Parent-Child Workflows

JustWorkflowIt supports parent-child workflow orchestration where a parent workflow can spawn child jobs that execute independently and report results back.

How It Works

Use the /justworkflowit/runChildJob step executor to spawn a child workflow:

{
  "name": "runEtlPipeline",
  "integrationDetails": {
    "type": "/justworkflowit/runChildJob",
    "config": {
      "children": [
        {
          "id": "etl-child",
          "workflowName": "etl-pipeline",
          "workflowVersion": { "tag": "$LIVE" }
        }
      ]
    },
    "inputDefinition": { "$ref": "#/definitions/emptyDef" },
    "outputDefinition": { "$ref": "#/definitions/childResult" }
  },
  "transitionToStep": "processResults"
}

The parent step waits for the child job to complete before advancing. If the child fails, the parent step also fails (and can be resumed).

Multi-Child Orchestration

Spawn multiple concurrent children from a single step:

{
  "name": "fanOut",
  "integrationDetails": {
    "type": "/justworkflowit/runChildJob",
    "config": {
      "children": [
        { "id": "child-a", "workflowName": "processor-a", "workflowVersion": { "tag": "$LIVE" } },
        { "id": "child-b", "workflowName": "processor-b", "workflowVersion": { "tag": "$LIVE" } }
      ]
    },
    "inputDefinition": { "$ref": "#/definitions/emptyDef" },
    "outputDefinition": { "$ref": "#/definitions/childResult" }
  },
  "transitionToStep": "aggregate"
}

For sequential children, use separate /justworkflowit/runChildJob steps connected via transitionToStep.

Dynamic Fan-Out with forEach

Use forEach to dynamically spawn one child per element in an array:

{
  "children": [
    {
      "workflowName": "item-processor",
      "workflowVersion": { "tag": "$LIVE" },
      "forEach": { "arrayPath": "previousStep.output.items" }
    }
  ]
}

Inspecting the Hierarchy

• GetJob returns parentJob and childJobs fields showing the full hierarchy
• ListJobs with jobHierarchy: TOP_LEVEL_ONLY filters out child jobs
• billableTransactionUnits on the parent aggregates usage across all descendants