Examples Overview

Comprehensive collection of Serverless Workflow specification examples

This section provides real-world examples demonstrating various features and capabilities of the Serverless Workflow specification. Each example is designed to illustrate specific concepts and patterns you can use in your own workflows.

Example Categories

Basic Workflows

Learn the fundamental building blocks of serverless workflows:

• Task Execution - Sequential and parallel task execution patterns
• Data Manipulation - Setting and transforming workflow data
• Control Flow - Conditional logic, loops, and branching
• Subworkflows - Composing workflows from reusable components

View Basic Workflow Examples →

Event-Driven Workflows

Explore event-driven patterns and reactive workflows:

• Event Listeners - Waiting for and consuming events
• Event Emission - Publishing events from workflows
• Event Correlation - Correlating multiple events together
• Scheduled Workflows - Cron-based and event-triggered scheduling

View Event-Driven Examples →

Service Orchestration

Integrate with external services and APIs:

• HTTP/REST APIs - Calling REST endpoints with various configurations
• OpenAPI Integration - Type-safe API calls using OpenAPI specifications
• gRPC Services - Invoking gRPC methods
• AsyncAPI - Publishing and subscribing to message brokers
• Authentication - OAuth2, OIDC, Bearer token, and other auth methods

View Service Orchestration Examples →

Error Handling

Implement robust error handling and recovery strategies:

• Try-Catch Blocks - Catching and handling errors gracefully
• Retry Logic - Automatic retry with backoff strategies
• Error Raising - Explicitly raising errors with context
• Conditional Error Handling - Different recovery paths based on error types

View Error Handling Examples →

Quick Reference

Common Task Types

Task Type	Purpose	Example File
call: http	Make HTTP requests	do-single.yaml
call: openapi	Invoke OpenAPI operations	call-openapi.yaml
call: grpc	Call gRPC methods	call-grpc.yaml
call: asyncapi	Publish/subscribe messages	call-asyncapi-publish.yaml
listen	Wait for events	listen-to-one.yaml
emit	Publish events	emit.yaml
set	Set workflow data	set.yaml
for	Iterate over collections	for.yaml
fork	Execute tasks in parallel	fork.yaml
switch	Conditional branching	switch-then-string.yaml
try/catch	Error handling	try-catch.yaml
run: container	Execute containers	run-container.yaml
run: workflow	Call subworkflows	run-subflow.yaml
wait	Delay execution	wait-duration-iso8601.yaml

Workflow Scheduling

Schedule Type	Description	Example
cron	Time-based scheduling	schedule-cron.yaml
on: one	Triggered by single event	schedule-event-driven.yaml
on: all	Triggered when all events received	listen-to-all.yaml

Example Structure

All examples follow the Serverless Workflow DSL 1.0.3 specification and include:

document:
  dsl: '1.0.3'          # DSL version
  namespace: examples    # Workflow namespace
  name: workflow-name    # Unique workflow name
  version: '0.1.0'      # Workflow version

# Optional: Define input schema
input:
  schema:
    format: json
    document:
      type: object
      properties:
        # ... schema definition

# Optional: Schedule configuration
schedule:
  cron: '0 0 * * *'     # or event-based trigger

# Main workflow logic
do:
  - taskName:
      # Task definition

# Optional: Timeout configuration
timeout:
  after:
    seconds: 30

Using These Examples

Running Examples

To run any example workflow:

1. Ensure you have a Serverless Workflow runtime installed
2. Copy the example YAML file
3. Modify any placeholders (URLs, credentials, etc.)
4. Execute using your runtime’s CLI or API

Adapting Examples

Each example is designed to be:

• Self-contained - Complete, runnable workflow definitions
• Documented - Clear explanations of what each part does
• Adaptable - Easy to modify for your specific use case
• Best-practice - Following recommended patterns and conventions

Additional Resources

• Serverless Workflow Specification
• DSL Reference
• Runtime Implementations
• Community Examples

Contributing Examples

Have a useful workflow pattern to share? Contributions are welcome!

• Submit examples via pull request
• Follow the existing example structure
• Include clear documentation
• Test examples before submitting