Create a workflow by using the gcloud CLI

This quickstart shows you how to create, deploy, and execute your first workflow using the Google Cloud CLI. The sample workflow sends a request to a public API and then returns the API's response.

For a list of all Workflows gcloud CLI commands, see the Workflows gcloud CLI reference page.

Before you begin

Security constraints defined by your organization might prevent you from completing the following steps. For troubleshooting information, see Develop applications in a constrained Google Cloud environment.

  1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.
  2. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

  3. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command: 

    gcloud init

  4. Create or select a Google Cloud project.

    • Create a Google Cloud project:

      gcloud projects create PROJECT_ID

      Replace PROJECT_ID with a name for the Google Cloud project you are creating.

    • Select the Google Cloud project that you created:

      gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

      Replace PROJECT_ID with your Google Cloud project name.

  5. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  6. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

  7. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command: 

    gcloud init

  8. Create or select a Google Cloud project.

    • Create a Google Cloud project:

      gcloud projects create PROJECT_ID

      Replace PROJECT_ID with a name for the Google Cloud project you are creating.

    • Select the Google Cloud project that you created:

      gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

      Replace PROJECT_ID with your Google Cloud project name.

  9. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  10. Enable the Workflows API.

    gcloud services enable workflows.googleapis.com
  11. Create the service account and give it a name; for example, sa-name. 
    gcloud iam service-accounts create sa-name
  12. To send logs to Cloud Logging, grant the roles/logging.logWriter role to the service account. 
    gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID \
    --member "serviceAccount:sa-name@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
    --role "roles/logging.logWriter"

    To learn more about service account roles and permissions, see Grant a workflow permission to access Google Cloud resources.

Create, deploy, and execute a workflow

  1. In your home directory, create a new file called myFirstWorkflow.yaml or myFirstWorkflow.json.

  2. Copy and paste the following workflow into the new file, then save it:

    YAML

    main:
  params: [input]
  steps:
    - checkSearchTermInInput:
        switch:
          - condition: '${"searchTerm" in input}'
            assign:
              - searchTerm: '${input.searchTerm}'
            next: readWikipedia
    - getLocation:
        call: sys.get_env
        args:
          name: GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION
        result: location
    - setFromCallResult:
        assign:
          - searchTerm: '${text.split(location, "-")[0]}'
    - readWikipedia:
        call: http.get
        args:
          url: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php'
          query:
            action: opensearch
            search: '${searchTerm}'
        result: wikiResult
    - returnOutput:
        return: '${wikiResult.body[1]}'

    JSON

    {
  "main": {
    "params": [
      "input"
    ],
    "steps": [
      {
        "checkSearchTermInInput": {
          "switch": [
            {
              "condition": "${\"searchTerm\" in input}",
              "assign": [
                {
                  "searchTerm": "${input.searchTerm}"
                }
              ],
              "next": "readWikipedia"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "getLocation": {
          "call": "sys.get_env",
          "args": {
            "name": "GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION"
          },
          "result": "location"
        }
      },
      {
        "setFromCallResult": {
          "assign": [
            {
              "searchTerm": "${text.split(location, \"-\")[0]}"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "readWikipedia": {
          "call": "http.get",
          "args": {
            "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php",
            "query": {
              "action": "opensearch",
              "search": "${searchTerm}"
            }
          },
          "result": "wikiResult"
        }
      },
      {
        "returnOutput": {
          "return": "${wikiResult.body[1]}"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

    Unless you input your own search term, this workflow uses your Google Cloud location to construct a search term, which it passes to the Wikipedia API. A list of related Wikipedia articles is returned.

  3. Deploy the workflow and associate it with the specified service account:

    gcloud workflows deploy myFirstWorkflow --source=myFirstWorkflow.EXTENSION \
    --service-account=sa-name@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com

    Replace the following:

    • EXTENSION: the file extension for your workflow; use yaml for the YAML version or use json for the JSON version
    • PROJECT_ID: your project ID

  4. Execute the workflow:

    gcloud workflows run myFirstWorkflow \
    --data='SEARCH_TERM'

    Replace SEARCH_TERM with your search term; for example, {"searchTerm":"North"}. If you enter {}, your Google Cloud location is used to construct a search term.

    This returns the results of the execution attempt. The output is similar to the following:

    argument: '{"searchTerm":"North"}'
duration: 0.210616856s
endTime: '2023-05-10T21:56:39.465899376Z'
name: projects/734581694262/locations/us-central1/workflows/workflow-1/executions/eae31f11-a5c3-47e2-8014-05b400820a79
result: '["North","North America","Northern Ireland","North Korea","North Macedonia","North
  Carolina","Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit","Northrop F-5","Northern Cyprus","North
  Dakota"]'
startTime: '2023-05-10T21:56:39.255282520Z'
state: SUCCEEDED
status:
  currentSteps:
  - routine: main
    step: returnOutput
workflowRevisionId: 000001-ac2

You've deployed and executed your first workflow!

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used on this page, delete the Google Cloud project with the resources.

  1. Delete the workflow you created:

    gcloud workflows delete myFirstWorkflow

  2. When asked if you want to continue, enter y.

The workflow is deleted.

What's next