Let’s say you have a record-triggered flow that calls a subflow. Sometimes you need to pass variables to the subflow.
If you need to pass a record to the subflow, you have two options:
- Pass the just Id as a text variable
- Pass the entire record
While both get the job done, I usually recommend option 1. Here’s why:
It’s faster to debug
In flow, when you create text variables, you can set a default value. This allows for quicker debugging as you don’t need to constantly paste the Id or select a record each time you debug the flow.
It uses less memory
When passing a short text, minimal memory is used. Contrast this to a record variable, which uses more memory since it stores all fields in the record.
Reduced network traffic
Minimal data transfer is needed when passing just the Id. Passing the entire record increases initial data transfer, especially for objects with many fields.
However there is one drawback to consider. You’ll usually need to perform a get operation as the first step in the subflow to get all desired fields. Considering the benefits, I usually place this as a minor drawback.
The takeaway
When passing data to subflow, it’s generally better to pass an Id instead of the entire record variable.