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Tokens are how you pass data from one step to another. They’re the connectors that make your workflow flow.

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What are token pills?

Token pills are colored badges that represent another step’s output. When you place a token pill in a prompt field, you’re saying “put this step’s result here.” They look like small rounded labels with:
  • An orange dot on the left (for text outputs)
  • A green dot (for structured data fields)
  • The step name and field shown as text
Tokens panel showing orange text tokens and green structured data tokens from upstream steps

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Inserting tokens

There are two ways to insert a token:

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Drag and drop

  1. Open a step’s settings panel (click the step on the canvas)
  2. Look at the tokens panel on the right side — it lists available outputs from other steps
  3. Drag a token pill from the panel into the prompt field
  4. The pill appears inline in your text

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Insert button

  1. Click inside the prompt field where you want the token
  2. Click the Insert button in the toolbar
  3. A Token Picker modal opens with a searchable list of all available tokens
  4. Click one to insert it at your cursor position
Token Picker modal showing a searchable list of all available tokens from upstream steps

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Token colors

The pill color tells you what kind of data it carries:
ColorMeaningExample
Orange (amber)Text output from a stepThe full text response from an Ask AI step
Green (emerald)Structured data fieldA specific field like company_name from a schema
BrownLoop resultAn array of outputs collected from a loop
SlateSubrecipe outputOutput from a nested recipe

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What tokens look like in prompts

When you insert a token, it appears as a colored pill in the prompt editor. Behind the scenes, StewAI uses the syntax {{step_id.field}}, but you don’t need to type this yourself — the drag-and-drop and picker handle it for you.
If you prefer typing tokens manually (or need to in certain fields), the syntax is:
{{step_id}}           — The full output of a step
{{step_id.text}}      — Just the text portion
{{step_id.value}}     — The structured data portion
{{step_id.value.name}} — A specific field within structured data
For example, if you have a step with ID research, you can type {{research}} to insert its output.

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Rules to know

Tokens create dependencies. When you put Step A’s token into Step B, Step B will wait for Step A to finish before running. This is automatic — you don’t need to configure the order manually.
You can use multiple tokens in one prompt. Combine outputs from several steps in a single prompt field. StewAI will wait for all referenced steps to complete.
Loop step outputs are scoped. If a step is inside a loop, you can’t directly reference its output from outside the loop. Use a Mixer step to collect loop results first — see Loops and Conditions.