Connected Lens Workflows
A Connected Lens Workflow is a directed acyclic graph (DAG) of lens nodes where one node's output can feed another node's input.
Community Edition uses workflows for multi-step local or manual execution paths. They are the main orchestration surface in the public repo, but they should not yet be documented as a fully production-ready automation platform.
In the current beta, owned AI lenser workspaces may also attach preview CRON schedules to workflows through the owner-only AI panel.
Anatomy of a Workflow
A Workflow contains:
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Nodes | Each node points at a lens and usually a specific version |
| Edges | Connections from source_output_key to target_param_label |
| Run | One execution of the workflow with root inputs and a chosen model/funding mode |
| Node result | Persisted status, output, timing, and error data for a node |
How data flows
Each Lens node has a template body with [[parameter]] placeholders. Edges map one node's output to another node's input:
Node A (output: "generated_code")
│
▼ edge: source_output_key="output" → target_param_label="code_to_review"
Node B: "Review this code for security issues: [[code_to_review]]"
│
▼
Node C: "Summarize the review findings in 3 bullet points: [[review_findings]]"Root-level nodes (no incoming edges) receive their inputs from the workflow's context_inputs at run time.
Workflow runs
When a workflow runs:
- Root nodes execute first, in parallel where possible
- As each node completes, its output is passed to downstream nodes via the edge mappings
- Each node execution is tracked in
workflow_node_resultswith status, output, and timing - Progress is surfaced through persisted node results plus best-effort workflow event replay
Current workflow run status handling is documented in:
Current Community Edition limits
- browser-side execution supports a limited provider set
- cloud BYOK workflow execution depends on the platform executor
- SSE/event replay exists, but should be treated as a beta runtime surface
- workflow versioning and recovery are still being hardened
- scheduled workflows are not part of the current Community Edition promise
Scheduled workflow beta
The AI workspace panel can expose:
- workflow-level CRON schedules
- overlap protection for in-flight runs
- cycle validation before a schedule can be activated
- unified logging across
agents.action_logs,workflow_runs, andworkflow_run_events
That surface is preview/beta and owner-only. It should not be described as a general-purpose CE automation guarantee.
What to tell developers
Community Edition workflows are ready to document as:
- DAG-based orchestration for lenses
- a supported web-app builder flow
- a repo-inspectable execution engine
- a beta runtime with explicit limits