Working with pipelines
Create pipelines on People, Companies or Opportunities for any process, change their stages and fields, and move records through them.
Updated October 25, 2026 · 8 min read
Pipelines are how Vetta models any staged process. A pipeline is a layer on top of People, Companies or Opportunities that moves those records through stages of your own: a sales process, fundraising, recruiting, customer onboarding or partnerships. A workspace can run any number of pipelines, each with its own stages, fields, views and automation.
Your pipelines are listed in the sidebar under the Pipelines section, each with a tag showing the entity it is built on.
What a pipeline is
A pipeline is not a separate list of contacts. It is built on one parent entity (People, Companies or Opportunities), and its records are those same people, companies or deals moving through the pipeline's own stages:
- Each pipeline defines its own stages: the steps of your process
- Each pipeline has its own fields: the data you track for records in that process (e.g., Kick-off Date and CSM for onboarding; Round Size and Lead Investor for fundraising)
- Pipeline records connect back to your core CRM records, so a company can simultaneously sit in your sales pipeline and your onboarding pipeline with different stages and data in each
- Each record can be in a given pipeline only once, and its record page lists the pipelines it is in
Record page · Pipeline healthChoosing between Opportunities and Pipelines. An opportunity is an entity of its own, each one a deal with its own stage, Estimated MRR, close date, company and point of contact, moving until won or lost. A pipeline is a layer on top of People, Companies or Opportunities (the tag beside it shows which) with its own stages, fields, a table and a kanban, and each record can be in it only once. Use an opportunity when the deal is the thing, and a pipeline to run a process.
Transcript
You've got deals to track, and two places that sound alike: Opportunities and Pipelines. An opportunity is an entity of its own. Each one is a deal. Open it, and it has its own fields, like its stage, its Estimated MRR, its close date, its company and its point of contact. Its stage moves along until the deal is won or lost. A pipeline is different. It isn't a separate list of contacts. It's a layer on top of People, Companies or Opportunities, and the tag beside it shows which. Cold outbound is built on People. Open it, and those same people move through the pipeline's own stages, with its own fields and two views: a table and a kanban. Each person can be in a pipeline only once, and their record lists the pipelines they're in. So use an opportunity when the deal itself is the thing, with a value and a close date. Use a pipeline to run people, companies or deals through a process, like fundraising, partnerships or outbound.
Everything that works on People and Companies works on pipelines too: views, custom fields, filters, and automation.
Opportunity or pipeline?
An opportunity is an entity of its own: each one is a deal with its own stage, amount, close date, company and point of contact. Use an opportunity when the deal itself is the thing, with a value and a close date. Use a pipeline to run existing people, companies or deals through a process, like fundraising, partnerships or outbound.
Creating a pipeline
Click the + next to Pipelines in the sidebar, and Templates opens.
From a template
- Search the templates, or tick a use case such as Sales to narrow the list.
- Select a template and click Preview template to see the fields and views you will get.
- Choose the entity it runs on (Companies, People or Opportunities), then name it.
- Click Use this template.
Vetta confirms with Pipeline created successfully, and the new pipeline appears in your sidebar with its entity tag and the template's stages. The Sales template, for example, runs from Qualification to Closed Won and Closed Lost.
Creating a pipeline from a template or from scratch. Click the plus next to Pipelines, search Templates or tick a use case such as Sales, choose Preview template, pick the entity (Companies, People or Opportunities), name it and click Use this template. The pipeline appears in the sidebar with a By Stage board. Start from scratch, with the entity Person and a name like Partnership, gives five stages to rename (Stage 4 set as lost, Stage 5 as won), an All table and a Kanban.
Transcript
When work moves through stages of its own, like partnerships or enterprise deals, track it in a pipeline. Click the plus next to Pipelines, and Templates opens. Search them, or tick a use case, like Sales, to narrow the list. Select the Sales template and click Preview template. It shows the fields and the views you'll get. Choose the entity it runs on, Companies, People or Opportunities, then name it. Click Use this template. Pipeline created successfully, and Enterprise deal is in your sidebar, with the Companies tag. Its By Stage board has the template's stages, from Qualification to Closed Won and Closed Lost. To build one yourself, click the plus again and choose Start from scratch. Pick the entity, Person, name it Partnership, and click Create Pipeline. A new pipeline gets five stages to rename: Stage 4 is set up as lost, and Stage 5 as won. You also get an All Partnerships table and a Partnership Kanban, and each person can be in it once.
From scratch
- Click Start from scratch.
- Pick the Entity, type a name, and click Create Pipeline.
