Creating Workflows Skill

Comprehensive guidance for building automated development workflows using claude-flow orchestration, multi-agent coordination, and intelligent verification systems.

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be triggered when:

• Creating multi-phase development workflows (implementation + verification)
• Building automated CI/CD pipelines with intelligent agents
• Implementing retry loops with context injection
• Setting up verification steps with failure detection
• Orchestrating multiple agents for parallel/sequential task execution
• Creating workflows that need checkpoint recovery
• Implementing silent failure detection (processes that pretend to succeed)
• Building developer experience tooling with dry-run capabilities
• Documenting complex automated workflows
• Migrating manual processes to automated orchestration

Key Concepts

Shell Context Independence & jelmore Execution

Critical Requirement: Workflow scripts must not depend on interactive shell configuration.

Why: Shell aliases and functions don't propagate to subprocess environments (n8n workflows, cron jobs, systemd services).

jelmore: Convention-Based LLM Execution Primitive

jelmore provides a unified CLI for LLM invocations with shell context independence built-in. Use jelmore instead of calling LLM clients directly when building workflows.

Why Use jelmore in Workflows:

• ✅ Shell-context-free (no alias dependencies)
• ✅ Convention over configuration (auto-infer client/MCP servers)
• ✅ Detached Zellij sessions with immediate return
• ✅ Built-in iMi worktree integration
• ✅ Native Bloodbank event publishing
• ✅ Unified interface across all LLM clients

Location: /home/delorenj/code/jelmore

Basic Usage in Workflows:

# Instead of: npx claude-flow@alpha swarm "$objective" --claude
# Use jelmore with auto-inference:
uv run jelmore execute -p "$objective" --auto

# Instead of: gptme --model $KK "$task"
# Use jelmore with explicit client:
uv run jelmore execute -f task.md --client gptme --model-tier balanced

# For PR review workflows:
uv run jelmore execute --config pr-review.json --var PR_NUMBER=$pr_num --json

Implementation Patterns:

• Place scripts in ~/.local/bin/ with explicit PATH exports
• Replace aliases with direct command invocations or jelmore CLI
• Use jelmore for LLM invocations (inherits detached Zellij pattern)
• Return session identifiers immediately for observability

See:

• ecosystem-patterns skill - jelmore architecture and patterns
• bloodbank-n8n-event-driven-workflows skill - Event-driven integration
• /home/delorenj/code/jelmore/CLI.md - Complete CLI reference

Multi-Phase Workflows

Workflows split into distinct phases with different execution strategies:

• Phase 1 (Kickoff): Implementation via multi-agent orchestration (parallel execution)
• Phase 2 (Verification): System state validation (sequential execution)
• Phase N: Additional phases as needed (testing, deployment, etc.)

Retry Loops with Context Injection

When Phase 2 fails, retry Phase 1 with failure context:

• Append failure details to context string
• Increment attempt counter
• Enforce max retry limit
• Provide comprehensive failure summary on exhaustion

Silent Failure Detection

Processes that don't properly report errors require explicit monitoring:

• Log pattern matching (success indicators)
• Error pattern matching (failure indicators)
• Timeout enforcement
• Background process monitoring

Claude-Flow Integration

Critical: claude-flow@alpha v2.7.26+ does NOT support workflow execute command.

Available Commands:

• swarm <objective> - Multi-agent coordination with parallel execution
• sparc <mode> - SPARC methodology (spec, architect, tdd, integration)
• stream-chain - Chain multiple Claude instances with context preservation
• agent <action> - Agent management (spawn, list, terminate)

Quick Reference

1. Basic Workflow Script Structure

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
PROJECT_ROOT="$(cd "${SCRIPT_DIR}/../.." && pwd)"

# Colors for output
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
RED='\033[0;31m'
YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
BLUE='\033[0;34m'
NC='\033[0m'

# Parse CLI arguments
TASK_FILE="${PROJECT_ROOT}/TASK.md"
PHASE="all"
MAX_RETRIES=2
RETRY_ENABLED=true
DRY_RUN=false

# Parse flags (--task, --phase, --max-retries, --no-retry, --dry-run, --help)
# Implement usage() function
# Validate inputs

2. Phase 1: Implementation with jelmore (Recommended)

run_phase1() {
  local attempt=$1
  local context_override="${2:-$CONTEXT}"

  echo -e "${GREEN}Running Phase 1: Implementation${NC}"

  if [[ $attempt -gt 1 ]]; then
    echo -e "${BLUE}Retry attempt $((attempt - 1))/${MAX_RETRIES}${NC}"
  fi

  # jelmore execution with JSON output
  local jelmore_output
  jelmore_output=$(uv run jelmore execute \
    --file "$TASK_FILE" \
    --auto \
    --json 2>&1)

  local exit_code=$?

