An automation doesn't have to be one straight line. A branch step waits for the person's next reply and routes them down a different path depending on what it says — or on whether they follow you.

How a branch waits

When the run reaches a branch, it pauses and waits for the person to reply. Their next message picks the path:

• Each branch arm has a condition like reply contains any of: "yes", "sure", "ok". The first arm that matches wins, checked in the order you arranged them.
• Reply matching here is contains, not whole-word or exact — "yes please!" matches an arm keyed on yes. That's looser than trigger matching on purpose: people answer branches in sentences.
• Every branch also has an otherwise arm. A reply that matches nothing takes it, so the run never gets stuck on an unexpected answer.

Buttons and quick-reply chips work with branches too: a tapped button can jump the run straight to any step, including a branch. See Sending DMs for the message formats that carry buttons.

The follower check

A branch arm can also test does this person follow you? When the run reaches it, big asks Instagram for the person's live follow status and routes accordingly — follower one way, non-follower the other.

If the check can't complete (Instagram doesn't answer in time, say), the run takes the otherwise arm rather than stalling. Design that arm so it reads fine for someone whose status you couldn't confirm.

The re-check loop

The classic use: "Follow me, then tap ✅ when you're done." A follower-check branch can loop back to itself — the person taps, big re-checks, and if they still haven't followed, asks again.

Loops are always bounded. You set how many times the branch checks (Check up to N times — the first check counts), and the builder requires an exit for when the checks run out (After N checks, if they still don't follow, go here). Once every check is spent, their next reply gets one last look: if they follow by then, they take the follower arm and get the link; if they don't, they come down the exit. At 2, someone who doesn't follow gets two checks and two nudges, and their third reply gets that last look before it takes the way out. Give the exit a graceful message that tells them to try again tomorrow: an automation answers each person at most once a day, so sending the keyword again straight away won't restart it.

The last look is for the follower check only. A loop whose arms read the reply's words doesn't read it a final time — once its checks are spent, the next reply goes straight down the exit.

You already have a working one. A new workspace is seeded with a paused "Example: follow first → DM your link" in Automations — open it and the four pieces are laid out: the ask, the follower arm, the otherwise arm looping back, and the After N checks way out. It is easier to change one that works than to wire the loop from scratch, and the validator is strict about this shape. (Workspaces created before September 2026 won't have it; the pieces above are the whole recipe.)

Reading the canvas

The canvas draws each kind of connection differently, and a small legend in its top-left corner names the ones this automation uses:

• Solid black line — the next step. big does it straight away.
• Solid black line with a black label — a branch arm. Their reply (or whether they follow you) decides which one they take.
• Dashed orange line with a pill label — a tap. They chose it by tapping a chip or button. See Choices on the canvas.
• Line up the right-hand side with a ↺ — goes back and asks again. In the follower gate it runs from the nudge back to the check.
• Red dashed stub marked Not connected — a choice that doesn't go to any step yet. Save refuses it.

A branch reads their reply; a tap is their choice. Both can send people down different paths, but only a branch looks at what they typed or at their account.

The first time a branch or a set of choices is on your canvas, Dot walks you through it, and again the first time you open a Send DM or Branch panel. Show me around in a panel's header replays that panel's walkthrough.

Things worth knowing

• While a run is parked at a branch, new messages from that person continue the run — they won't start a different automation until this one finishes or expires.
• A branch reply still has to arrive inside the messaging window. If the person goes quiet past the window, the run expires where it stands.
• The follower check costs a live Instagram lookup, so it happens only when the person actually reaches that branch.

Building one without the canvas

A branched flow is fiddly to click together and easy to write down. Write an automation as steps is the same follower gate as a short document you can hand to the CLI, the API, or an AI assistant — and big rule:template dm-follower-gate --document prints a working one to start from. In the dashboard, the same gate is the Follow first → DM your link card in the template library.

Next step

If a branched flow ever seems stuck, "Why didn't my automation fire?" covers the wait-and-window cases.