Add support for workflows

[JustShah]

Overview

In Solidus there are many occasions where something fails without proper tracking and without the ability to resume work once fixes are made. There are many complex and critical processes where a workflow not only brings better control but also increased confidence through enhanced observability, error handling, and recovery.

By introducing a dedicated workflow, we can visualize processes along with their statuses, capture detailed error logs, and easily resume processes once the issues are fixed.

In my opinion, adding workflow brings many advantages. For example:

Trackability:
With workflow management, every step is recorded with clear statuses like pending, running, failed, or completed. This makes it easy for administrators to follow each step of the process and quickly spot where something went wrong.

Resumability:
Processes in Solidus may fail for various reasons, be it data corruption, logic errors, or issues in the code itself. A robust workflow system allows us to resume the same process seamlessly once corrective actions are taken, avoiding the need to restart the entire chain of operations.

Observability and Enhanced Error Handling:
Workflows offer a comprehensive view of execution flow. Meaning administrators can not only see process statuses but also access error logs and other diagnostic information easily. In real time, this helps to quickly identify issues and take corrective actions before they escalate. Moreover, it allows for proactive alerting when abnormal patterns or persistent errors are detected.

I am exploring the idea of implementing workflow enhancements in Solidus to improve how we track and recover from failures. I don’t have a complete plan yet, and I'd love to hear opinions and ideas from the community on how we might approach this. This could help us fix current gaps and make our processes more resilient and easier to manage. What do you think? do you see opportunities or have suggestions for how we could implement workflows in Solidus?

One example to consider https://github.com/chaps-io/gush

[jarednorman]

I'm intrigued by this idea. Can you elaborate on it? I'm mostly just looking for one or two concrete examples of what this would look like.

[JustShah]

@jarednorman

A realistic example for workflow integration could involve third-party service execution and complete processes, particularly for processes like order completion. While Solidus doesn’t enforce highly complex flows by default, real world stores often require more advanced, customized sequences (e.g., payment confirmations, shipping integrations, and so on). A workflow system could make these processes more traceable and resilient.

Few examples

1. Stripe PaymentIntents & Webhooks: Stripe’s asynchronous flow relies heavily on webhooks to confirm payment success/failure. A workflow could:

   • Track the status of PaymentIntent lifecycle events (e.g., requires_confirmation, succeeded).

   • Retry failed webhook deliveries or handle delays gracefully.

   • Provide admins with a clear audit trail to resolve "stuck" orders caused by missed webhooks.

2. ShipStation/EasyPost Shipping Synchronization: These services depend on API calls with strict rate limits and transient errors. A workflow could:

   • Log every API interaction (e.g., label generation, tracking sync) with timestamps and responses.

   • Allow resuming from the point of failure (e.g., retrying a rate-limited API call without restarting the entire process).

   • Surface actionable insights (e.g., Address validation failed—update the shipping details and retry)

This approach makes sense for Solidus because it balances flexibility with practicality. By designing workflows as an optional feature, we ensure stores only adopt them when needed, perfect for merchants dealing with complex processes, without burdening simpler setups.

It also prepares Solidus for the future. More tools today rely on background processes, and workflows could handle these smoothly, keeping everything organized in one place.

I’m curious if this aligns with your vision for Solidus’s evolution. Would love to hear your perspective!