payload-automation/README.md

@xtr-dev/payload-automation

A comprehensive workflow automation plugin for PayloadCMS 3.x that enables visual workflow building, execution tracking, and parallel processing.

⚠️ Pre-release Warning: This package is currently in active development (v0.0.x). Breaking changes may occur before v1.0.0. Not recommended for production use.

Features

• 🔄 Visual Workflow Builder - Create complex workflows with drag-and-drop interface
• ⚡ Parallel Execution - Smart dependency resolution for optimal performance
• 🎯 Multiple Triggers - Collection hooks, webhooks, manual execution
• ⏰ Scheduled Workflows - Use webhook triggers with external cron services
• 📊 Execution Tracking - Complete history and monitoring of workflow runs
• 🔧 Extensible Steps - HTTP requests, document CRUD, email notifications
• 🔍 JSONPath Integration - Dynamic data interpolation and transformation

Installation

npm install @xtr-dev/payload-automation
# or
pnpm add @xtr-dev/payload-automation
# or
yarn add @xtr-dev/payload-automation

Quick Start

import { buildConfig } from 'payload'
import { workflowsPlugin } from '@xtr-dev/payload-automation/server'

export default buildConfig({
  // ... your config
  plugins: [
    workflowsPlugin({
      collectionTriggers: {
        posts: true,    // Enable all CRUD triggers for posts
        users: { 
          create: true, // Only enable create trigger for users
          update: true
        }
      },
      enabled: true,
    }),
  ],
})

Import Structure

The plugin uses separate exports to avoid bundling server-side code in client bundles:

// Server-side plugin and functions
import { workflowsPlugin } from '@xtr-dev/payload-automation/server'

// Client-side components  
import { StatusCell, ErrorDisplay } from '@xtr-dev/payload-automation/client'

// Helper utilities
import { /* helpers */ } from '@xtr-dev/payload-automation/helpers'

// Types only (safe for both server and client)
import type { WorkflowsPluginConfig } from '@xtr-dev/payload-automation'

Step Types

HTTP Request

Make external API calls with comprehensive error handling and retry logic.

Key Features:

• Support for GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH methods
• Authentication: Bearer token, Basic auth, API key headers
• Configurable timeouts and retry logic
• JSONPath integration for dynamic URLs and request bodies

Error Handling: HTTP Request steps use a response-based success model rather than status-code-based failures:

• ✅ Successful completion: All HTTP requests that receive a response (including 4xx/5xx status codes) are marked as "succeeded"
• ❌ Failed execution: Only network errors, timeouts, DNS failures, and connection issues cause step failure
• 📊 Error information preserved: HTTP error status codes (404, 500, etc.) are captured in the step output for workflow conditional logic

Example workflow logic:

// Step outputs for a 404 response:
{
  "status": 404,
  "statusText": "Not Found", 
  "body": "Resource not found",
  "headers": {...},
  "duration": 1200
}

// Use in workflow conditions:
// "$.steps.apiRequest.output.status >= 400" to handle errors

This design allows workflows to handle HTTP errors gracefully rather than failing completely, enabling robust error handling and retry logic.

Enhanced Error Tracking: For network failures (timeouts, DNS errors, connection failures), the plugin provides detailed error information through an independent storage system that bypasses PayloadCMS's output limitations:

// Timeout error details preserved in workflow context:
{
  "steps": {
    "httpStep": {
      "state": "failed",
      "error": "Task handler returned a failed state",
      "errorDetails": {
        "errorType": "timeout",
        "duration": 2006,
        "attempts": 1,
        "finalError": "Request timeout after 2000ms",
        "context": {
          "url": "https://api.example.com/data",
          "method": "GET",
          "timeout": 2000
        }
      },
      "executionInfo": {
        "completed": true,
        "success": false,
        "executedAt": "2025-09-04T15:16:10.000Z",
        "duration": 2006
      }
    }
  }
}

// Access in workflow conditions:
// "$.steps.httpStep.errorDetails.errorType == 'timeout'"
// "$.steps.httpStep.errorDetails.duration > 5000"

Document Operations

• Create Document - Create PayloadCMS documents
• Read Document - Query documents with filters
• Update Document - Modify existing documents
• Delete Document - Remove documents

Communication

• Send Email - Send notifications via PayloadCMS email

Data Resolution

Use JSONPath to access workflow data:

• $.trigger.doc.id - Access trigger document
• $.steps.stepName.output - Use previous step outputs
• $.context - Access workflow context

Requirements

• PayloadCMS ^3.45.0
• Node.js ^18.20.2 || >=20.9.0
• pnpm ^9 || ^10

Environment Variables

Control plugin logging with these environment variables:

PAYLOAD_AUTOMATION_LOG_LEVEL

Controls both configuration-time and runtime logging.

• Values: silent, error, warn, info, debug, trace
• Default: warn
• Example: PAYLOAD_AUTOMATION_LOG_LEVEL=debug

PAYLOAD_AUTOMATION_CONFIG_LOG_LEVEL (optional)

Override log level specifically for configuration-time logs (plugin setup).

• Values: Same as above
• Default: Falls back to PAYLOAD_AUTOMATION_LOG_LEVEL or warn
• Example: PAYLOAD_AUTOMATION_CONFIG_LOG_LEVEL=silent

Production Usage

For production, keep the default (warn) or use error or silent:

PAYLOAD_AUTOMATION_LOG_LEVEL=error npm start

Development Usage

For debugging, use debug or info:

PAYLOAD_AUTOMATION_LOG_LEVEL=debug npm run dev

Scheduled Workflows

For scheduled workflows, use webhook triggers with external cron services instead of built-in cron triggers:

GitHub Actions (Free)

# .github/workflows/daily-report.yml
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 9 * * *'  # Daily at 9 AM UTC
jobs:
  trigger-workflow:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: curl -X POST https://your-app.com/api/workflows-webhook/daily-report

Vercel Cron (Serverless)

// api/cron/daily.js
export default async function handler(req, res) {
  await fetch('https://your-app.com/api/workflows-webhook/daily-report', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ source: 'vercel-cron' })
  });
  res.status(200).json({ success: true });
}

Benefits: Better reliability, proper process isolation, easier debugging, and leverages existing infrastructure.

Note: Built-in cron triggers have been removed in v0.0.37+ to focus on webhook-based scheduling which provides better reliability and debugging capabilities.

Documentation

Full documentation coming soon. For now, explore the development environment in the repository for examples and patterns.

License

MIT