  # Parse jelmore response
  if [[ $exit_code -eq 0 ]]; then
    local session_name=$(echo "$jelmore_output" | jq -r '.session_name')
    local execution_id=$(echo "$jelmore_output" | jq -r '.execution_id')
    local log_path=$(echo "$jelmore_output" | jq -r '.log_path')

    echo -e "${GREEN}✓ Execution started${NC}"
    echo "  Session: $session_name"
    echo "  Execution ID: $execution_id"
    echo "  Logs: $log_path"
    echo ""
    echo "  Attach: zellij attach $session_name"

    # Store for later reference
    export JELMORE_SESSION="$session_name"
    export JELMORE_EXECUTION_ID="$execution_id"
    export JELMORE_LOG_PATH="$log_path"
  else
    echo -e "${RED}Error: jelmore execution failed${NC}"
    echo "$jelmore_output"
    return 1
  fi

  return 0
}

Alternative: Phase 1 with Claude-Flow Swarm (Legacy Pattern)

run_phase1_legacy() {
  local attempt=$1
  local context_override="${2:-$CONTEXT}"

  echo -e "${GREEN}Running Phase 1: Implementation${NC}"

  if [[ $attempt -gt 1 ]]; then
    echo -e "${BLUE}Retry attempt $((attempt - 1))/${MAX_RETRIES}${NC}"
  fi

  # Read task content
  local task_content
  if [[ -f "$TASK_FILE" ]]; then
    task_content=$(cat "$TASK_FILE")
  else
    echo -e "${RED}Error: Task file not found: $TASK_FILE${NC}"
    return 1
  fi

  # Build objective with context
  local objective="$task_content"
  if [[ -n "$context_override" ]]; then
    objective="$objective\n\nAdditional Context: $context_override"
  fi

  # Execute swarm (opens Claude Code CLI)
  npx claude-flow@alpha swarm "$objective" \
    --strategy development \
    --parallel \
    --max-agents 5 \
    --claude

  return $?
}

3. Phase 2: Verification with Silent Failure Detection

run_phase2() {
  echo -e "${GREEN}Running Phase 2: Verification${NC}"
  local phase2_failed=false

  # Step 1: Backend startup with log monitoring
  echo -e "${BLUE}[Step 1/N] Starting backend...${NC}"

  # Start process in background
  your_start_command > /tmp/backend.log 2>&1 &
  local backend_pid=$!

  # Watch logs for success indicator (30s timeout)
  local timeout=30
  local elapsed=0
  local backend_started=false

  while [[ $elapsed -lt $timeout ]]; do
    # Check for success pattern
    if grep -q "SUCCESS_PATTERN" /tmp/backend.log 2>/dev/null; then
      backend_started=true
      echo -e "${GREEN}✓ Backend started${NC}"
      break
    fi

    # Check for error patterns
    if grep -qi "error\|failed" /tmp/backend.log 2>/dev/null; then
      echo -e "${RED}✗ Backend errors detected${NC}"
      cat /tmp/backend.log
      phase2_failed=true
      break
    fi

    sleep 1
    elapsed=$((elapsed + 1))
  done

  if [[ "$backend_started" == "false" && "$phase2_failed" == "false" ]]; then
    echo -e "${RED}✗ Backend startup timed out${NC}"
    cat /tmp/backend.log
    phase2_failed=true
  fi

  if [[ "$phase2_failed" == "true" ]]; then
    return 1
  fi

  # Step 2: Additional verification steps
  # ...

  echo -e "${GREEN}✓ Phase 2 complete${NC}"
  return 0
}

4. Retry Loop Implementation

case "$PHASE" in
  all|*)
    ATTEMPT=1
    PHASE1_SUCCESS=false
    PHASE2_SUCCESS=false

    while [[ $ATTEMPT -le $((MAX_RETRIES + 1)) ]]; do
      echo -e "${YELLOW}━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━${NC}"
      echo -e "${YELLOW}Workflow Attempt ${ATTEMPT}/$((MAX_RETRIES + 1))${NC}"
      echo -e "${YELLOW}━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━${NC}"

      # Phase 1 with retry context
      RETRY_CONTEXT="$CONTEXT"
      if [[ $ATTEMPT -gt 1 ]]; then
        RETRY_CONTEXT="$CONTEXT | RETRY: Previous Phase 2 verification failed. Review logs and address failures."
      fi

      run_phase1 $ATTEMPT "$RETRY_CONTEXT"
      PHASE1_EXIT=$?

