GCP-WORKFLOWS-DETAIL

GCP Workflows YAML serverless orchestration.

Definition

GCP Workflows features: Workflow definition YAML/JSON declarative syntax, Steps (assign, call, switch, parallel, for, try-except), Connectors (~80 Google Cloud services + external REST APIs), HTTP Authentication (OAuth2, JWT, IAP), Parallel execution branches, Iteration loops, Subworkflows. Use cases: Data pipelines (Dataflow + BigQuery + Cloud Functions), Event-driven workflows (Pub/Sub → Workflows → SaaS), Long-running batch jobs (up to 1 year duration).

Origin

GCP Workflows announced Beta August 2020 ; GA January 2021 ; Connectors ongoing additions 2024 ; Vertex AI integration 2024.

Example in context

A retail company orchestrates via GCP Workflows: trigger Pub/Sub order message → call Cloud Function inventory check → if available call Dataflow ETL → BigQuery analytics → Pub/Sub notification fulfillment downstream.

Related terms

• GCP Cloud Functions — complementary service.