Workflows orchestrates Google Cloud services and HTTP APIs in a serverless, declarative environment.
What is Workflows?
Google Cloud Workflows is a fully managed orchestration service. You define workflows in YAML or JSON that describe which services are called in which order. The service handles execution, error handling, and retries.
Unlike event-driven architectures with Pub/Sub, Workflows defines explicit flows. This makes complex processes traceable: every step, every condition, and every error case is visible in the workflow definition.
Workflows integrates natively with over 200 Google Cloud APIs. Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, and many other services can be called directly. For external services, use HTTP connectors.
Common Use Cases
Microservice Orchestration
An e-commerce platform orchestrates the checkout process: workflow checks inventory, reserves items, processes payment, creates order, and triggers shipping. On errors in any step, previous steps are compensated.
Data Pipeline Orchestration
An analytics team orchestrates daily data processing: workflow triggers Dataflow job, waits for completion, starts BigQuery transformation, and sends completion notification. On errors, automatic retry with backoff occurs.
Approval Workflows
A financial services company implements approval processes: workflow sends approval request, waits up to 7 days for response (via callback), escalates on timeout, and executes approved actions.
Multi-Cloud Integration
A company integrates GCP with existing systems: workflow calls Salesforce API, processes data in BigQuery, updates SAP via HTTP, and stores results in Cloud Storage.
Scheduled Batch Processing
A data team runs nightly batch jobs: Cloud Scheduler triggers workflow, which sequentially executes multiple BigQuery queries, validates results, and sends reports via email.
Integration with innFactory
As a Google Cloud Partner, innFactory supports you in implementing Workflows: from architecture through workflow development to optimization.
Contact us for a consultation.
Available Tiers & Options
Workflows
- Serverless
- No infrastructure
- Native GCP integration
- YAML-based syntax
Typical Use Cases
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Google Cloud Workflows?
Workflows is a fully managed orchestration service. You define workflows in YAML or JSON that call GCP services, HTTP APIs, and Cloud Functions. The service is serverless and scales automatically.
How does Workflows differ from Cloud Functions?
Cloud Functions executes individual functions. Workflows orchestrates multiple services in a defined order with error handling, retries, and branching. Workflows is the "glue" between your services.
How much does using Workflows cost?
Workflows bills per executed step. The first 5,000 steps per month are free. After that, each step costs approximately 0.00001 USD. A complex workflow with 100 steps costs about 0.001 USD per execution.
How long can Workflows run?
A workflow can run for up to 1 year. This enables long-running processes like approvals, asynchronous processing, or periodic tasks with built-in sleep.
Can I call external APIs from Workflows?
Yes, Workflows can call any HTTP endpoint. You can integrate external APIs, SaaS services, or your own microservices. Authentication is done via service accounts or API keys.
