Workflow Tools

These tools let the AI see what states a record is in and trigger Odoo workflow transitions — for example, confirming a quotation, posting an invoice, or marking a project task as done.

get_workflow_state

Returns:

  • The current state (or equivalent status field) of the record.

  • The list of available transition button-actions — public Odoo methods like action_confirm, action_cancel, action_post — that the AI can call next.

This means the AI does not have to guess Odoo method names; it discovers them at runtime per record.

Category: workflow. Risk: low.

transition_state

Calls one of the transition methods returned by get_workflow_state. The AI passes the model, the record ID, and the chosen action name. The tool returns the new state on success.

Category: workflow. Risk: medium.

Example workflow

Here is the kind of conversation a typical user has:

User: “Confirm quotation S00037 if it’s still in draft.”

The AI does this in two MCP calls:

  1. search_records on sale.order with domain [('name','=','S00037')] → returns ID 42.

  2. get_workflow_state on sale.order ID 42 → returns state = "draft" and available actions including action_confirm.

  3. transition_state on sale.order ID 42 with action action_confirm → returns the new state = "sale".

The AI replies to the user that the quotation has been confirmed.

Safety rails

Workflow transitions are real Odoo writes. The standard security applies:

  • The connection’s Allowed Models must allow the target model.

  • The Odoo user behind the connection must have the right to call the method on the record.

  • If the connection has transition_state in its Tools that need approval list, the AI’s request becomes a pending approval — see Human-in-the-Loop Approvals.

Tip

Many admins gate transition_state behind approvals for write connections, then leave it open for read-only connections (where it is a no-op anyway because ACLs reject the call).

See also