Run and Inspect

Manage a workflow definition with fission workflow, start executions with workflow run, and trace each execution with the workflow runs subgroup.

This page assumes you have a manifest — see Authoring workflows — and that workflows are enabled.

Manage the definition

fission workflow is the definition lifecycle. It mirrors the other Fission resources:

fission workflow create -f workflow.yaml
fission workflow update -f workflow.yaml
fission workflow list
fission workflow delete --name order-pipeline

Start a run

workflow run creates a WorkflowRun and prints its name. Pass input as inline JSON or @path/to/file.json:

$ fission workflow run --name order-pipeline --input @inputs/happy.json
Run started: order-pipeline-7k2p9

Each run is an independent execution with its own state and history. The definition is unchanged.

Inspect runs

The runs subgroup operates on executions. Every command takes --name <run> (the run name printed by workflow run), except runs list:

# All runs, or just this workflow's
fission workflow runs list
fission workflow runs list --workflow order-pipeline

# Where did this run stop, and why?
fission workflow runs describe --name order-pipeline-7k2p9

# The full event log; --io also shows step input/output payloads
fission workflow runs history --name order-pipeline-7k2p9
fission workflow runs history --name order-pipeline-7k2p9 --io

# Stop a running execution
fission workflow runs cancel --name order-pipeline-7k2p9

runs describe is the “where is it / where did it stop” view: the phase, the active or final state, and the failure reason if it failed. runs history is the underlying event log — the durable record the engine resumes from.

Visualize

workflow graph renders a workflow’s state machine as a diagram. --name reads a stored workflow; -f reads a manifest that has not been applied yet:

# Print a mermaid state diagram
fission workflow graph --name order-pipeline
fission workflow graph -f workflow.yaml

# Open it in a local day/night viewer
fission workflow graph --name order-pipeline --open

workflow runs graph --name <run> draws the same diagram but overlays a specific run’s status. Each state is colored by what that run actually did, so the picture is the answer to “where did this run stop”:

fission workflow runs graph --name order-pipeline-7k2p9 --open

--open serves the diagram from an ephemeral local web server and renders it in your own browser — the workflow never leaves your machine. In a run overlay, states that only route (a Choice) emit no step events and are labeled “not tracked” rather than colored as a status.

Related

• Authoring workflows — the manifest these commands operate on.
• Examples — runnable workflows with sample inputs.
• Workflow CLI reference — every command and flag.