Syntax overview

The Workflows syntax reference details the format for creating workflows.

Note: YAML indentation is meaningful and should be at least two spaces per indentation level. Insufficient indentation can cause errors, and a new level should be at least two spaces in from the start of the text in the previous line. For more details, see Troubleshoot issues.

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Syntax cheat sheet

To create a workflow, you use the Workflows syntax to define the steps you want and their order of execution. For more information about creating workflows, see Create and manage workflows.

Syntax format	Main workflow Steps
Calls and controlling flow	Calls Jumps Conditions Complete execution Iteration Parallel steps Subworkflows
Variables and expressions	Variables Runtime arguments Data types, functions, operators Strings Lists Maps Expressions
Handling errors	Workflow errors Raise errors Catch errors Retry steps

For other functions available in addition to the core syntax, refer to the Standard library and Connectors references.

File structure

Workflow source files have the following characteristics:

• They contain only one main workflow.
• They might contain subworkflows.

• They are either a valid YAML or JSON file.

  Code samples are provided in both YAML and the equivalent JSON.

Using code samples

For all samples that communicate with other Google Cloud resources, your workflow must be associated with a service account that has sufficient privileges to access those resources. To learn more about granting roles to service accounts, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations. To learn how to change the service account associated with a workflow, see update a workflow. For more information about authentication, see Grant a workflow permission to access Google Cloud resources.

Some samples might require that you first enable a Google Cloud API. Learn more about listing services and enabling services.

Caution: Some samples use placeholder URLs for Google Cloud resources and external APIs. Because of this, samples in this reference might not execute without modifications. When a sample includes the URL for a Cloud Run functions function, a Cloud Run app, or an API, you must replace that URL with the URL of your own function, app, or API.

See all Workflows code samples.

Notation key

Notation	Description
[] Square brackets	Optional; if the brackets themselves must be typed, this is indicated
{} Braces	Required
| Vertical bar	Separator for mutually exclusive items; choose one
... Ellipsis	Items that can be repeated; or indicates an omission to improve clarity and shorten the length of the example