      if [[ $PHASE1_EXIT -ne 0 ]]; then
        echo -e "${RED}Phase 1 failed with exit code $PHASE1_EXIT${NC}"

        if [[ "$RETRY_ENABLED" == "false" || $ATTEMPT -gt $MAX_RETRIES ]]; then
          echo -e "${RED}No more retries. Exiting.${NC}"
          exit $PHASE1_EXIT
        fi

        ATTEMPT=$((ATTEMPT + 1))
        continue
      fi

      PHASE1_SUCCESS=true
      echo -e "${GREEN}✓ Phase 1 completed${NC}"

      # Phase 2
      run_phase2
      PHASE2_EXIT=$?

      if [[ $PHASE2_EXIT -ne 0 ]]; then
        if [[ $ATTEMPT -ge $((MAX_RETRIES + 1)) ]]; then
          # Exhausted retries - provide guidance
          echo -e "${YELLOW}━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━${NC}"
          echo -e "${YELLOW}Retry Summary:${NC}"
          echo "  Total attempts: $ATTEMPT"
          echo "  Phase 1: ${GREEN}✓ Success${NC}"
          echo "  Phase 2: ${RED}✗ Failed${NC}"
          echo -e "${BLUE}Next steps:${NC}"
          echo "  1. Review Phase 2 logs"
          echo "  2. Manually investigate failures"
          echo "  3. Run Phase 2 only: $0 --phase 2"
          echo "  4. Increase retries: $0 --max-retries 5"
          exit $PHASE2_EXIT
        fi

        echo -e "${BLUE}Phase 2 Failed - Triggering Retry${NC}"
        echo -e "${YELLOW}Looping back to Phase 1 with failure context...${NC}"
        ATTEMPT=$((ATTEMPT + 1))
        sleep 2
        continue
      fi

      # Success
      PHASE2_SUCCESS=true
      break
    done

    # Final status
    if [[ "$PHASE1_SUCCESS" == "true" && "$PHASE2_SUCCESS" == "true" ]]; then
      echo -e "${GREEN}━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━${NC}"
      echo -e "${GREEN}✅ Workflow completed successfully${NC}"
      echo -e "${GREEN}━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━${NC}"

      if [[ $ATTEMPT -gt 1 ]]; then
        echo -e "${BLUE}Success after $((ATTEMPT - 1)) retry attempt(s)${NC}"
      fi

      exit 0
    fi
    ;;
esac

5. Dry-Run Mode

if [[ "$DRY_RUN" == "true" ]]; then
  echo -e "${YELLOW}DRY RUN MODE${NC}"
  echo "Would execute Phase 1:"
  echo "  npx claude-flow@alpha swarm \"\$(cat $TASK_FILE)\" \\"
  echo "    --strategy development \\"
  echo "    --parallel \\"
  echo "    --max-agents 5 \\"
  echo "    --claude"
  echo ""
  echo "Would execute Phase 2:"
  echo "  1. Start backend (with log monitoring)"
  echo "  2. Build artifacts"
  echo "  3. Run verification checks"

  if [[ "$RETRY_ENABLED" == "true" ]]; then
    echo ""
    echo "Retry loop: Phase 2 failures retry Phase 1 (max $MAX_RETRIES attempts)"
  fi

  exit 0
fi

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Backend/Service Startup Monitoring

Problem: Process managers (mise, pm2, etc.) often return success even when compilation fails.

Solution: Monitor logs for explicit success indicators.

# Start process
mise start > /tmp/service.log 2>&1 &

# Monitor for success pattern
while [[ $elapsed -lt $timeout ]]; do
  if grep -q "Accepted new IPC connection" /tmp/service.log; then
    echo "✓ Service started"
    break
  fi

  if grep -qi "error|compilation failed" /tmp/service.log; then
    echo "✗ Service failed"
    cat /tmp/service.log
    exit 1
  fi

  sleep 1
  elapsed=$((elapsed + 1))
done

Pattern 2: File Validation After Build

Problem: Builds may appear successful but produce incomplete artifacts.

Solution: Explicitly verify required files exist.

required_files=(
  "dist/manifest.json"
  "dist/bundle.js"
  "dist/styles.css"
)

for file in "${required_files[@]}"; do
  if [[ ! -f "$file" ]]; then
    echo "✗ Required file missing: $file"
    exit 1
  fi
done

echo "✓ All artifacts present"

Pattern 3: Manual Verification Prompts

Problem: Some verification steps can't be automated (UI testing, Chrome extension reload).

