Introduction to the Serverless Workflow DSL

The Serverless Workflow DSL (Domain Specific Language) provides a powerful and flexible way to define workflows in a declarative manner. This documentation will guide you through the key concepts and components of the DSL.

Documentation Structure

This documentation is organized into several main sections:

1. Workflow Definition: Learn how to define and structure your workflows

   • Workflow Definition
   • Workflow Examples

2. Tasks: Explore the different types of tasks available

   • Flow Control Tasks
   • Data Tasks
     • Set Task - For data manipulation and transformation
     • Data Flow Management - For input/output handling and validation
   • Error Handling Tasks
   • Time Tasks
   • Event Tasks
   • Call Tasks
   • Run Tasks

3. Events: Understand how to work with events

   • Event Tasks
   • Event Correlation

4. Functions: Learn about function definitions and usage

   • Function Definition
   • Function Types

5. Advanced Features: Explore advanced workflow capabilities

   • Retries
   • Secrets

What is the Serverless Workflow DSL?

The Serverless Workflow DSL allows you to define workflows using a structured, human-readable format (typically YAML). Instead of writing imperative code to manage state, handle retries, coordinate tasks, and react to events, you declare the desired flow and behaviour. A compliant workflow engine then interprets this definition and executes the process reliably.

Key Principles and Benefits

• Declarative: Define what your workflow should do, not the low-level how. This leads to clearer, more maintainable definitions.
• Vendor-Neutral: Based on a CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) specification, promoting portability across different runtime platforms and cloud providers.
• Human-Readable: Primarily uses YAML, making workflow definitions easy to read, understand, and version control.
• Comprehensive: Supports a wide range of constructs, including sequential and parallel execution, conditional logic, error handling, timeouts, retries, event handling, and integration with various external systems (functions, APIs, message brokers).
• Extensible: Designed to integrate custom logic and external services seamlessly through well-defined task types.

Who is this Documentation For?

This documentation is intended for:

• Developers: Building applications that require orchestration or automation of processes.
• Architects: Designing distributed systems and event-driven architectures.
• Operations Engineers: Automating infrastructure tasks and operational procedures.
• Anyone interested in learning and applying the Serverless Workflow standard.

Getting Started

To get started with the Serverless Workflow DSL:

1. Read this Introduction page thoroughly.
2. Explore the Core Concepts section, paying particular attention to Data Flow and Runtime Expressions, as they are used extensively.
3. Review the Tasks and Events sections to understand the available building blocks.
4. Dive into the specific Task or Concept pages relevant to your immediate needs. The examples within each page are designed to illustrate practical usage.

Additional Resources

• Serverless Workflow Specification
• Serverless Workflow Examples

We hope this documentation helps you effectively leverage the power and flexibility of the Serverless Workflow DSL. Happy orchestrating!