workflow-automation

What this skill does

# Workflow Automation

Workflow automation is the infrastructure that makes AI agents reliable.
Without durable execution, a network hiccup during a 10-step payment
flow means lost money and angry customers. With it, workflows resume
exactly where they left off.

This skill covers the platforms (n8n, Temporal, Inngest) and patterns
(sequential, parallel, orchestrator-worker) that turn brittle scripts
into production-grade automation.

Key insight: The platforms make different tradeoffs. n8n optimizes for
accessibility, Temporal for correctness, Inngest for developer experience.
Pick based on your actual needs, not hype.

## Principles

- Durable execution is non-negotiable for money or state-critical workflows
- Events are the universal language of workflow triggers
- Steps are checkpoints - each should be independently retryable
- Start simple, add complexity only when reliability demands it
- Observability isn't optional - you need to see where workflows fail
- Workflows and agents co-evolve - design for both

## Capabilities

- workflow-automation
- workflow-orchestration
- durable-execution
- event-driven-workflows
- step-functions
- job-queues
- background-jobs
- scheduled-tasks

## Scope

- multi-agent-coordination → multi-agent-orchestration
- ci-cd-pipelines → devops
- data-pipelines → data-engineer
- api-design → api-designer

## Tooling

### Platforms

- n8n - When: Low-code automation, quick prototyping, non-technical users Note: Self-hostable, 400+ integrations, great for visual workflows
- Temporal - When: Mission-critical workflows, financial transactions, microservices Note: Strongest durability guarantees, steeper learning curve
- Inngest - When: Event-driven serverless, TypeScript codebases, AI workflows Note: Best developer experience, works with any hosting
- AWS Step Functions - When: AWS-native stacks, existing Lambda functions Note: Tight AWS integration, JSON-based workflow definition
- Azure Durable Functions - When: Azure stacks, .NET or TypeScript Note: Good AI agent support, checkpoint and replay

## Patterns

### Sequential Workflow Pattern

Steps execute in order, each output becomes next input

**When to use**: Content pipelines, data processing, ordered operations

# SEQUENTIAL WORKFLOW:

"""
Step 1 → Step 2 → Step 3 → Output
  ↓         ↓         ↓
(checkpoint at each step)
"""

## Inngest Example (TypeScript)
"""
import { inngest } from "./client";

export const processOrder = inngest.createFunction(
  { id: "process-order" },
  { event: "order/created" },
  async ({ event, step }) => {
    // Step 1: Validate order
    const validated = await step.run("validate-order", async () => {
      return validateOrder(event.data.order);
    });

    // Step 2: Process payment (durable - survives crashes)
    const payment = await step.run("process-payment", async () => {
      return chargeCard(validated.paymentMethod, validated.total);
    });

    // Step 3: Create shipment
    const shipment = await step.run("create-shipment", async () => {
      return createShipment(validated.items, validated.address);
    });

    // Step 4: Send confirmation
    await step.run("send-confirmation", async () => {
      return sendEmail(validated.email, { payment, shipment });
    });

    return { success: true, orderId: event.data.orderId };
  }
);
"""

## Temporal Example (TypeScript)
"""
import { proxyActivities } from '@temporalio/workflow';
import type * as activities from './activities';

const { validateOrder, chargeCard, createShipment, sendEmail } =
  proxyActivities<typeof activities>({
    startToCloseTimeout: '30 seconds',
    retry: {
      maximumAttempts: 3,
      backoffCoefficient: 2,
    }
  });

export async function processOrderWorkflow(order: Order): Promise<void> {
  const validated = await validateOrder(order);
  const payment = await chargeCard(validated.paymentMethod, validated.total);
  const shipment = await createShipment(validated.items, validated.address);
  await sendEmail(validated.email, { payment, shipment });
}
"""

## n8n Pattern
"""
[Webhook: order.created]
    ↓
[HTTP Request: Validate Order]
    ↓
[HTTP Request: Process Payment]
    ↓
[HTTP Request: Create Shipment]
    ↓
[Send Email: Confirmation]

Configure each node with retry on failure.
Use Error Trigger for dead letter handling.
"""

### Parallel Workflow Pattern

Independent steps run simultaneously, aggregate results

**When to use**: Multiple independent analyses, data from multiple sources

# PARALLEL WORKFLOW:

"""
        ┌→ Step A ─┐
Input ──┼→ Step B ─┼→ Aggregate → Output
        └→ Step C ─┘
"""

## Inngest Example
"""
export const analyzeDocument = inngest.createFunction(
  { id: "analyze-document" },
  { event: "document/uploaded" },
  async ({ event, step }) => {
    // Run analyses in parallel
    const [security, performance, compliance] = await Promise.all([
      step.run("security-analysis", () =>
        analyzeForSecurityIssues(event.data.document)
      ),
      step.run("performance-analysis", () =>
        analyzeForPerformance(event.data.document)
      ),
      step.run("compliance-analysis", () =>
        analyzeForCompliance(event.data.document)
      ),
    ]);

    // Aggregate results
    const report = await step.run("generate-report", () =>
      generateReport({ security, performance, compliance })
    );

    return report;
  }
);
"""

## AWS Step Functions (Amazon States Language)
"""
{
  "Type": "Parallel",
  "Branches": [
    {
      "StartAt": "SecurityAnalysis",
      "States": {
        "SecurityAnalysis": {
          "Type": "Task",
          "Resource": "arn:aws:lambda:...:security-analyzer",
          "End": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "StartAt": "PerformanceAnalysis",
      "States": {
        "PerformanceAnalysis": {
          "Type": "Task",
          "Resource": "arn:aws:lambda:...:performance-analyzer",
          "End": true
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "Next": "AggregateResults"
}
"""

### Orchestrator-Worker Pattern

Central coordinator dispatches work to specialized workers

**When to use**: Complex tasks requiring different expertise, dynamic subtask creation

# ORCHESTRATOR-WORKER PATTERN:

"""
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│          ORCHESTRATOR               │
│  - Analyzes task                    │
│  - Creates subtasks                 │
│  - Dispatches to workers            │
│  - Aggregates results               │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
                │
    ┌───────────┼───────────┐
    ▼           ▼           ▼
┌───────┐  ┌───────┐  ┌───────┐
│Worker1│  │Worker2│  │Worker3│
│Create │  │Modify │  │Delete │
└───────┘  └───────┘  └───────┘
"""

## Temporal Example
"""
export async function orchestratorWorkflow(task: ComplexTask) {
  // Orchestrator decides what work needs to be done
  const plan = await analyzeTask(task);

  // Dispatch to specialized worker workflows
  const results = await Promise.all(
    plan.subtasks.map(subtask => {
      switch (subtask.type) {
        case 'create':
          return executeChild(createWorkerWorkflow, { args: [subtask] });
        case 'modify':
          return executeChild(modifyWorkerWorkflow, { args: [subtask] });
        case 'delete':
          return executeChild(deleteWorkerWorkflow, { args: [subtask] });
      }
    })
  );

  // Aggregate results
  return aggregateResults(results);
}
"""

## Inngest with AI Orchestration
"""
export const aiOrchestrator = inngest.createFunction(
  { id: "ai-orchestrator" },
  { event: "task/complex" },
  async ({ event, step }) => {
    // AI decides what needs to be done
    const plan = await step.run("create-plan", async () => {
      return await llm.chat({
        messages: [
          { role: "system", content: "Break this task into subtasks..." },
          { role: "user", content: event.data.task }
        ]
      });
    });

    // Execute each subtask as a durable step
    const results = [];
    for (const subtask of plan.subtasks) {
      const r