Solution: Provide clear instructions and wait for confirmation.

echo -e "${BLUE}[Step N/N] Manual Verification Required${NC}"
echo -e "${YELLOW}Please complete these steps:${NC}"
echo "  1. Open chrome://extensions"
echo "  2. Enable 'Developer mode'"
echo "  3. Find extension and click 'Reload'"
echo "  4. Test on target page"
echo ""
echo -e "${YELLOW}Press Enter when complete, or Ctrl+C to abort...${NC}"
read -r

echo -e "${GREEN}✓ Manual verification complete${NC}"

Pattern 4: Context Injection on Retry

Problem: Retries without context repeat the same mistakes.

Solution: Append failure information to task context.

RETRY_CONTEXT="$CONTEXT"
if [[ $ATTEMPT -gt 1 ]]; then
  RETRY_CONTEXT="$CONTEXT | RETRY: Previous Phase 2 verification failed. Specific failure: $FAILURE_REASON. Review verification logs at $LOG_PATH and address these issues."
fi

run_phase1 $ATTEMPT "$RETRY_CONTEXT"

Pattern 5: Comprehensive Error Reporting

Problem: Failures without guidance leave users stuck.

Solution: Provide actionable next steps on failure.

if [[ $MAX_RETRIES_EXHAUSTED == true ]]; then
  echo -e "${YELLOW}━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━${NC}"
  echo -e "${YELLOW}Retry Summary:${NC}"
  echo "  Total attempts: $ATTEMPT"
  echo "  Phase 1 status: ${GREEN}✓ Success${NC}"
  echo "  Phase 2 status: ${RED}✗ Failed${NC}"
  echo ""
  echo -e "${BLUE}Next steps:${NC}"
  echo "  1. Review Phase 2 logs in $LOG_DIR"
  echo "  2. Check backend/service status: ps aux | grep service"
  echo "  3. Run Phase 2 only: $0 --phase 2"
  echo "  4. Increase retries: $0 --max-retries 5"
  echo "  5. Contact team if issue persists: #dev-support"
fi

Documentation Patterns

1. Workflow Overview Document

Create a comprehensive markdown document (e.g., workflow-name.md) with:

• Purpose: What the workflow does
• Phases: Detailed breakdown of each phase
• Trigger: How to invoke the workflow
• Inputs: Required parameters and files
• Outputs: Generated artifacts and reports
• Success Criteria: How to verify completion
• Failure Recovery: Common issues and solutions
• Manual Steps: Any non-automated requirements

2. Quick Reference Cheat Sheet

Create a concise one-page reference (e.g., QUICK-REFERENCE.md) with:

• Common commands (full workflow, individual phases, dry-run)
• CLI flags and options
• Output file locations
• Troubleshooting commands
• Emergency procedures

3. README for Workflows Directory

Create README.md in workflows directory with:

• List of all available workflows
• When to use each workflow
• Quick start examples
• Common configuration options
• Links to detailed documentation

4. Implementation Report Template

After execution, generate report with:

• Workflow name and version
• Execution timestamp
• All phases executed with status
• Retry attempts (if any)
• Generated artifacts with paths
• Performance metrics (execution time, agent utilization)
• Next steps or recommendations

CLI Argument Patterns

Standard Flags

-t, --task FILE         Task specification file (default: TASK.md)
-c, --context STRING    Additional context for requirements
-p, --phase PHASE       Run specific phase only (1, 2, etc.)
-s, --skip-verification Skip Phase N verification
-r, --max-retries N     Max retry attempts on failure (default: 2)
--no-retry              Disable retry loop (fail immediately)
-d, --dry-run          Show what would be executed
-h, --help             Show help message

Usage Function Template

usage() {
  cat <<EOF
Usage: $0 [options]

Execute the ${WORKFLOW_NAME} workflow

Phases:
  Phase 1: ${PHASE1_DESCRIPTION}
  Phase 2: ${PHASE2_DESCRIPTION}

Options:
  -t, --task FILE         Task specification file (default: TASK.md)
  -c, --context STRING    Additional context
  -p, --phase PHASE       Run specific phase (1 or 2)
  -r, --max-retries N     Max retries (default: 2)
  --no-retry              Disable retry loop
  -d, --dry-run          Preview without execution
  -h, --help             Show this message

Examples:
  # Full workflow with retry
  $0 --task TASK.md

  # Phase 1 only
  $0 --task TASK.md --phase 1

  # Disable retry
  $0 --task TASK.md --no-retry

  # Preview execution
  $0 --task TASK.md --dry-run

EOF
  exit 1
}

Testing Strategies

1. Dry-Run Testing

Always implement and test dry-run mode:

