Workflows
Workflows let you orchestrate multiple agents into pipelines — chaining them together so the output of one becomes the input to the next. This is how you build complex, multi-step processes: a document arrives, one agent extracts data, another validates it against policy, and a third writes the result to your system of record.
Each step in a workflow runs in its own agent context with its own competencies, memory, and PII boundary. This isolation is deliberate — it prevents data leakage between processing stages and lets you assign different trust levels to different steps.
What you'll find here
| Guide | Description |
|---|---|
| Creating workflows | Define workflows in JSON: agent references, variable passing, step configuration |
| Step modes | Control execution flow: Sequential, FanOut, Collect, Conditional, Loop |
| Error handling | Configure failure behavior: Fail, Skip, Retry — plus timeout management |
A simple workflow
Each agent in the pipeline has its own competencies and PII boundary. Variables flow between steps explicitly — nothing leaks implicitly.
Common tasks
- Create your first two-step workflow → Creating workflows § Quick start
- Pass data between workflow steps → Creating workflows § Variables
- Fan out to process items in parallel → Step modes § FanOut
- Add retry logic to a flaky external call → Error handling § Retry configuration
- Set a timeout on a long-running step → Error handling § Timeouts
- Conditionally skip a step based on input → Step modes § Conditional
- Understand PII boundaries between steps → Error handling § PII isolation
Step modes at a glance
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Sequential | Steps run one after another (default) |
| FanOut | Parallel execution across items |
| Collect | Gather FanOut results into a single output |
| Conditional | Branch based on a variable or previous output |
| Loop | Repeat a step until a condition is met |
Related
- Agents — each workflow step runs inside an agent
- Competencies — agents in a workflow are shaped by their competencies
- Data integration — workflows often read from and write to external systems