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Conductor

Core Concepts

Workflows

A workflow is a YAML file that defines a sequence of steps. Each workflow has a name and one or more steps that execute in order.

name: my-workflow
steps:
  - id: step1
    type: llm
    prompt: Generate a recipe
  - id: step2
    shell.run: echo "Done"

Steps

Steps are the building blocks of workflows. Each step has:

  • id - Unique identifier for the step
  • type - What the step does (llm, parallel, condition)
  • action - For non-LLM steps, the action to perform (file.read, shell.run, http.post, etc.)

Inputs and Outputs

Workflows can accept inputs and produce outputs. Inputs without a default are required.

name: greet
inputs:
  - name: person
    type: string
steps:
  - id: greet
    type: llm
    prompt: "Say hello to {{.inputs.person}}"
outputs:
  - name: greeting
    value: "{{.steps.greet.response}}"

Reference inputs with {{.inputs.name}} and step outputs with {{.steps.id.response}}.

Actions

Actions are local operations:

  • llm - Call an LLM with a prompt
  • shell - Execute shell commands
  • http - Make HTTP requests
  • file - Read/write files
  • transform - Transform data (JSON, YAML, text)
  • utility - Utility operations (sleep, random, etc.)

Integrations

Integrations connect to external services:

  • GitHub - Create issues, comment on PRs
  • Slack - Send messages, read channels
  • Jira - Create/update tickets
  • Discord - Post to channels
  • Notion - Create/update pages and databases

Triggers

Triggers define how workflows are invoked:

  • cron - Run on a schedule
  • webhook - Trigger via HTTP POST
  • file - Watch for file system changes
  • poll - Check for changes periodically

Controller

The controller is the long-running service that executes workflows with triggers. Run workflows directly with conductor run or deploy them to a controller with conductor deploy.