Sequential Steps

The most common workflow pattern is a series of steps that run one after another. Each step receives the outputs of all previous steps via the expression system.

How it works

Every node on the canvas is compiled to a step.do() call inside a Cloudflare WorkflowEntrypoint. Steps execute in the order determined by the edges connecting them. If a step throws, execution stops and the platform retries according to the step's retry configuration.

Example: Validate and send email

The workflow below has two steps:

1. Validate Input — checks that a user ID was provided
2. Send Email — uses the result from step 1 to send a confirmation

Canvas nodes

Order	Node name	Node type	Key config
1	Validate Input	Step	Custom TypeScript
2	Send Email	Resend: Send Email	to: {{validate_input.email}}

Generated TypeScript

import { WorkflowEntrypoint, WorkflowEvent, WorkflowStep } from 'cloudflare:workers'

export class MyWorkflow extends WorkflowEntrypoint<Env, Params> {
  async run(event: WorkflowEvent<Params>, step: WorkflowStep) {
    const validate_input = await step.do('Validate Input', async () => {
      const userId = event.payload?.userId
      if (!userId) throw new Error('userId is required')
      return { userId, email: `user-${userId}@example.com` }
    })

    await step.do('Send Email', async () => {
      const res = await fetch('https://api.resend.com/emails', {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: {
          Authorization: `Bearer ${env.RESEND_API_KEY}`,
          'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        },
        body: JSON.stringify({
          from: 'noreply@example.com',
          to: validate_input.email,
          subject: 'Welcome',
          text: `Hello user ${validate_input.userId}`,
        }),
      })
      if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Resend error: ${res.status}`)
    })
  }
}

Key points

• Steps execute serially — the second step does not start until the first completes.
• The return value of a step is available to all downstream steps as a variable named after the step's node ID.
• If a step fails after exhausting its retries, the workflow halts and the run is marked errored.
• You can add as many sequential steps as needed — there is no hard limit.

Adding retries to a step

Open the step's config drawer and set Retry Limit, Retry Delay, and optionally Backoff.

const my_step = await step.do(
  'My Step',
  {
    retries: { limit: 3, delay: '10 seconds', backoff: 'exponential' },
  },
  async () => {
    // ...
  },
)

Accessing trigger payload

The trigger payload is available on event.payload inside any step:

const my_step = await step.do('Read Payload', async () => {
  return { orderId: event.payload?.orderId }
})