./workflow-script.sh --dry-run
# Should show commands without executing
# Verify output matches expected execution plan

2. Individual Phase Testing

Test each phase independently:

# Test Phase 1 in isolation
./workflow-script.sh --task TASK.md --phase 1

# Test Phase 2 in isolation (requires Phase 1 artifacts)
./workflow-script.sh --phase 2

3. Retry Loop Testing

Test retry behavior with intentional failures:

# Modify Phase 2 to fail temporarily
# Run full workflow
./workflow-script.sh --task TASK.md

# Verify:
# - Phase 1 executes
# - Phase 2 fails
# - Phase 1 re-executes with failure context
# - Loop continues until max retries
# - Comprehensive failure summary appears

4. Silent Failure Detection Testing

Test failure detection:

# Modify backend to fail compilation
# Run workflow
./workflow-script.sh --task TASK.md --phase 2

# Verify:
# - Detects compilation errors in logs
# - Fails with clear error message
# - Shows relevant log excerpts

Integration with Claude-Flow

Swarm Command

Best for: Multi-agent implementation workflows

npx claude-flow@alpha swarm "$objective" \
  --strategy development \        # Options: research, development, testing, optimization
  --parallel \                    # Enable parallel execution (2.8-4.4x speedup)
  --max-agents 5 \               # Limit concurrent agents
  --claude                        # Open Claude Code CLI (default: built-in executor)

SPARC Command

Best for: Structured development phases (spec, architect, tdd)

npx claude-flow@alpha sparc spec "$task"     # Requirements analysis
npx claude-flow@alpha sparc architect "$task" # System design
npx claude-flow@alpha sparc tdd "$task"      # Test-driven implementation

Stream-Chain Command

Best for: Sequential workflows with context preservation

npx claude-flow@alpha stream-chain run \
  "analyze requirements" \
  "design architecture" \
  "implement solution"

Reference Files

This skill includes comprehensive documentation in references/:

• workflow-script-template.sh - Complete bash script template with all patterns
• phase-patterns.md - Common Phase 1/2/N implementation patterns
• retry-strategies.md - Retry loop configurations and failure handling
• verification-patterns.md - Silent failure detection and validation strategies
• documentation-templates.md - Markdown templates for workflow docs
• cli-design.md - CLI argument parsing and usage function patterns

Use these references when building new workflows.

Working with This Skill

For Beginners

Start with the template:

1. Copy workflow-script-template.sh from assets/
2. Customize Phase 1 (implementation) with your task
3. Customize Phase 2 (verification) with your checks
4. Test with --dry-run first
5. Run individual phases before full workflow

For Intermediate Users

Implement patterns:

• Add retry loop with context injection
• Implement silent failure detection for your tools
• Add manual verification prompts where needed
• Create comprehensive documentation

For Advanced Users

Optimize and extend:

• Add additional phases (testing, deployment, rollback)
• Implement checkpoint recovery between phases
• Add performance metrics collection
• Create reusable verification modules
• Integrate with CI/CD pipelines

Common Pitfalls

Pitfall 1: Using Non-Existent CLI Commands

Problem: Documentation may reference commands that don't exist in your version.

Solution: Always verify with --help:

npx claude-flow@alpha --help
npx claude-flow@alpha swarm --help

Pitfall 2: Missing Failure Detection

Problem: Process returns success but actually failed.

Solution: Never trust exit codes alone. Monitor logs for explicit success patterns.

Pitfall 3: Retrying Without Context

Problem: Retries repeat identical failures.

Solution: Always inject failure context into retry attempts.

Pitfall 4: Poor Error Messages

Problem: Users don't know what to do when workflow fails.

Solution: Provide specific next steps, log locations, and troubleshooting commands.

Pitfall 5: No Dry-Run Mode

Problem: Can't preview workflow without executing.

Solution: Always implement --dry-run mode that shows commands without running them.

Resources

In This Skill

• references/ - Detailed pattern documentation
• assets/ - Templates and examples
• scripts/ - Helper utilities

External

• Claude-Flow Documentation: https://github.com/ruvnet/claude-flow
• Bash Best Practices: https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashGuide
• Mise Task Runner: https://mise.jdx.dev/tasks.html

Notes

• This skill codifies patterns from real workflow implementations
• Always test dry-run mode before production use
• Retry loops should have reasonable limits (2-5 attempts max)
• Silent failure detection is critical for reliable automation
• Documentation is as important as the workflow itself