A new pipeline starts with five stages to rename: Stage 4 is set up as lost and Stage 5 as won. You also get two views: an All table and a Kanban board, both named after your pipeline.
Changing stages and fields
Open Settings → Data → Pipeline. Every pipeline is listed with the entity it is built on, and the menu on a row deletes it. Open a pipeline to change it:
- Configuration shows its API name, the label and icon you can change, and its parent entity
- Fields: Create Field adds your own, and each field's menu lets you edit or deactivate it. Only custom fields can be deleted
To change the stages, click Edit Stage on the pipeline's settings page:
- Rename a stage, and the records in it stay put.
- Click Add option to create a new stage, drag it into place and pick its colour.
- The check marks the default stage.
- The won and lost stages keep their Closed Won and Closed Lost tags, and the lost stage needs at least one reason.
- Click Save changes, and the board follows.
Changing a pipeline's stages and fields after it is running. In Settings, open Pipeline, which lists every pipeline with its entity and a menu to delete it. Open one to see Configuration (API name, label, icon, parent entity), add fields under Fields with Create Field, and use Edit Stage to rename stages, Add option, drag, pick colours and set the default. Won and lost stages keep their tags, lost needs a reason, and removed stages move records to the default.
Transcript
Once a pipeline's running, you'll want its stages to match how your team works. Open Settings, then Pipeline. Every pipeline is listed with the entity it's built on, and the menu on a row deletes it. Open Partnership. It's a pipeline of Partnerships based on Person. Configuration shows its API name, the label and icon you can change, and its parent entity. Under Fields, Create Field adds your own, and each field's menu lets you edit or deactivate it. Only custom fields can be deleted. Edit Stage. Rename the stages, and the people in them stay put. The won and lost stages keep their Closed Won and Closed Lost tags, and the lost one needs at least one reason. Add option creates a new stage, and you can drag it into place and pick its colour. The check marks the default stage. Remove a stage that still has records, and they move to the default, since a stage can't be empty. Save changes, and the board follows. Each month, Alex asks Claude to add a Next step field. Claude adds it to Partnership and reads back five stages. Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant you connect to Vetta works on your real workspace, so start with one field, then ask for bigger changes. In Vetta, open Settings, Pipeline, and find Next step.
If you remove a stage that still has records, those records move to the default stage. Every record in a pipeline must have a stage, so they cannot be left empty.
Adding records to a pipeline
- From a table: on People, Companies or Opportunities, select records, click Add to, then Add to Pipeline. Only pipelines built on that entity are listed. Tick the pipeline and click Add to Pipeline. Records already in it are skipped, so nobody is in a pipeline twice
- From a record page: click the + next to Pipelines; a tick shows the pipelines the record is already in, and each pipeline row opens to its own fields, such as Stage
- From the pipeline: create a record directly in a stage column
- From the inbox: use Link a Pipeline / Opportunity on any conversation, and update the stage right from the thread (see Linking conversations)
- From workflows: the Create/Update Pipeline Record action adds records automatically, e.g. every qualified lead
Putting records into a pipeline and working them day to day. On People, select people, click Add to, then Add to Pipeline and tick the pipeline; anyone already in it is skipped, so nobody is in twice. A record's plus next to Pipelines does it for one person, and its row opens the pipeline's own fields like Stage. Drag cards on the Kanban, or use the table. Pipelines triggers and the Update Pipeline Record action work in workflows.
Transcript
Your pipeline is ready, so add the records it tracks. On People, select a few people, click Add to, then Add to Pipeline. Only pipelines built on People are listed. Tick Partnership and click Add to Pipeline. One of them was already in, so it's skipped: three selected, two added. Nobody's in a pipeline twice. On a person's record, the plus next to Pipelines does the same for one person, and a tick shows the pipelines they're in. Their Partnership row opens to the pipeline's own fields, like Stage, right beside the person's. On the Partnership Kanban, each card is a person: drag it to the next stage as things move. All Partnerships shows the same records as a table. Workflows can react too: the Pipelines triggers fire when a pipeline record is created, updated or deleted, and actions like Update Pipeline Record change it for you. Developers can reach each pipeline through its own API endpoint. After each webinar, Alex asks Claude to fill Cold outbound. Claude finds 64, skips 11, and adds 53. Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant you connect to Vetta works on your real workspace, so repeat this, then give it a bigger job each week. In Vetta, check the 53 new cards in Cold outbound.
