# Manual

**Manual** starts a run only when you click its **Run** button. It has no Gravity Forms entry of its own.

## When to use it

Use it for one-off imports, cleanups, backfills, or a process that a human should deliberately start.

## Settings

![Manual trigger connected to a Delay step](/documentation/flowcrafter/screenshots/node-manual-canvas.png)

There are no node settings. Save the workflow, then hover over or select the Manual node and click **▶ Run**.

The saved workflow must be valid. The workflow may be inactive because manual runs do not enable its automatic triggers.

## Output and branch

![A completed Manual trigger test displaying run-start and timestamp output](/documentation/flowcrafter/screenshots/node-manual-output.png)

The single default branch receives when this run, and the last completed run, started.

| Output | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `run_started_at`, `run_started_timestamp` | When this run started, in site time and as a Unix timestamp. |
| `last_completed_run_started_at`, `last_completed_run_started_timestamp` | When the last run that completed successfully started. Empty until a run has completed. |

Every trigger carries the two run-start values. To fetch only what's new since the last run, put **Last completed run started** in [Get Entries](/documentation/flowcrafter/nodes/actions/get-entries/)' **Created after** and **This run started** in its **Created before**.

## Limits

- A manual run does not contain an entry. Entry-aware steps need an entry supplied by an upstream query.
- **[For Each](/documentation/flowcrafter/nodes/flow/for-each/)** does not fetch data. Use **Get Entries** or another query step first, then let For Each process the returned items.
- Each click starts a new run. The builder protects one double-click with an idempotency key, but separate clicks are intentional runs.

## Example

To add a note to every open support entry:

1. **Manual** starts the run.
2. **Get Entries** queries the support form for matching active entries.
3. **For Each** processes the query's returned entries.
4. **[Add Entry Note](/documentation/flowcrafter/nodes/actions/add-entry-note/)** runs on the **Each item** branch.

Connect any summary or follow-up work to the For Each **Done** branch.