---
title: Run Flow
description: "A program normally runs from the top: Home Position first, then every template in order. This page covers the controls that change that — starting somewhere else, switching a template off, and picking up a weld that stopped part-way. ##…"
url: "https://hub.smooth-robotics.com/docs/usage-guides-run-flow/"
updated: "2026-09-23"
category: Usage Guides
---

# Run Flow

A program normally runs from the top: Home Position first, then every template in order. This page covers the controls that change that — starting somewhere else, switching a template off, and picking up a weld that stopped part-way.

## Start and stop

The run controls sit in the bottom toolbar, next to the robot state.

 ![Run controls in the operator screen toolbar](https://hub.smooth-robotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/manual-usage-guides-run-flow-run-controls.webp)

- **Play** starts the program. While it runs, the row the robot is working on carries a **Running** badge.
- **Stop** ends the run. A run that stops before the end leaves the program unfinished, which is what the resume offer below is about.

A program only starts once every node it will run is ready, and a template row says which of the two problems it has:

| Badge | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Unconfigured** | A node inside is still waiting for a position. |
| **Invalid** | A node inside has an error. |
| **Configured** | Everything inside is ready to run. |

  ![Template row showing the Unconfigured badge](https://hub.smooth-robotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/manual-usage-guides-run-flow-node-status-unconfigured.webp)

**Unconfigured** takes precedence, so a template shows **Invalid** only once every position has been taught. Play refuses the program while either is outstanding.

The badge says what kind of problem it is, not what caused it. For that you should check the log message. They can be accessed by clicking the **Log** button in the operator screen toolbar.

 ![Log button carrying an error dot, beside a template marked Invalid](https://hub.smooth-robotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/manual-usage-guides-run-flow-log-button.webp)

## Start here

**Start here** sets where the next run begins, so you can re-run one weld without repeating the whole program. Open a template's or a node's **⋮** menu and tap **Start here**.

 ![Node options menu with Start here](https://hub.smooth-robotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/manual-usage-guides-run-flow-start-here-menu.webp)

The row you picked now shows a **Starts here** badge. A collapsed template holding the start point shows **Starts inside** instead, so you can see where it is without expanding the row.

The robot still goes to **Home Position** first, whatever the start point is — a run always begins from there so it reaches the workpiece along a known path. What the start point changes is only which work is done: the **Skipped** rows are passed over, and welding picks up at the row marked **Starts here**.

 ![Program tree showing the Starts here badge and skipped rows](https://hub.smooth-robotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/manual-usage-guides-run-flow-starts-here-badge.webp)

There is one start point per program. Setting another moves it, and **Clear start** — the same menu entry once a start point is set — returns the program to running from the beginning.

Note

The start point is run intent, not an edit: it is not added to the undo history, and it survives until you clear it or the node it points at leaves the program.

## Suppress a template

**Suppress** switches a template off without deleting it. Nothing inside it runs, and its unconfigured nodes stop holding up Play — useful for parking a weld you are not ready to run, or for running one weld out of a program that contains several.

Open the template's **⋮** menu and tap **Suppress**. The row shows a **Suppressed** badge, and everything inside it is suppressed too.

 ![Program tree with a suppressed template](https://hub.smooth-robotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/manual-usage-guides-run-flow-suppressed-template.webp)

Tap **Activate** in the same menu to switch it back on.

Note

A suppressed template cannot be a start point, and suppressing one clears a start point inside it. **Start here** is unavailable on a suppressed row for that reason.

## Resume a weld that did not finish

When a run stops before the end — a stop, or a fault that halts the program — SmoothTool X offers to pick up where it left off. The offer appears on the operator screen once the program has settled.

 ![Program did not complete — resume offer](https://hub.smooth-robotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/manual-usage-guides-run-flow-resume-offer.webp)

It names the node the run stopped at and asks where the next run should start:

| Answer | Result |
| --- | --- |
| The node's name | Sets that node as the start point, so the next Play continues from there. |
| **Beginning** | Clears the start point; the next Play runs the whole program. |

Either answer is a program change, so the dialog stays up showing **Applying…** until it is written.

### Turning the offer off

The offer is on by default. To stop it appearing, open **SmoothTool X Settings → Software Setup** and switch off **Offer to resume a stopped run**.