Next.js

This guide will walk through setting up your first workflow in a Next.js app. Along the way, you'll learn more about the concepts that are fundamental to using the development kit in your own projects.

Create Your Next.js Project

Start by creating a new Next.js project. This command will create a new directory named my-workflow-app and setup a Next.js project inside it.

npm create next-app@latest my-workflow-app

Enter the newly made directory:

cd my-workflow-app

Install `workflow`

npm i workflow

pnpm i workflow

yarn add workflow

Configure Next.js

Wrap your next.config.ts with withWorkflow(). This enables usage of the "use workflow" and "use step" directives.

next.config.ts

import { withWorkflow } from 'workflow/next'; 
import type { NextConfig } from 'next';

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  // … rest of your Next.js config
};

export default withWorkflow(nextConfig);

Create Your First Workflow

Create a new file for our first workflow:

workflows/user-signup.ts

import { sleep } from "workflow";

export async function handleUserSignup(email: string) {
 "use workflow"; 

 const user = await createUser(email);
 await sendWelcomeEmail(user);

 await sleep("5s"); // Pause for 5s - doesn't consume any resources
 await sendOnboardingEmail(user);

 return { userId: user.id, status: "onboarded" };
}

We'll fill in those functions next, but let's take a look at this code:

We define a workflow function with the directive "use workflow". Think of the workflow function as the orchestrator of individual steps.
The Workflow DevKit's sleep function allows us to suspend execution of the workflow without using up any resources. A sleep can be a few seconds, hours, days, or even months long.

Create Your Workflow Steps

Let's now define those missing functions.

workflows/user-signup.ts

import { FatalError } from "workflow"

// Our workflow function defined earlier

async function createUser(email: string) {
  "use step"; 

  console.log(`Creating user with email: ${email}`);

  // Full Node.js access - database calls, APIs, etc.
  return { id: crypto.randomUUID(), email };
}

async function sendWelcomeEmail(user: { id: string; email: string; }) {
  "use step"; 

  console.log(`Sending welcome email to user: ${user.id}`);

  if (Math.random() < 0.3) {
  // By default, steps will be retried for unhandled errors
   throw new Error("Retryable!");
  }
}

async function sendOnboardingEmail(user: { id: string; email: string}) {
 "use step"; 

  if (!user.email.includes("@")) {
    // To skip retrying, throw a FatalError instead
    throw new FatalError("Invalid Email");
  }

 console.log(`Sending onboarding email to user: ${user.id}`);
}

Taking a look at this code:

Business logic lives inside steps. When a step is invoked inside a workflow, it gets enqueued to run on a separate request while the workflow is suspended, just like sleep.
If a step throws an error, like in sendWelcomeEmail, the step will automatically be retried until it succeeds (or hits the step's max retry count).
Steps can throw a FatalError if an error is intentional and should not be retried.

We'll dive deeper into workflows, steps, and other ways to suspend or handle events in Foundations.

Create Your Route Handler

To invoke your new workflow, we'll have to add your workflow to a POST API Route Handler, app/api/signup/route.ts with the following code:

app/api/signup/route.ts

import { start } from 'workflow/api';
import { handleUserSignup } from "@/workflows/user-signup";
import { NextResponse } from "next/server";

export async function POST(request: Request) {
 const { email } = await request.json();

 // Executes asynchronously and doesn't block your app
 await start(handleUserSignup, [email]);

 return NextResponse.json({
  message: "User signup workflow started",
 });
}

This Route Handler creates a POST request endpoint at /api/signup that will trigger your workflow.

Workflows can be triggered from API routes, Server Actions, or any server-side code.

Run in Development

To start your development server, run the following command in your terminal in the Next.js root directory:

npm run dev

Once your development server is running, you can trigger your workflow by running this command in the terminal:

curl -X POST --json '{"email":"hello@example.com"}' http://localhost:3000/api/signup

Check the Next.js development server logs to see your workflow execute as well as the steps that are being processed.

Additionally, you can use the Workflow DevKit CLI or Web UI to inspect your workflow runs and steps in detail.

npx workflow inspect runs
# or add '--web' for an interactive Web based UI

Deploying to production

Workflow DevKit apps currently work best when deployed to Vercel and needs no special configuration.

Check the Deploying section to learn how your workflows can be deployed elsewhere.

Next Steps

Learn more about the Foundations.
Check Errors if you encounter issues.
Explore the API Reference.

Setup Typescript Intellisense (Optional)