¶Workflows

Code-orchestrated workflow pipelines — define multi-step automations where code handles control flow and the LLM handles judgment.

@elyracode/workflows introduces deterministic, reproducible workflow pipelines to Elyra. Traditional agent orchestration uses an LLM to plan, spawn sub-agents, and decide next steps — every result re-enters the orchestrator's context window, paying a "token tax" that degrades quality as the window fills.

Workflows flip this model: code orchestrates, the LLM only judges. Each step is focused, deterministic, and reproducible.

¶Install

elyra install npm:@elyracode/workflows

The extension activates automatically when the project contains a .elyra/workflows/ directory.

¶Usage

Create workflow files in .elyra/workflows/:

{
  "name": "deploy",
  "description": "Build, test, review, deploy",
  "steps": [
    { "name": "test", "run": "npm test" },
    { "name": "review", "prompt": "Review the test output:\n{{steps.test.output}}" },
    { "name": "deploy", "run": "npm run deploy", "if": "{{steps.test.code}} == 0" }
  ]
}

Run with /workflow deploy or just ask the agent to run it.

¶Commands

¶Step types

¶Template variables

Reference previous step outputs anywhere in a step definition:

• {{steps.<name>.output}} — stdout (or LLM response for prompt steps)
• {{steps.<name>.code}} — exit code (for run steps)
• {{steps.<name>.stderr}} — stderr (for run steps)

¶Examples

> Create a workflow that runs tests, then asks the LLM to summarize failures
> Run the deploy workflow
> List available workflows

¶Why code orchestration?

When an LLM plans and dispatches sub-agents, every result flows back through its context window. As you chain steps, the context fills with stale outputs, prior decisions, and reasoning artifacts that degrade subsequent judgments.

A workflow runs deterministically: step 1's output is piped into step 2's prompt as plain template data, never polluting an orchestrator's context. The LLM is only invoked when judgment is needed — review, summarize, decide — not for routing.

¶Included skill

The elyra-workflows skill teaches the agent:

• Workflow file format and step types
• When to choose workflows over /swarm or manual orchestration
• Template interpolation patterns
• Conditional and parallel execution idioms