Viewing a pipeline
Pipelines support multiple views:
- Kanban: one column per stage, and each card is a record; drag a card to the next stage as things move, and its stage and the column totals update
- Table: rows and columns, ideal for editing data and bulk operations, with optional grouping by stage
Each column shows a total at the top of the board: click it to open Summary settings and switch between Count and Percent, or open More options for Min, Max, Average and Sum of a number field such as Estimated MRR.
Working your deals on a kanban board. On Opportunities, the By Active stage view shows each stage as a column and each deal as a card with estimated MRR, company and contact. Click a column total to count deals, show percent, or use More options for Min, Max, Average and Sum (for example Sum of Estimated MRR). Drag a card to the next stage and the totals follow. Opening a deal shows Pipeline health and Stage details with the time spent in the current stage.
Transcript
Your deals move through a pipeline, and a board shows the whole pipeline at a glance. On Opportunities, the By Active stage view lays it out as columns. Each column is a stage, and each card is a deal with its estimated MRR, its company and its contact. At the top of a column, click one of its totals. Summary settings can count the deals or show their percent. More options adds Min, Max, Average and Sum. Pick Sum, then Estimated MRR, and the column adds up its deals. When a deal moves forward, drag its card to the next stage. It lands in Follow up, its stage updates, and the totals follow. Click a deal to open it beside the board. Pipeline health shows where it stands, and Stage details lists every stage with when it was reached. The current stage is open, with exactly how long the deal has been sitting in it. Every Thursday, Alex asks Claude to move the quiet deals. Claude checks 9 deals and moves 6 quiet ones to Follow up. Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant you connect to Vetta works on your real workspace, so make this a weekly habit, then hand it bigger jobs. In Vetta, check the Follow up column and its new total.
Create different views of the same pipeline for different jobs: a Kanban board for the weekly pipeline review, a table sorted by amount for forecasting.
Pipeline highlights
On a pipeline record's page, Highlights surface the fields that matter most for that process, and you can edit which fields appear, so the record view always leads with what your team actually checks.
On an opportunity, Pipeline health shows where the deal stands, and Stage details lists every stage with when it was reached. The current stage is open, with how long the deal has been sitting in it.
Automating pipelines
Pipelines have first-class automation support in Workflows:
Triggers
- Pipeline record is created / updated (e.g., a stage change) / deleted / created-or-updated
Actions
- Create/Update Pipeline Record, Update Pipeline Record (move stage), Delete, Find, Bulk Update, Bulk Delete
Typical patterns: enroll a contact in an onboarding sequence when their record reaches Closed Won; create a task for the owner when a deal enters Negotiation; exit a contact from outreach when a pipeline record is created for them.
Pipelines and the rest of the system
- AI insights: Vetta Brain reads each opportunity's recent activity and tells you how it is going and what to do next
- Analytics: stage-based charts (funnels, stage movement) are built on pipeline data; see Analytics & dashboards
- Notifications: get notified when teammates change pipeline stages
- API: each pipeline has its own API endpoint; integrations discover pipelines via the metadata API before reading or writing records
Common questions
Can the same person be in a pipeline twice?
No. Each record can be in a given pipeline once. When you add a selection, records already in the pipeline are skipped. See Adding records to a pipeline.
What happens to records when I rename or remove a stage?
Renaming keeps the records where they are. Removing a stage moves its records to the default stage. See Changing stages and fields.
Can I build a pipeline on opportunities?
Yes. A pipeline can be built on People, Companies or Opportunities; you choose the entity when you create it. See Creating a pipeline.
Should I create an opportunity or a pipeline?
Use an opportunity when the deal itself is the thing, with a value and a close date. Use a pipeline to run existing people, companies or deals through a process, like fundraising, partnerships or outbound. See Opportunity or pipeline?.
How do I add or rename a stage?
Open Settings → Data → Pipeline, open the pipeline and click Edit Stage. Rename stages in place, click Add option for a new one, drag it into place and click Save changes. See Changing stages and fields.
Why isn't my pipeline listed under Add to Pipeline?
Only pipelines built on the same entity as the selected records are listed. A pipeline on Companies won't show when you're adding people. See Adding records to a pipeline.
How do I show the total deal value at the top of a column?
Click the total at the top of the column to open Summary settings, then open More options and pick Sum of a number field such as Estimated MRR. See Viewing a pipeline.
How do I delete a pipeline?
Open Settings → Data → Pipeline and use the menu on the pipeline's row. See Changing stages and fields.
Key outcome
Pipelines turn Vetta from a contact database into a process engine: every staged motion your team runs (selling, onboarding, fundraising) gets its own stages, data, views, and automation, while staying connected to the same People, Companies and Opportunities.
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