Start with a workflow you can inspect
Separate the job into data, decisions, and execution. A model can summarize a market regime while a Function node calculates an allocation and a Conditional node decides whether a proposed change passes your rules. The order node is a separate action with its own account connection.
The existing VIX Regime SPY/BND Allocation is a concrete example. Its published design reads VIX history, SPY and BND data, and an Alpaca portfolio snapshot; calculates a regime and target weights; checks drift; and emails a report. Its preset allocations are template settings to review, not a recommendation for your portfolio.
Connect an Alpaca paper account
- Open the paper account in Alpaca and obtain its API key and secret. Paper and live accounts use separate credentials. Follow Alpaca's paper setup instructions for the account itself.
- In NickAI, open Settings, then Credentials, and add an Alpaca connection. Enter the API Key and API Secret in the credential form and enable Paper Trading. Keep secrets in that form, outside prompts and workflow text.
- Give the connection a name that identifies it as paper. Select that same connection wherever the workflow reads your Alpaca portfolio or submits orders.
- Keep the workflow inactive while you review it. The NickAI Alpaca setup guide covers connection and validation steps.
Build the example as a draft
Open the SPY/BND strategy, continue with its context, and review the generated draft. A useful follow-up request is: “Explain the input history, regime rules, target weights, and drift threshold in this workflow. Keep it inactive. Use my Alpaca paper connection for every account-dependent node and show me the settings that still need review.”
Inspect the data provider and lookback for each instrument. Confirm that the chosen data connection actually provides the required VIX history. Check timestamp alignment, regular versus extended-hours behavior, and the selected timezone. Data entitlement and execution eligibility are separate questions.
Inspect the report and each branch
The published template includes a report whether or not a rebalance is needed. Review the regime inputs, calculated targets, observed account weights, drift check, and order receipts. Use the execution log to trace those outputs to the input that produced them.
A useful no-action test starts with paper holdings inside the configured tolerance: the condition should skip the order branch and the report should explain why. A separate paper-only test should exercise the action branch. If it contains two orders, inspect both receipts; one successful order does not establish that the second succeeded.
These are reproducible review steps, not a record of a live account or measured investment results. Keep the inputs and results of your own test together so a later configuration change is easy to diagnose.
What changes before live use
A live brokerage connection introduces real execution behavior, account permissions, and venue rules. Review supported assets, order types, market hours, balances, and rejection handling again. An alert step sends a message; it is not an approval gate unless the workflow explicitly waits for a separate approval signal.
Start with the paper trading review process and the Alpaca integration overview. The goal of this first workflow is understandable behavior at every step.