> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help-center-starter.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Conditions and branches

> Model conditional paths and merge strategies in workflows.

Branches let workflows mirror real decisions: approvals vs auto-reject, regional routing, or parallel reviews that must all pass. Invest time in condition clarity—ambiguous logic becomes expensive to debug under load.

## Conditions

Express rules with comparisons on fields, regex, and presence checks. Prefer explicit comparisons over implicit truthiness so empty strings and nulls behave predictably.

### Short-circuit behavior

Know whether conditions evaluate lazily. If expensive checks run even when a prior clause already failed, you may hit rate limits unnecessarily.

### Testing matrices

Build a small table of inputs and expected branches before go-live. Include malformed payloads your API might emit during incidents.

## Branches

Run mutually exclusive branches or parallel branches that join later. Parallel paths reduce latency but require clear merge semantics when both sides finish out of order.

### Dependencies

If branch B needs artifacts from branch A, enforce ordering with explicit dependencies rather than hoping wall-clock timing works out.

## Merge

Define how conflicting branch outputs combine—first wins, merge maps, or custom reducers. Document the merge rule in the workflow description so the next editor does not “simplify” it incorrectly.

### Conflicts

When two branches set the same field, specify precedence. Last-write-wins is easy but surprising; structured merges are safer for financial totals.