---
title: "Build a decision tree"
description: "Turn a decision your team makes again and again into a guided flow of questions, branches and outcomes."
url: "https://okido.io/en/docs/systems-decision-trees/build-a-decision-tree"
chapter: "Systems and decision trees"
chapterUrl: "https://okido.io/en/docs/systems-decision-trees.md"
plans: ["All plans"]
roles: "Owner, Admin"
language: "en"
edition: "2026-10-23"
---

# Build a decision tree

> Turn a decision your team makes again and again into a guided flow of questions, branches and outcomes.

A decision tree asks a few questions and, depending on the answers, leads to an outcome: which campaign package fits a client, or whether a campaign needs a photo or a video shoot. Everyone who runs it reaches the same decision in the same way, and every run is logged.

You build a decision tree in a process of the Playbook: questions that store their answers in variables, outcomes, and branches that lead from one to the next.

## Create a decision tree

1. In the **Playbook**, open the folder and the process the tree belongs to.
2. Choose **Add** at the end of the process, then **Decision Tree**.
3. Enter a **Name** and, if you like, a **Description**.
   ![Creating a decision tree in a process](https://okido.io/docs/screenshots/en/create-decision-tree.webp)
4. Choose **Create Decision Tree**.

The editor opens, with a **Start** step on the canvas.

## Add a question

Each question stores its answer in a variable, so the branches can check it. Declare the variable first.

1. Choose **Variables**, type a key for the answer in capitals (for example MAIN_CHANNEL), and choose **Add Variable**. Close the panel.
2. In the **Step Palette** on the left, choose **Question**, then select the new step on the canvas.
3. Fill in its **Label** and its **Question Text**.
4. Choose an **Input Type**, for example **Select (single)**, and under **Store in Variable** the variable for the answer.
5. For a choice, choose **Add Option** for each answer and fill in its label and value.
   ![A question with its text, its input type, its variable and two answers](https://okido.io/docs/screenshots/en/decision-tree-step-properties.webp)

Add a question in the same way for every question of the tree.

## Add the outcomes

1. In the **Step Palette**, under **Result**, choose **Output** for each possible outcome.
2. Select each outcome and give it a **Label**, such as "Photo shoot". Under **Output Fields**, fill in the result it gives.

## Connect the steps

1. Drag the steps into place on the canvas: the first question under the **Start** step, and the outcomes under the question.
2. Drag from the dot at the bottom of the **Start** step to the dot at the top of the first question.
3. Select the question. Under **Branches**, choose **Add Branch** for each way the tree can go on.
4. For each branch, choose its **Target Step**, the next question or an outcome. Under **Condition**, choose the variable and enter the value of the answer that leads there.
5. Tick **Default** on the branch to take when no other branch matches. The first branch you add is the default.
   ![Two branches of a question: the default one, and one for a single answer](https://okido.io/docs/screenshots/en/decision-tree-branches.webp)
6. Choose **Save Draft**.

The branches show as lines on the canvas once you save the tree and open it again.

![A decision tree with one question that branches to two outcomes](https://okido.io/docs/screenshots/en/decision-tree-canvas.webp)

## Validate and publish

1. Choose **Validate**. OKiDO saves the draft and checks the tree: every question needs a text, a declared variable and a branch, and the tree needs at least one outcome. If something is missing, a list shows what to fix.
2. When the tree is valid, the button changes to **Publish**. Choose **Publish**.

The tree is published and ready to run: see [Run a decision tree](https://okido.io/en/docs/systems-decision-trees/run-a-decision-tree.md). A system can also ask someone to answer it (see [Build a system](https://okido.io/en/docs/systems-decision-trees/build-a-system.md)).