Stop Loop

Overview

Stop loop exits a loop early based on a counter, allowing you to break out of a Loop stage before all items have been processed. Use this stage to implement early termination logic in batch processing or stop after finding a specific item.

Where to find it: Flow Control in the stage library.

Configuration

Required Fields

Using functions in these fields: Any value field above accepts @ functions, for example @NowSecond for the current time or @calc(...) for a calculation. 

See Flows Functions for the full list.

Exit Points

Loop Behavior: When counter reaches 0 or less, the Loop stage exits via its Pass exit after current iteration completes.

How It Works

When executed, the stage:

1. Retrieves counter value - Gets configured loop counter (or existing counter from previous run)
2. Decrements counter - Reduces counter by 1
3. Stores updated counter - Saves decremented value for Loop stage to check
4. Loop checks counter - Loop stage checks if counter ≤ 0 after iteration
5. Breaks if needed - Loop exits via Pass when counter reaches 0 or less

Key behavior: Loop doesn't break immediately - breaks after current iteration completes.

Common Use Cases

1. Stop on First Match

Search for a specific customer and stop when found.

Loop Iterate Path:

• Route Flow: {{customer.id}} equals {{targetCustomerId}}
  • Pass: Stop loop (counter: 1)
  • Fail: Continue to next iteration

Result: Loop exits after finding the target customer, skipping remaining items.

2. Process Only First 10 Items

Process only the first 10 records in a large dataset.

Loop Iterate Path:

• Process record (any stages)
• Stop loop (counter: 10)

Result: Only first 10 items processed, remaining items skipped.

3. Conditional Early Exit

Stop processing if running total exceeds budget.

Loop Iterate Path:

• Increment Number: Add {{expense.amount}} to runningTotal
• Route Flow: {{runningTotal}} greater than {{budgetLimit}}
  • Pass: Stop loop (counter: 1)
  • Fail: Continue

Result: Loop exits as soon as running total exceeds budget.

4. Stop After N Successful API Calls

Make API calls until 5 succeed, then stop.

Loop Iterate Path:

• Call API
  • Pass: Increment successCount by 1
  • Error: Continue to next
• Route Flow: {{successCount}} >= 5
  • Pass: Stop loop (counter: 1)

Result: Loop exits after 5 successful API calls.

Key Behaviors

Conditional Breaking Pattern

Stop loop has no built-in conditional logic. For conditional breaking, combine with Route Flow:

Pattern:

1. Route Flow: Check condition
   • Pass (condition met): → Stop loop
   • Fail (condition not met): → Continue loop

Best Practices

• ✓ Use counter value 1 for immediate break (stop on first execution)
• ✓ Use higher counter values to limit iterations (e.g., 10 for first 10 items)
• ✓ Combine with Route Flow for conditional breaking logic
• ✓ Place Stop loop strategically in iterate path (after condition check, before remaining processing)
• ✓ Use with Increment Number to track processed items
• ✓ Test with both small and large datasets to verify break behavior
• ✓ Remember break happens after current iteration completes

Common Mistakes

Troubleshooting

Do's and Don'ts

Do:

• ✓ Use counter 1 for immediate break
• ✓ Combine with Route Flow for conditional breaking
• ✓ Place strategically in iterate path
• ✓ Remember break happens after current iteration
• ✓ Test with different dataset sizes

Don't:

• ✗ Expect immediate mid-iteration break
• ✗ Use multiple Stop loop stages in same loop (they interfere)
• ✗ Look for special "break" exit on Loop stage (uses Pass exit)
• ✗ Forget that counter is flow-global in nested loops

Edge Cases

• Counter Zero: Setting counter to 0 breaks immediately after first execution.
• Negative Counter: Treated same as zero - breaks immediately.
• Very High Counter: No maximum - counter can be any positive integer.
• Counter with Variables: Can use {{maxIterations}} for dynamic counter values.
• Nested Loops: Counter is flow-global - affects innermost active loop only.
• Multiple Stop Loops: If multiple Stop loop stages run, they share counter - last one sets final value.
• Before/Outside a Loop: Stop loop still sets the break counter even with no loop running. That counter persists and the next Loop reads it, breaking immediately with zero items. Only use Stop loop inside the loop it controls.

Related Stages

• Loop: The stage that Stop loop works with to control iteration
• Route Flow: Add conditional logic before Stop loop
• Increment Number: Track how many items processed before break
• Return true / Return false: Exit entire flow (not just loop)