Create a workflow by using the Google Cloud console

This quickstart shows you how to create, deploy, and execute your first workflow using the Google Cloud console. The sample workflow sends a request to a public API and then returns the API's response.

To follow step-by-step guidance for this task directly in the Google Cloud console, click Guide me:

Guide me

Before you begin

Security constraints defined by your organization might prevent you from completing the following steps. For troubleshooting information, see Develop applications in a constrained Google Cloud environment.

  1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

  2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Go to project selector

  3. Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  4. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Go to project selector

  5. Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  6. Enable the Workflows API.

    Enable the Workflows API

  7. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Service Accounts page.

    Go to Service Accounts

  8. Select a project and then click Create service account.
  9. In the Service account name field, enter a name, such as sa-name.
  10. Click Create and continue.

  11. To send logs to Cloud Logging, click the Select a role field and select Logging > Logs Writer.

    To learn more about service account roles and permissions, see Grant a workflow permission to access Google Cloud resources.

  12. Click Done.

Create and deploy a workflow

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Workflows page:

    Go to Workflows

  2. On the Workflows page, click Create.

  3. Enter a name for the new workflow, such as myFirstWorkflow.

  4. Choose us-central1 for the region.

  5. For service account, select the service account you created earlier.

  6. Select Next.

  7. In the workflow editor, copy and paste the following workflow:

    YAML

    main:
  params: [input]
  steps:
    - checkSearchTermInInput:
        switch:
          - condition: '${"searchTerm" in input}'
            assign:
              - searchTerm: '${input.searchTerm}'
            next: readWikipedia
    - getLocation:
        call: sys.get_env
        args:
          name: GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION
        result: location
    - setFromCallResult:
        assign:
          - searchTerm: '${text.split(location, "-")[0]}'
    - readWikipedia:
        call: http.get
        args:
          url: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php'
          query:
            action: opensearch
            search: '${searchTerm}'
        result: wikiResult
    - returnOutput:
        return: '${wikiResult.body[1]}'

    JSON

    {
  "main": {
    "params": [
      "input"
    ],
    "steps": [
      {
        "checkSearchTermInInput": {
          "switch": [
            {
              "condition": "${\"searchTerm\" in input}",
              "assign": [
                {
                  "searchTerm": "${input.searchTerm}"
                }
              ],
              "next": "readWikipedia"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "getLocation": {
          "call": "sys.get_env",
          "args": {
            "name": "GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION"
          },
          "result": "location"
        }
      },
      {
        "setFromCallResult": {
          "assign": [
            {
              "searchTerm": "${text.split(location, \"-\")[0]}"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "readWikipedia": {
          "call": "http.get",
          "args": {
            "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php",
            "query": {
              "action": "opensearch",
              "search": "${searchTerm}"
            }
          },
          "result": "wikiResult"
        }
      },
      {
        "returnOutput": {
          "return": "${wikiResult.body[1]}"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

    Unless you input your own search term, this workflow uses your Google Cloud location to construct a search term, which it passes to the Wikipedia API. A list of related Wikipedia articles is returned.

  8. Select Deploy.

Execute the workflow

Once your workflow has been successfully deployed, you can execute it for the first time. After deploying the workflow, you'll be taken to its Workflow details page.

  1. On the Workflow details page, click Execute.

  2. On the Execute workflow page, click Execute.

  3. In the Output pane, your workflow's results are displayed.

You've deployed and executed your first workflow!

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used on this page, follow these steps.

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Workflows page:

    Go to Workflows

  2. From the list of workflows, click a workflow to go to its Workflow details page.

  3. Click Delete.

  4. Type the name of the workflow and then click Confirm.

What's next