Orchestrates durable multi-step workflow pipelines on the iii engine. Use when building order fulfillment, data pipelines, task orchestration, or any sequential process requiring retries, backoff, step tracking, scheduled cleanup, or dead letter queue (DLQ) handling.
Comparable to: Temporal, Airflow, Inngest
Use the concepts below when they fit the task. Not every workflow needs every durability or tracking mechanism shown here.
iii-config.yamlHTTP (create order)
→ Enqueue(order-validate) → validate
→ Enqueue(order-payment) → charge-payment
→ Enqueue(order-ship) → ship
→ publish(order.fulfilled)
Cron (hourly) → cleanup-stale
Queue configs (iii-config.yaml):
order-validate: max_retries: 2
order-payment: max_retries: 5, type: fifo, concurrency: 2
order-ship: max_retries: 3
| Primitive | Purpose |
|---|---|
registerWorker | Initialize the worker and connect to iii |
registerFunction | Define each pipeline step |
trigger({ ..., action: TriggerAction.Enqueue({ queue }) }) | Durable step chaining via named queues |
trigger({ function_id: 'state::...', payload }) | Track step progress |
trigger({ ..., action: TriggerAction.Void() }) | Fire-and-forget stream events and publish |
registerTrigger({ type: 'cron' }) | Scheduled maintenance |
registerTrigger({ type: 'http' }) | Entry point |
See ../references/workflow-orchestration.js for the full working example — an order fulfillment pipeline with validate → charge → ship steps, retry configuration, stream-based progress tracking, and hourly stale-order cleanup.
Code using this pattern commonly includes, when relevant:
registerWorker(url, { workerName }) — worker initializationtrigger({ function_id, payload, action: TriggerAction.Enqueue({ queue }) }) — durable step chaining via named queuestrigger({ function_id: 'state::update', payload: { scope, key, ops } }) — step progress trackingiii-config.yaml for retry/concurrency settingsconst logger = new Logger() — structured logging per stepregisterFunction with a single responsibilitytrigger({ function_id: 'publish', payload, action: TriggerAction.Void() }) — completion broadcastUse the adaptations below when they apply to the task.
iii-config.yaml when steps need different retry/concurrency settingsmessageReceiptId) for observability and DLQ correlation when neededtrackStep helper pattern (state update + stream event) is reusable for any pipeline0 0 * * * * * (every hour)Named queues for pipeline steps are declared in iii-config.yaml under queue_configs with per-queue retry, concurrency, and FIFO settings. See ../references/iii-config.yaml for the full annotated config reference.
registerFunction functions" (including { path, id } arrays iterated into registration), prefer iii-http-invoked-functions.iii-workflow-orchestration when durable step sequencing, queue retries/backoff, and workflow progress tracking are the primary concerns.iii-workflow-orchestration in the iii engine.