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deepseek-harness/packages/workflow/workflow/README.md
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imccyu d5c65e2b4c docs: describe the workflow engine as worker-thread first
The outer ring catches up with the engine swap (the package's own
README/JSDoc rode the port commit):

- Seam module doc and README name the worker-thread engine as THE
  implementation, with isolated-vm/separate-process sandboxing as the
  deferred hardening; the seam service doc states the holder-owned-runs
  contract (engine-fiber disposal deliberately leaves live runs to
  their holders).
- Seam contract precision: agentsStarted documents the termination-path
  degradation to the host-observed count; the events section scopes the
  agent-start/agent-end pair to calls that STARTED a child run;
  WorkflowRun wording drops the vm-era abandonment language.
- The dynamic-workflows RFC is rewritten in place to the shipped
  mechanism (implemented-RFC rule): why worker threads, the thread's
  concrete buys, the in-process node:vm first cut recorded under
  alternatives considered; the tool section describes the usage policy
  as the tool's own prompt section.
- gen-doc-graphs: six workflow/* DYNAMIC_EVENT_DISPATCHERS entries (the
  catalog no longer claims nothing dispatches them) and the seam-note
  wording; core-data-structures gains its workflow.md index row;
  packages/README + AGENTS.md layout line + example cordis.yml comments
  say worker-thread; catalogs regenerated.
2026-07-09 19:31:56 +08:00

3.8 KiB

@deepseek-ai/dsh-workflow

The workflow seam (ctx.workflows): an abstract service defining WHAT a workflow engine does — execute a model-written orchestration script that fans out subagents — without saying HOW. The bash-shaped third of the workflow family: implementations subclass WorkflowService and register as the workflows service (one per context); dsh-workflow-vm (one worker thread per run) is the implementation, and dsh-tool-workflow is the model-facing consumer.

Service: WorkflowService (abstract)

start(request: WorkflowStartRequest): WorkflowRun — parse and execute a script. Throws synchronously (SCRIPT_PARSE/META_INVALID) for a script that cannot begin; once a run is returned, its result NEVER rejects — every failure resolves with stopReason: 'error' (or 'cancelled') — and once the run is cancelled, result settles within the implementation's bounded grace even if the script itself never settles (a consumer awaiting result must never be wedged past a cancellation). dispose() must reach quiescence within a bounded grace (cancel → wait for the script to settle and its children to finish disposing → abandon), never hanging its caller. Runs are HOLDER-owned: the engine does not track its live runs, so disposing the engine's fiber mid-run leaves each run to its holder's teardown.

The protected emitWorkflowEvent helper dispatches the workflow/* events with PER-LISTENER containment and PER-LISTENER payload snapshots (a throwing subscriber is logged, never propagated, and cannot starve later listeners; each subscriber gets its own clone of the payload, so mutating it corrupts neither the engine nor other listeners) — the same containment guarantee as the subagent seam's lifecycle emits.

Vocabulary

  • WorkflowStartRequest{ script, args?, parent: Agent, signal? }. parent is REQUIRED: every child the script spawns is attributed to it. args must be plain host-realm JSON data.
  • WorkflowMeta / WorkflowPhase — the script's validated export const meta block (Claude Code format: required name/description, optional whenToUse/phases).
  • WorkflowRun{ id, meta, result, cancel(reason?), dispose() }; the consumer awaits result and MUST dispose on every path.
  • WorkflowResult{ value, stopReason: 'completed'|'cancelled'|'error', error?, agentsStarted }; value is the script's materialized return (plain JSON data; null for no return).
  • WorkflowErrorHarnessError with a WorkflowErrorCode and a fatal flag driving the combinator discipline: a fatal error (bad hook arguments, unsupported options/schemas, tripped caps, seam start failures, cancellation) always propagates through parallel()/pipeline() instead of dissolving into a per-item null. isFatalWorkflowError(error) is the catch-site predicate.

Events

All observe-only emits carrying DATA SNAPSHOTS (WorkflowRunInfo = id + meta) — never the live WorkflowRun, so a listener cannot gain cancel/dispose; control stays with the start() caller:

  • workflow/start(info) / workflow/end(info, resultInfo) — run lifecycle; resultInfo deliberately omits the value.
  • workflow/phase(info, title) / workflow/log(info, message) — script narration.
  • workflow/agent-start(info, agent) / workflow/agent-end(info, agent + outcome) — one pair per agent() call that STARTED a child run (a call rejected at validation or caps, refused at start, or cancelled while queued for a slot emits no pair), correlated by seq.

Non-goals (this cut)

Background collection, journaling/resume, saved workflows, nested workflow(), token budgets — see the RFC's deferred section.