Warpp Workflow Authoring

Authoring WARPP Workflows

WARPP is Manifold's typed-port dataflow engine. A workflow is a directed acyclic graph of nodes. Data moves only through typed wires or literals — there are no expressions. Your job is to produce a valid workflow document (JSON) and prove it valid with workflow_save.

The one rule

Every node is a pure function with declared, typed input and output ports. An input binding is exactly one of:

• {"from": "nodeID.port"} — a wire from an upstream node's output port
• {"value": <literal>} — a fixed literal typed into the node

Never both. Never an expression string, template, or ${...}. To reshape data, use a data node (data.extract, data.template, data.parse, …).

The authoring loop (do this every time)

1. Discover tools with tool_search. For every step that performs an external action (web search/fetch, file I/O, calling an API or another agent, sending a message, RAG, an MCP capability, …), call tool_search with a natural-language description of the capability you need — e.g. "search the web", "read a file", "query a database", "send a slack message". The user may have configured MCP servers that publish tools you cannot know ahead of time, so do not assume a tool exists or guess its name — search, then pick the best-matching result for the step. If several match, choose the most specific/appropriate one.
2. workflow_catalog — fetch the live node manifests for the tools you chose (plus the builtins), their exact port names/types, and the coercion table. Every registry tool is available as a node typed tool.<name>. Never guess a node type or a port name — read them from the catalog.
3. Build the document (shape below). Prefer wiring (from) over literals for anything that should be dynamic.
4. workflow_save — it validates and returns diagnostics. If any come back, fix each one (they carry a code, message, and path) and save again. Do not stop until it saves with no error diagnostics.
5. workflow_run (only if asked to test) — runs it and returns the declared outputs.

Discover → build → validate → self-correct. Do not hand back an unvalidated document, and do not invent a tool you did not find via tool_search or the catalog.

Document shape

{
  "id": "research-brief",
  "name": "Research brief",
  "inputs": [{ "name": "topic", "type": "text", "required": true }],
  "nodes": [
    { "id": "search", "type": "tool.web_search",
      "inputs": { "query": { "from": "in.topic" }, "max_results": { "value": 5 } } },
    { "id": "summary", "type": "llm.generate",
      "inputs": { "instruction": { "value": "Summarize as 5 bullets." },
                  "input": { "from": "search.results_text" } } }
  ],
  "outputs": { "brief": { "from": "summary.text" } }
}

• id matches ^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$; name is human-readable.
• inputs are the workflow's typed parameters, exposed to nodes as in.<name> (e.g. {"from": "in.topic"}).
• Each node has a unique id, a type from the catalog, and an inputs map keyed by the manifest's input port names.
• outputs maps result names to node output ports; this is the run result.
• in and item are reserved node ids.
• Optional: settings.max_concurrency (default 4); publish.tool: true to expose the workflow as an agent tool; project_id to scope file tools to a project.

Types and coercions

Port types: text, number, boolean, json, file, list<T> (T is any scalar). The only implicit coercions, applied to wires, are:

• number → text
• boolean → text

Nothing else coerces. json → text needs data.stringify; text → json needs data.parse; pull a field out of json with data.extract. Literals must match the port type exactly ("5" for a text port, 5 for a number port). A file port accepts a literal path string.

Builtin nodes (stable; always available)

Tool nodes are tool.<name> — one for every tool in the registry, including MCP-server tools (e.g. tool.web_search, tool.file_write, tool.brave_brave_web_search). The set is instance-specific and not known in advance, so find tools with tool_search (by capability) rather than assuming; then use the match as node type tool.<its name>. Each tool node has a result: json output plus, for curated tools, typed outputs. Get the exact input/output ports from workflow_catalog.

data.extract / data.constant set their output type via the as config: one of text, number, boolean, json, list<json>.

Named-variadic and list-variadic ports

• data.template.vars is named-variadic: an object of bindings, one per {placeholder} in the template — "vars": { "topic": {"from":"in.topic"}, "n": {"value": 3} }.
• logic.coalesce.values and data.merge.objects are list-variadic: an array of bindings — "values": [ {"from":"a.text"}, {"from":"b.text"} ].

Control flow (gated wires, not conditionals)

• logic.if fires exactly one of then / else per run based on condition.
• A node whose required input never fires (e.g. it reads the branch that didn't fire) is skipped, and skips cascade downstream. An optional input whose source is skipped falls back to its default.
• logic.coalesce rejoins branches: it emits the first of its inputs that actually fired.
• control.map fans out over items: list<T>: its body subgraph runs once per item, seeing item.value and item.index, and gathers the body's single result output into results. on_item_error is fail (default) or skip. Bodies may also wire from outer / in ports.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming a tool exists or guessing its name. Use tool_search to find the right tool (MCP servers add tools you can't know in advance), then read its exact ports from workflow_catalog.
• Using an expression / template string in a binding. Use a data.* node.
• Wiring json into a text port (or vice-versa) without a data.stringify / data.parse / data.extract between them.
• A literal whose JSON type doesn't match the port (e.g. 5 into a text port).
• Forgetting data.template.vars is a named object and logic.coalesce.values is an array.
• Returning a document without running it through workflow_save.

More examples

Read references/examples.md (via skill_read, path references/examples.md) for full worked documents: a linear pipeline, an if/coalesce branch, and a map fan-out.