Enqueue Workflows from External Applications

Enqueue Workflows from External Applications

Use client.enqueue() to submit workflows from outside your DBOS application. Since DBOSClient runs externally, workflow and queue metadata must be specified explicitly.

Incorrect (trying to use DBOS.startWorkflow from external code):

// DBOS.startWorkflow requires a full DBOS setup
await DBOS.startWorkflow(processTask, { queueName: "myQueue" })("data");

Correct (using DBOSClient.enqueue):

import { DBOSClient } from "@dbos-inc/dbos-sdk";

const client = await DBOSClient.create({
  systemDatabaseUrl: process.env.DBOS_SYSTEM_DATABASE_URL,
});

// Basic enqueue
const handle = await client.enqueue(
  {
    workflowName: "processTask",
    queueName: "task_queue",
  },
  "task-data"
);

// Wait for the result
const result = await handle.getResult();

Type-safe enqueue:

// Import or declare the workflow type
declare class Tasks {
  static processTask(data: string): Promise<string>;
}

const handle = await client.enqueue<typeof Tasks.processTask>(
  {
    workflowName: "processTask",
    workflowClassName: "Tasks",
    queueName: "task_queue",
  },
  "task-data"
);

// TypeScript infers the result type
const result = await handle.getResult(); // type: string

Enqueue options:

• workflowName (required): Name of the workflow function
• queueName (required): Name of the queue
• workflowClassName: Class name if the workflow is a class method
• workflowConfigName: Instance name if using ConfiguredInstance
• workflowID: Custom workflow ID
• workflowTimeoutMS: Timeout in milliseconds
• deduplicationID: Prevent duplicate enqueues
• priority: Queue priority (lower = higher priority)
• queuePartitionKey: Partition key for partitioned queues

Always call client.destroy() when done.

Reference: DBOS Client Enqueue