Workflow Steps
Steps are the building blocks of workflows. Each step performs an action and can pass outputs to subsequent steps.
Step Categories
Infrastructure
IaC Deploy, Configuration Deploy
Actions
Script, HTTP Request
Flow Control
Approval, Wait, Condition, Loop
Notifications
Email, Slack, Webhook
IaC Deploy
Run Terraform plan, apply, or destroy operations.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Yes | Select from IaC projects |
| Action | Yes | Plan, Apply, or Destroy |
| Auto Approve | No | Skip approval for Apply |
| Variables | No | Override Terraform variables |
| Workspace | No | Terraform workspace |
Variables Format:
{
"instance_type": "t3.large",
"environment": "production"
}
Outputs: outputs, plan_summary, status
Configuration Deploy
Run Ansible playbooks or Kubernetes manifests.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Yes | Select config project |
| Target | Yes | Server, group, or cluster |
| Limit | No | Ansible host pattern |
| Tags | No | Run only tagged tasks |
| Check Mode | No | Dry run |
Outputs: changed, failed, summary
Script
Execute custom bash, Python, or Node scripts.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Script | Yes | Inline script or file path |
| Shell | No | bash, sh, python, node |
| Environment | No | Environment variables |
| Working Directory | No | Execution path |
| Timeout | No | Max execution time |
Example Script:
#!/bin/bash
echo "Deploying version ${VERSION}"
curl -X POST https://api.example.com/deploy \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ${API_TOKEN}" \
-d '{"version": "'${VERSION}'"}'
Outputs: stdout, stderr, exit_code
HTTP Request
Call external APIs or webhooks.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| URL | Yes | Full URL |
| Method | Yes | GET, POST, PUT, DELETE |
| Headers | No | HTTP headers |
| Body | No | Request body (JSON) |
| Auth | No | None, Basic, Bearer, API Key |
| Success Codes | No | Expected status codes (default: 2xx) |
Headers Example:
{
"Content-Type": "application/json",
"Authorization": "Bearer ${secrets.API_TOKEN}"
}
Outputs: status_code, body, headers
Approval
Pause workflow for human approval.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Approvers | Yes | Users, teams, or roles |
| Message | No | Approval request message |
| Timeout | No | Auto-reject after duration |
| Min Approvals | No | Required approval count |
Approver Formats:
user:john@example.comteam:platform-teamrole:admin
Outputs: approved_by, approved_at, comment
Wait
Pause workflow for a specified duration.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Yes | Wait time value |
| Unit | Yes | seconds, minutes, hours |
Use Cases:
- Wait for resources to provision
- Rate limiting between API calls
- Scheduled delays
Condition
Branch workflow based on expressions.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Condition | Yes | Expression to evaluate |
| True Path | Yes | Steps if condition is true |
| False Path | No | Steps if condition is false |
Operators:
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
== | Equals |
!= | Not equals |
>, <, >=, <= | Comparisons |
&&, || | And, Or |
contains() | String contains |
Example Conditions:
${steps.plan.output.changes} > 0
${trigger.branch} == "main"
${env.ENVIRONMENT} == "production"
Loop
Iterate over a list of items.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Items | Yes | Array to iterate |
| Parallel | No | Run iterations in parallel |
| Max Parallel | No | Concurrent iteration limit |
Items Sources:
["us-east-1", "eu-west-1", "ap-southeast-1"]
${steps.get_regions.output.regions}
Access Current Item: ${loop.item}
Send email notifications.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| To | Yes | Recipients |
| Subject | Yes | Email subject |
| Body | Yes | Email body (HTML or text) |
| CC | No | CC recipients |
Slack
Send Slack messages.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Channel | Yes | Slack channel |
| Message | Yes | Message text |
| Blocks | No | Slack blocks JSON |
Message Template:
🚀 *Deployment Complete*
Workflow: ${workflow.name}
Status: ${workflow.status}
Duration: ${workflow.duration}
Webhook
Send HTTP webhook notifications.
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| URL | Yes | Webhook URL |
| Payload | No | JSON payload |
| Headers | No | Custom headers |
Common Settings
All steps share these settings:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Timeout | Max execution time |
| Continue on Error | Don't fail workflow if step fails |
| Retry on Failure | Number of retry attempts |
| Retry Delay | Wait between retries |
| Run If | Condition to run step |
| Skip If | Condition to skip step |
Example: Multi-Step Deployment
Step Configuration
| Step | Type | Key Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Build | Script | npm run build |
| Plan | IaC Deploy | Action: Plan |
| Check Changes | Condition | ${steps.plan.output.changes} > 0 |
| Approval | Approval | Approvers: team:devops |
| Apply | IaC Deploy | Action: Apply |
| Health Check | HTTP Request | GET /health, expect 200 |
| Notify | Slack | Channel: #deploys |
Condition Logic
┌──────────────┐
│ Check Changes│
│ changes > 0 │
└──────┬───────┘
│
┌────────────┴────────────┐
│ true │ false
┌─────▼─────┐ ┌─────▼─────┐
│ Approval │ │ Skip │
└─────┬─────┘ │ (end) │
│ └───────────┘
┌─────▼─────┐
│ Apply │
└───────────┘
Variable Passing
Step 1 (Build):
Output: version = "1.2.3"
Step 2 (Deploy):
Input: ${steps.build.output.version}
Step 3 (Notify):
Message: Deployed v${steps.build.output.version}