picture.

The picture variable does not accept dotted paths, unlike the deal variable and the field variables. It has to be the plain name of a variable.

Clear before creating

Clear before creating empties the deal of assets before adding the new one. Off by default, and it should stay off in every node but the first: turned on in a second Create Asset of the same chain, it deletes what the first one just made.

If the clearing fails, nothing is created and the node exits through Error.

Clear

Clear mode deletes every asset of the deal together with their fields, in that order — fields first, because the asset ID is what ties them.

Clearing a deal that has no assets is not a failure: the node succeeds having deleted nothing.

In this mode the output variable receives how many assets were deleted, not an ID.

Output Handles

This node does not draw an Error handle in the editor. It is the one difference from Deal and Relationship: there is nothing to wire a failure to. When it fails, the conversation falls back to the channel connector's default responder — or, without one, is left with no active flow — and the notice says the node failed and had no Error handle.

The practical consequence: check the inputs before this node runs, not after. A Conditional that verifies the deal variable is not empty is worth more here than anywhere else.

Every failure leaves a notice on the conversation, visible in the conversation's notices panel in Chat and aggregated in Flow Notices.

Things to Know

The label and the other text fields are templates. Use them — an asset labelled Vehicle {{plate_number}} is far more useful in the deal view than one labelled Vehicle.

A missing picture does not fail the node. If the picture is not optional for your process, check the file variable with a Conditional before this node.

Create mode makes one asset per run. For several assets, use several nodes, and leave Clear before creating off in all but the first.

The deal is not validated. The most common way to get a stranded asset is a deal variable that was never written.