Workflow Types

LenserFight Workflows are built on a DAG execution engine that supports a range of composition patterns. The four primary patterns are: sequential, parallel, conditional, and scheduled. These patterns can be freely combined within a single Workflow.

Sequential Workflows

A sequential Workflow is the simplest pattern: Node B runs after Node A completes, and Node C runs after Node B completes. Data flows forward through a single chain.

When to use: Tasks that have a strict ordering — each step depends on the full output of the previous step.

Examples:

• Research → write article → translate
• Gather data → validate → format → publish

lf workflow create --name "research-to-pdf"
# Add nodes in order, connect with edges
lf workflow node add research-to-pdf --lens research-lens
lf workflow node add research-to-pdf --lens summarise-lens
lf workflow edge add research-to-pdf --from node-1:output --to node-2:input_text

Parallel Workflows

A parallel Workflow splits into two or more independent branches that run at the same time. A final node (or merge node) collects their outputs.

When to use: Independent tasks that do not depend on each other's outputs — running them in parallel reduces total wall-clock time.

Examples:

• Generate blog post, thumbnail, and social caption simultaneously
• Run three validation lenses on the same input in parallel
• Produce text, image, and audio from the same brief at the same time

The engine runs all nodes with zero unmet dependencies in the same wave using Promise.all. No special configuration is needed — the parallelism emerges from the DAG structure.

Conditional Workflows

A conditional Workflow uses a routing Lens (kind: routing) to classify input and select a downstream branch. The routing lens outputs a JSON decision, and downstream nodes use that decision to determine which path to take.

When to use: Tasks where the correct next step depends on the nature of the input — you don't know in advance which branch to take.

Examples:

• Route a user request to text, image, or video generation based on intent
• Classify content moderation severity and route to the appropriate review flow
• Detect language and route to the correct localization Lens

# A routing lens outputs a JSON decision object
# Downstream nodes reference fields from that object to decide whether to run
lf lens create --kind routing --name "content-router"

Note: Conditional branching in LenserFight uses the routing lens kind combined with on_parent_failure: skip on branches that should not run. Full conditional gate primitives are on the roadmap.

Scheduled Workflows

A scheduled Workflow runs automatically on a cron expression rather than being triggered manually. The platform's scheduler creates a new run at each scheduled time, passing in a default set of root inputs.

# Schedule a workflow to run every weekday at 09:00 UTC
lf schedule create \
  --workflow "daily-digest" \
  --cron "0 9 * * 1-5" \
  --timezone "UTC"

# List all active schedules
lf schedule list

# Pause a schedule without deleting it
lf schedule pause <schedule-id>

# Resume a paused schedule
lf schedule resume <schedule-id>

When to use: Recurring tasks that should run without manual intervention on a time-based trigger.

Examples:

• Generate a daily news digest every morning
• Produce a weekly performance report every Monday
• Run nightly content moderation sweeps

Scheduled runs behave identically to manual runs: they produce node results, artifacts, and run history. They can be monitored, retried, and cancelled in the same way.

Combining patterns

All four patterns can be combined in a single Workflow. A common real-world example:

This Workflow is:

• Scheduled (runs daily)
• Conditional (router picks the branch)
• Parallel (tech branch generates text and image simultaneously)
• Sequential (business branch runs steps one at a time)

Related

• Workflow Concepts — DAG model, nodes, edges, and runs
• Open Source Workflows — Architecture and the 25-task matrix
• Build a Lens Chain — Hands-on guide
• Create a Workflow — Beginner walkthrough