Workflows

Declarative, versioned pipelines: phases, steps, gates, and status automation in plain YAML.

A workflow is a YAML file in .warden/workflow/ — versioned with your code, reviewed like your code. It declares the phases a run moves through and what each phase does.

Phases and steps

version: 1
name: feature
phases:
  - id: spec
    title: Spec
    gate: true
    steps:
      - type: prompt
        prompt: Write a short spec for the task.
        persona: architect
  - id: coding
    title: Coding
    gate: true
    steps:
      - type: prompt
        prompt: Implement the approved spec.
      - type: check
        name: test
        run: pnpm test
  - id: merge
    title: Merge
    terminal: true
    steps:
      - type: git
        action: merge
        method: squash
      - type: notify
        to: slack
        message: Run merged.

Five step types cover the pipeline:

  • prompt — hand the agent an instruction; optionally as a persona, with a pinned model or reasoning effort.
  • check — run a command that must succeed (tests, linters); failures stop the phase and show in the live view.
  • command — run a shell command for its effect.
  • git — branch, commit, or merge the run's work.
  • notify — tell a connected channel (Slack, Discord, Teams, Telegram, webhook) what happened.

Gates

gate: true parks the run when the phase's steps finish, until a human approves or requests changes. A phase can also restrict who may approve it with approvers: — see Gates & reviews.

Status automation

Phases can bind to your task board: onStatus names the column that triggers the phase when a task moves into it, and setStatus names the column the task moves to when the phase completes. With those two fields, dragging a card across the board is what drives execution.

Agents and personas

The default agent is Claude Code; a workflow (or a single step) can select a provider, model, and reasoning effort via agent: / model: / effort:. Personas — .warden/persona/<id>.yaml files with a name, icon, color, and system prompt — give each step a reusable identity.