Run state

The workflow body and test fixtures live in the database. Per-run artefacts (state snapshots, event logs, env values) stay on disk — they're high-volume append-friendly data the engine writes during execution.

Where things live

	Storage	Notes
Workflow body (published + draft)	DB column workflows.body_published / body_draft	JSON text
Version history	DB table workflow_versions	Append-only; powers History tab + compare + restore
Test fixtures	DB table workflow_test_cases	Name-addressable, no file paths
Run state	Disk runs/<run-id>/state.json	Engine writes per run
Run events	Disk runs/<run-id>/events.jsonl	One line per node_started / node_completed / node_failed / edge_traversed
Env values	DB column workflows.env_values	Plain and secret vars; secrets stored as wick_cenc_ tokens, decrypted at run time

Folder layout under <BaseDir>/workflows/<workflow-id>/:

runs/
└── <run-id>/
    ├── state.json     ← run summary + per-node outputs
    └── events.jsonl   ← full event stream

workflow_get_run reads state.json. workflow_get_run_events reads events.jsonl — reach for it when state.json doesn't carry enough detail (e.g. you have a failed run ID and need to see what fired last).

Retention is per-workflow (default: keep last 50 runs on disk). Older runs are pruned at boot; the cleanup is best-effort and a manual delete of runs/<id>/ is always safe.

Inspecting a run

The executions view (canvas ▶ run timeline) opens a detail panel for any run:

• Events — the full events.jsonl stream (node_started / node_completed / node_failed / edge_traversed) with timestamps, so you can see exactly which node fired last and how long each took.
• Nodes — per-node status (success / failed / running) and each node's output.
• JSON preview — the full run state (state.json) for the run.

A run can also be deleted from the panel — it removes that run's runs/<run-id>/ folder. Active runs aren't touched; deletion is for clearing out finished history you no longer need, on top of the automatic 50-run retention above.

Re-run

The run detail panel has a re-run button (green, top of the action toolbar). Clicking it:

1. Fires POST /api/workflows/runs/{id}/{runID}/rerun.
2. The server loads the stored RunState.Event for that run and re-fires the workflow's current draft with the exact same trigger payload and routing — only the timestamp is refreshed.
3. The UI refreshes the runs list and jumps to the new (latest) run so you can watch it live.

This is a full re-run from the start node — there is no resume-from-failed-node. Use it after fixing a failed run and wanting to verify the fix with the same real-world input without having to re-trigger the original event.

From MCP, workflow_replay_run is the equivalent — loads RunState.Event from run_id and calls workflow_run_now. Returns a new run_id.

Copy to editor (pre-fill runner)

The Copy to editor button (and the MCP workflow_copy_run_to_editor op) loads the full run state into the canvas editor:

• Saves the current published workflow as draft so you can edit without overwriting production.
• Overlays per-node status (success / failed) on every canvas card.
• Pre-populates each node inspector's OUTPUT pane with that node's stored output.
• Pins the run's trigger event payload so {{.Event.Payload.*}} refs in templates and the Execute step button resolve against the real run data instead of the synthetic {source: spa} placeholder.

Use this when iterating on a workflow against real-world failure data: load the failed run → inspect node outputs → fix the graph → Execute the affected step with the same payload → re-run the whole workflow.

The pinned event payload shows in the trigger inspector's OUTPUT pane. Click Unpin there to clear it and return to the synthetic payload.

Version history

The History tab at the bottom of the workflow editor lists saved snapshots from the workflow_versions table. Each row shows the version ID, kind (draft or published), author, timestamp, and optional message.

What you can do

Action	How
View	Click view on any row to open a read-only JSON preview of that snapshot.
Restore	Click restore to overwrite the current draft with the snapshot body.
Delete	Click the trash button on a row to permanently remove that snapshot.
Clear all	Click Clear all to remove every history snapshot for this workflow (requires confirmation).
Compare	Tick the checkboxes on exactly two rows, then click Compare to open a side-by-side colored diff. Unchanged lines can be collapsed with the Diff only toggle.

Auto-refresh and dedup

The History list refreshes automatically after every autosave. Autosaves are debounced at 2 s. If the workflow body has not changed since the last snapshot, no new draft entry is created (identical-body dedup).

Retention

Draft snapshots are capped at 50 per workflow; the oldest are pruned automatically. Published snapshots are unbounded.

REST endpoints

Method	Path	Effect
DELETE	/api/workflows/versions/{id}/{versionID}	Delete a single snapshot
DELETE	/api/workflows/versions/{id}	Delete all snapshots for a workflow

See also

• Canvas editor ▶ Run timeline — the UI that reads this layout.
• MCP authoring ▶ Watching live runs — streaming side over MCP.