Workflow
Also known as: Pipeline, Flow, DAG, Directed Acyclic Graph
Definition
A predefined sequence or graph of steps that executes in a determined order, where the path through the workflow is decided at design time, not runtime. Workflows may have conditional branches, but the conditions and branches are explicit in the workflow definition. This contrasts with agents, which decide their next action dynamically based on reasoning.
What this is NOT
- Not an agent (workflows don't decide their path dynamically)
- Not just 'multiple steps' (the key is that steps are predefined)
- Not necessarily linear (can have branches, but branches are explicit)
Alternative Interpretations
Different communities use this term differently:
llm-practitioners
A structured sequence of LLM calls and other operations (retrieval, transformation, API calls) where the execution order is defined in advance. Tools like LangChain chains, Prefect flows, and Airflow DAGs implement workflows.
Sources: LangChain chains documentation, Prefect and Airflow documentation, LangGraph (which bridges workflows and agents)
enterprise-it
A formalized business process with defined steps, approvals, and transitions, often managed by workflow engines like Camunda, Temporal, or enterprise BPM systems.
Sources: Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), Temporal.io documentation
Examples
- RAG pipeline: retrieve documents → rerank → format prompt → generate → return
- ETL pipeline: extract from API → transform data → load to database
- Content pipeline: generate draft → human review → if approved publish else revise
- LangChain sequential chain with fixed steps
Counterexamples
Things that might seem like Workflow but are not:
- An agent that decides whether to search or answer based on confidence
- A coding agent that iterates until tests pass (unknown number of iterations)
- A research agent that follows information where it leads
Relations
- inTensionWith agent (Key distinction—workflows are predefined, agents decide dynamically)
- overlapsWith agent-orchestration (Orchestration may include workflow components)
- overlapsWith agentic-system (Agentic systems often contain workflow sub-components)
Implementations
Tools and frameworks that implement this concept: