> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.flowx.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Send message/receive message tasks

> Send message task and Receive message task nodes are used to handle the interaction between a running process and external systems. This is done using Kafka send actions or start integration workflow actions.

## Send message task

This node is used to configure messages that should be sent to external systems.

<Frame>
  ![Send Message Task](https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docx.flowx.ai/release34/send-task_node.svg#center)
</Frame>

### Configuring a send message task

Node configuration is done by accessing the **Node Config** tab. You have the following configuration options for a send message task:

#### General Config

Inside the **General Config** tab, you have the following properties:

* **Node Name**: The name of the node
* [**Stage**](../../platform-deep-dive/core-extensions/task-management/using-stages): Assign a stage to the node

To configure a send message task, you first need to add a new node and then configure an **action** (**Kafka Send Action** or **Start Integration Workflow** type):

<Steps>
  1. Open <Tooltip tip="The process designer is a component of FlowX.AI Designer that allows users to create and design business processes using process definitions.">**Process Designer** </Tooltip> and start configuring a process.
  2. Add a **send message task** node.
  3. Select the **send message task** node and open the **Node Configuration**.
  4. Add an <Tooltip tip="Actions in the FlowX.AI platform are used to define the activity that a node has to handle. They can have various types and are used to specify the communication details for plugins or integrations."> **action** </Tooltip>, the type of the action set to **Kafka Send Action** or **Start Integration Workflow**.
  5. A few action parameters will need to be filled in depending on the selected action type.
</Steps>

![](https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docx.flowx.ai/5.x/kafka_send_action.png)

Multiple options are available for this type of action and can be configured via the FlowX.AI Designer. To configure and [add an action to a node](../../flowx-designer/managing-a-project-flow/adding-an-action-to-a-node), use the **Actions** tab at the node level, which has the following configuration sections:

* [Action Edit](#action-edit)
* [Trigger](#trigger)
* [Execution](#execution)
* [Navigation](#navigation)
* [Parameters](#parameters)
* [Advanced configuration](#advanced-configuration)

#### Action Edit

* **Name**: The name of the action
* **Action Type**: The type of the action, should be set to **Kafka Send Action** for actions used to send messages to external systems, or **Start Integration Workflow** to trigger [**workflows**](../../platform-deep-dive/integrations/integration-designer#workflows)

<Info>
  Additional fields like **Order** and **Timer Expression** may also be available in certain configurations to control action execution order and timing.
</Info>

#### Trigger

* **Manual**: When enabled, the action must be triggered manually by the user. When off (automatic), the action triggers automatically when the process flow reaches this step
* **Repeatable**: When enabled, the action can be triggered multiple times

#### Execution

* **Optional**: When enabled, the action is optional and the process can continue without it being executed. When off (mandatory), the action must be completed before advancing to the next node
* **Autorun Children**: When enabled, child actions (defined as mandatory and automatic) run immediately after the parent action completes

#### Parameters

Parameters define the message details for the Kafka send action:

* **Topics**: The Kafka topic name where the message should be sent
* **Message**: The message payload to send (can include process variables using `${variableName}` syntax)

<Info>
  Parameters can be added either using the **Custom** option (where you configure everything on the spot) or by using **From Integration** to import parameters already defined in an integration.

  For more information, see the [Integrations Management documentation](../../platform-deep-dive/integrations/integration-designer).
</Info>

#### Advanced configuration

* **Show Headers**: When enabled, allows you to configure custom headers for the Kafka message (for example, `processInstanceId`)

<Frame>
  ![Parameters](https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docx.flowx.ai/building-blocks/node/parameters_message_send.gif)
</Frame>

For more information about Kafka, check the following sections:

<CardGroup>
  <Card title="Intro to Kafka" href="/5.1/docs/platform-overview/frameworks-and-standards/event-driven-architecture-frameworks/intro-to-kafka-concepts" icon="link" />

  <Card title="Kafka documentation" href="https://kafka.apache.org/documentation/" icon="link" />
</CardGroup>

### Example of a send message task usage

Send a message to a CRM integration to request a search in the local database:

#### Action Edit

* **Name** - pick a name that makes it easy to figure out what this action does, for example, `sendRequestToSearchClient`
* **Action Type** - Kafka Send Action

#### Trigger

* **Manual** - off (automatic trigger)
* **Repeatable** - off (it only needs to run once)

#### Execution

* **Optional** - off (mandatory - the action must be completed before advancing to the next node)
* **Autorun Children** - enabled (if there are child actions, they run automatically)

#### Parameters

* **Topics** - `ai.flowx.in.crm.search.v1` - the Kafka topic on which the CRM listens for requests
* **Message**:

```json theme={"system"}
// Example of a message payload
{ "clientType": "${application.client.clientType}", "personalNumber": "${personalNumber.client.personalNumber}" }
```

#### Advanced configuration

* **Show Headers**: When enabled, allows you to configure custom headers for the Kafka message (for example, `processInstanceId`, correlation IDs, or other metadata)

## Receive Message Task

This type of node is used when we need to wait for a reply from an external system.

<Frame>
  ![Receive Message Task](https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docx.flowx.ai/release34/receive-task%20_node.svg#center)
</Frame>

The reply from the external system will be saved in the process instance values, on a specified key.

For example, let's think about a CRM microservice that waits to receive requests to look for a user in a database. It will send back the response when a topic is configured to listen for the response.

![](https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docx.flowx.ai/5.x/receive_kafka.png)

### Configuring a Receive Message Task

The values you need to configure for this node are the following:

### Data stream topics

* **Custom**: You can configure the topic name and key name manually
* **From Workflow**: You can select a workflow from the dropdown list.