Creating and Managing Workflows

Create, edit, and manage workflows within your wireflow project.

What is a Workflow?

A workflow is a named, persistent task configuration stored in .workflow/run/. Each workflow contains:

• Task description (task.txt) - The prompt/instructions for the task
• Configuration (config) - Workflow-specific settings
• Output file (output.<format>) - Where responses are saved

Creating Workflows

wfw new analysis-01

Creates .workflow/run/analysis-01/ with:

.workflow/run/analysis-01/
├── task.txt          # Your task description
├── config            # Workflow config (optional)
└── output.md         # Response output (created on first run)

After creation, use wfw edit analysis-01 to open the workflow files in your editor.

Task.txt Structure

The task.txt file uses an XML skeleton with metadata and content sections:

<user-task>
  <metadata>
    <name>workflow-name</name>
    <version>1.0</version>
  </metadata>
  <content>
    <description>
      Brief 1-2 sentence overview of this workflow's purpose
    </description>
    <guidance>
      High-level strategic guidance for approaching this task
    </guidance>
    <instructions>
      Detailed step-by-step instructions or requirements
    </instructions>
    <output-format>
      Specific formatting requirements or structure for the output
    </output-format>
  </content>
</user-task>

Example:

<user-task>
  <metadata>
    <name>analyze-data</name>
    <version>1.0</version>
  </metadata>
  <content>
    <description>
      Analyze a dataset and create a summary report
    </description>
    <guidance>
      Focus on actionable insights rather than exhaustive statistics
    </guidance>
    <instructions>
      1. Data overview (rows, columns, data types)
      2. Statistical summary of numerical columns
      3. Key patterns or correlations
      4. Recommendations for further analysis
    </instructions>
    <output-format>
      Structured markdown with sections and tables
    </output-format>
  </content>
</user-task>

Workflow Configuration

Override project defaults in config:

MODEL=claude-opus-4-5-20251101
TEMPERATURE=0.5
MAX_TOKENS=8192
CONTEXT=(data/*.csv notes.md)
OUTPUT_FORMAT=md

Leave empty to inherit from project config.

Naming Conventions

Sequential: 00-context, 01-analysis, 02-writeup

Descriptive: extract-data, analyze-results, generate-figures

Rules: Use lowercase, hyphens, underscores. No spaces or special characters.

Editing Workflows

wfw edit analysis-01          # Opens task.txt and config
wfw config analysis-01        # Shows configuration cascade

Configuration sources (lower overrides higher):

• (default) - Global defaults
• (global) - ~/.config/wireflow/config
• (project) - .workflow/config
• (workflow) - .workflow/run/<name>/config

Listing Workflows

wfw list      # or: wfw ls

Configuration Options

Option	Description	Example
MODEL	Model identifier	claude-sonnet-4-20250514
TEMPERATURE	Randomness (0-1)	0.7
MAX_TOKENS	Max response tokens	8192
SYSTEM_PROMPTS	System prompts (array)	(base research)
OUTPUT_FORMAT	Output extension	md, json
INPUT	Input files (array, globs expand)	(report.pdf data/*.csv)
CONTEXT	Context files (array, globs expand)	(intro.md methods.md)
DEPENDS_ON	Dependencies (array)	(00-context 01-analysis)

Adding Context

In config:

CONTEXT=(README.md notes.txt data/*.csv)

At runtime:

wfw run analysis-01 -cx "data/*.csv" README.md

Runtime flags override config settings.

Workflow Dependencies

Chain workflows with --depends-on:

wfw run 02-analysis --depends-on 01-context

This includes output from 01-context as context for 02-analysis.

Multiple dependencies:

wfw run 03-synthesis --depends-on 01-context 02-analysis

Dependency graph example:

00-data-import → 01-cleaning → 02-analysis → 03-report
                           └→ 02-tests ────┘

Output Files

Outputs saved to .workflow/run/<name>/output.<format>:

.workflow/run/analysis-01/
├── task.txt
├── config
└── output.md      # Latest output

Hardlink also created at .workflow/output/analysis-01.md for convenience.

View output:

wfw cat analysis-01
cat .workflow/run/analysis-01/output.md
cat .workflow/output/analysis-01.md

Managing Workflows

Delete:

rm -r .workflow/run/old-workflow

Rename:

mv .workflow/run/old-name .workflow/run/new-name
# Update DEPENDS_ON in dependent workflows

Copy:

cp -r .workflow/run/template .workflow/run/new-workflow

Best Practices

Do:

• Keep tasks focused and specific
• Use descriptive workflow names
• Set workflow-specific config only when needed
• Use dependencies to chain related workflows

Don't:

• Create overly broad, multi-purpose workflows
• Hardcode file paths (use context options)
• Duplicate config across workflows (use project config)

Good task descriptions:

• Clear, specific instructions
• Structured output requirements
• Context about the domain

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