Workflows

A workflow is the central unit of automation in Orvanta. It is a directed acyclic graph (DAG) of nodes, where each node represents a discrete step — a script execution, a conditional branch, a human approval, or an external API call.

Anatomy of a workflow

Trigger → Node A → Node B ──→ Node C
                         └──→ Node D (parallel branch)

Each workflow has:

• A unique ID and name — used to reference the workflow in the CLI and API.
• Nodes — individual steps connected by directed edges.
• Edges — define the execution order and pass outputs between nodes.
• Triggers — determine when the workflow runs (manual, scheduled, webhook, or API call).
• Context — a shared key-value store available to all nodes in a run.

Node types

Type	Description
Script	Runs a versioned script in a polyglot runtime (Bash, Python, TypeScript, Go, …).
ConsentGate	Pauses execution until a designated approver signs off.
Condition	Routes execution based on a boolean expression evaluated against the context.
Webhook	Sends an HTTP request to an external service and waits for a response.
Delay	Waits for a specified duration before continuing.
Sub-workflow	Invokes another workflow and waits for it to complete.

Triggers

Workflows can be triggered in four ways:

1. Manual — via the UI Run button or orvanta runs trigger.
2. Scheduled — cron expression defined on the workflow.
3. Webhook — an inbound HTTP POST to the workflow’s unique webhook URL.
4. API — programmatic trigger via the REST API.

Versioning

Every workflow change is versioned. You can pin a trigger to a specific version or always run the latest. Previous versions remain available for audit and rollback.

Related

• Scripts — Reusable code units used inside Script nodes.
• Runs — Individual executions of a workflow.
• ConsentGate — Human-in-the-loop approval.