---
title: "Concepts — Workflows for Laravel | Roundly"
description: "Definitions, versions, instances, nodes, step runs, visits, waits, escalations, signals, parties, actors and owners — and the life of one instance."
url: https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/workflows-for-laravel/concepts
language: en
---

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[Workflows for Laravel](https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/workflows-for-laravel.md)

# Concepts

A workflow is a graph stored as JSON (nodes, edges, settings), versioned per definition. Published versions are immutable; every instance runs the version it started on. Steps run one at a time on your queue (or inline), waits are rows, the scheduler wakes timers, and every state transition happens under row locks with compare-and-set claims.

| Term | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Definition | A named workflow of one owner (key unique per owner) for one subject type (or none). Status draft / active / retired. Points at its current version. |
| Version | One numbered snapshot of a graph, trigger, actor mode and settings. draft (editable, at most one per definition) → published (immutable; the newest is current) → superseded. |
| Instance | One run of one version for one subject (or none), started by one trigger. Status running / waiting / completed / failed / cancelled. Keeps its version\_id forever. |
| Node / edge | A graph vertex (id, type, config, ui, optional retry and escalations) and a directed link (from, to, optional outcome). |
| Step type | What a node does: a catalogue entry (StepType class) with a config JSON Schema, outcomes and a handler. |
| Step run | One attempt of one visit of one node in one instance — the step log. Records its input (the node config with every reference resolved), output, outcome and error. |
| Failure code | Why an instance or attempt failed: a FailureCode case for the engine, built-ins and bridges, or a host step’s own string. |
| Visit | The n-th time an instance enters a node (loops). Visit and node give the idempotency key; attempts don’t. |
| Wait | A row the engine wakes on: a timer (due\_at), an event key, a condition poll, a retry or a timeout. |
| Escalation | A row per step-run visit and level: due time + actions. Cancelled when the step finishes. |
| Signal | What resumes a wait: timer, event (key + payload), condition, probe, retry, timeout. |
| Party | A person or group a step addresses: an approver, a recipient, an escalation target. |
| Actor | Who a version runs as: system, or on\_behalf\_of the triggering user. |
| Owner | The tenant a definition belongs to (e.g. a team). Null = app-wide. |
| Subject | The model an instance is about (a purchase request). Registered under a key; fields are declared. |
| Bridge | Optional code for another Roundly package, active only when that package is installed. |

## The life of an instance

- A trigger starts it: start() (manual), emit() (event), the scheduler (schedule) or the webhook route / triggers()->webhook() (webhook). The trigger step completes at once with the trigger payload as its output.
- The engine follows the edge for the step’s outcome, creates the next step run and dispatches it.
- A step either completes with an outcome, waits (timer, event, condition), or fails (retryable or not).
- A waiting step resumes when its wait fires; an escalation may fire while it waits.
- Reaching an end node completes (or fails) the instance.

Every transition happens under a row lock on the instance, then the step run, then the wait or escalation. Only one step of an instance runs at a time.

## Exactly once, at least once

- State transitions are exactly-once: claims are compare-and-set, results of a lost lease are discarded, a wait fires once.
- Handlers are at-least-once: a handler may run again after a crash or retry, always with the same idempotencyKey() for the same visit. $context->once() makes database effects exactly-once.

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