Create a workflow by using the gcloud CLI

Create a workflow by using the gcloud CLI

This quickstart shows you how to create, deploy, and execute your first workflow using the Google Cloud CLI. The sample workflow sends a request to a public API and then returns the API's response.

For a list of all Workflows gcloud CLI commands, see the Workflows gcloud CLI reference page.

Before you begin

Security constraints defined by your organization might prevent you from completing the following steps. For troubleshooting information, see Develop applications in a constrained Google Cloud environment.

Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

Install the Google Cloud CLI.

If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

gcloud init

Create or select a Google Cloud project.

Roles required to select or create a project

• Select a project: Selecting a project doesn't require a specific IAM role—you can select any project that you've been granted a role on.
• Create a project: To create a project, you need the Project Creator (roles/resourcemanager.projectCreator), which contains the resourcemanager.projects.create permission. Learn how to grant roles.

Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

• Create a Google Cloud project:

  gcloud projects create PROJECT_ID

  Replace PROJECT_ID with a name for the Google Cloud project you are creating.

• Select the Google Cloud project that you created:

  gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

  Replace PROJECT_ID with your Google Cloud project name.

If you're using an existing project for this guide, verify that you have the permissions required to complete this guide. If you created a new project, then you already have the required permissions.

Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

Enable the Workflows API:

Roles required to enable APIs

To enable APIs, you need the Service Usage Admin IAM role (roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageAdmin), which contains the serviceusage.services.enable permission. Learn how to grant roles.

gcloud services enable workflows.googleapis.com

Install the Google Cloud CLI.

If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

gcloud init

Create or select a Google Cloud project.

Roles required to select or create a project

• Select a project: Selecting a project doesn't require a specific IAM role—you can select any project that you've been granted a role on.
• Create a project: To create a project, you need the Project Creator (roles/resourcemanager.projectCreator), which contains the resourcemanager.projects.create permission. Learn how to grant roles.

Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

• Create a Google Cloud project:

  gcloud projects create PROJECT_ID

  Replace PROJECT_ID with a name for the Google Cloud project you are creating.

• Select the Google Cloud project that you created:

  gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

  Replace PROJECT_ID with your Google Cloud project name.

If you're using an existing project for this guide, verify that you have the permissions required to complete this guide. If you created a new project, then you already have the required permissions.

Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

Enable the Workflows API:

Roles required to enable APIs

To enable APIs, you need the Service Usage Admin IAM role (roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageAdmin), which contains the serviceusage.services.enable permission. Learn how to grant roles.

gcloud services enable workflows.googleapis.com

1. Set up authentication:

   1. Ensure that you have the Create Service Accounts IAM role (roles/iam.serviceAccountCreator). Learn how to grant roles.

   2. Create the service account:

      gcloud iam service-accounts create SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME

      Replace SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME with a name for the service account.

   3. Grant the roles/logging.logWriter IAM role to the service account:

      gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID --member="serviceAccount:SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com" --role=roles/logging.logWriter

      Replace the following:

      • SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME: the name of the service account
      • PROJECT_ID: the project ID where you created the service account
      Note: The --role flag affects which resources the service account can access in your project. You can revoke these roles or grant additional roles later.

To learn more about service account roles and permissions, see Grant a workflow permission to access Google Cloud resources.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to complete this quickstart, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on your project:

• Service Account User (roles/iam.serviceAccountUser)
• Workflows Admin (roles/workflows.admin)

For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.

Create, deploy, and execute a workflow

1. In your home directory, create a new file called myFirstWorkflow.yaml or myFirstWorkflow.json.

2. Copy and paste the following workflow into the new file, then save it:

   YAML

   main:
     params: [input]
     steps:
       - checkSearchTermInInput:
           switch:
             - condition: '${"searchTerm" in input}'
               assign:
                 - searchTerm: '${input.searchTerm}'
               next: readWikipedia
       - getLocation:
           call: sys.get_env
           args:
             name: GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION
           result: location
       - setFromCallResult:
           assign:
             - searchTerm: '${text.split(location, "-")[0]}'
       - readWikipedia:
           call: http.get
           args:
             url: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php'
             query:
               action: opensearch
               search: '${searchTerm}'
           result: wikiResult
       - returnOutput:
           return: '${wikiResult.body[1]}'

   JSON

   {
     "main": {
       "params": [
         "input"
       ],
       "steps": [
         {
           "checkSearchTermInInput": {
             "switch": [
               {
                 "condition": "${\"searchTerm\" in input}",
                 "assign": [
                   {
                     "searchTerm": "${input.searchTerm}"
                   }
                 ],
                 "next": "readWikipedia"
               }
             ]
           }
         },
         {
           "getLocation": {
             "call": "sys.get_env",
             "args": {
               "name": "GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION"
             },
             "result": "location"
           }
         },
         {
           "setFromCallResult": {
             "assign": [
               {
                 "searchTerm": "${text.split(location, \"-\")[0]}"
               }
             ]
           }
         },
         {
           "readWikipedia": {
             "call": "http.get",
             "args": {
               "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php",
               "query": {
                 "action": "opensearch",
                 "search": "${searchTerm}"
               }
             },
             "result": "wikiResult"
           }
         },
         {
           "returnOutput": {
             "return": "${wikiResult.body[1]}"
           }
         }
       ]
     }
   }
   

   Unless you input your own search term, this workflow uses your Google Cloud location to construct a search term, which it passes to the Wikipedia API. A list of related Wikipedia articles is returned.

3. Deploy the workflow and associate it with the specified service account:

   gcloud workflows deploy myFirstWorkflow --source=myFirstWorkflow.EXTENSION \
       --service-account=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com
   

   Replace the following:

   • EXTENSION: the file extension for your workflow; use yaml for the YAML version or use json for the JSON version
   • PROJECT_ID: your project ID
   Note: In production environments, we strongly recommend creating a new service account, then granting it the least permissive roles that allow the service account to access the required resources. To learn more, see Service accounts. For a list of Workflows roles, see Workflows roles and permissions.

4. Execute the workflow:

   gcloud workflows run myFirstWorkflow \
       --data='SEARCH_TERM'
   

   Replace SEARCH_TERM with your search term; for example, {"searchTerm":"North"}. If you enter {}, your Google Cloud location is used to construct a search term.

   This returns the results of the execution attempt. The output is similar to the following:

   argument: '{"searchTerm":"North"}'
   duration: 0.210616856s
   endTime: '2023-05-10T21:56:39.465899376Z'
   name: projects/734581694262/locations/us-central1/workflows/workflow-1/executions/eae31f11-a5c3-47e2-8014-05b400820a79
   result: '["North","North America","Northern Ireland","North Korea","North Macedonia","North
     Carolina","Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit","Northrop F-5","Northern Cyprus","North
     Dakota"]'
   startTime: '2023-05-10T21:56:39.255282520Z'
   state: SUCCEEDED
   status:
     currentSteps:
     - routine: main
       step: returnOutput
   workflowRevisionId: 000001-ac2
   

You've deployed and executed your first workflow!

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used on this page, delete the Google Cloud project with the resources.

1. Delete the workflow you created:

   gcloud workflows delete myFirstWorkflow
   

2. When asked if you want to continue, enter y.

The workflow is deleted.

What's next

• Update an existing workflow

• Control the order of execution in a workflow

• Sample workflows

• Workflows syntax reference