Google Workflow Executions API
Browse all Google APIs39
AI ReadinessNon-Ready (F)39/100
Official vendor OpenAPI document · agent-readyCloud InfrastructureServerlessoauth29 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Trigger Cloud Workflows executions, watch step entries, cancel runs, and read final results. Runtime control plane for serverless orchestrations defined in the Workflows API.
Use for: Trigger a workflow execution with a JSON payload, List all failed executions for a workflow in the last 24 hours, Cancel an active workflow execution by name, Retrieve step entries for a specific execution
Not supported: Does not handle workflow definition authoring, container image building, message brokering, or scheduling - use for runtime control of Cloud Workflows executions only.
The Google Workflow Executions API runs workflows defined in Google Cloud Workflows and exposes the lifecycle of each execution. Clients trigger a workflow with a JSON argument payload, observe step-by-step progress through stepEntries, cancel in-flight runs, and pull a structured execution result when complete. It also supports triggering workflows from Pub/Sub messages and exporting historical execution data for analysis. This is the runtime companion to the Workflows API, which manages workflow definitions.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Workflow Executions API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Workflow Executions API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fgoogleapis.com%2Fworkflowexecutions" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fgoogleapis.com%2Fworkflowexecutions" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Workflow Executions API.
Trigger a workflow execution with a JSON arguments payload
List executions for a workflow with state filters such as ACTIVE, SUCCEEDED, or FAILED
Cancel a running execution mid-flight
Retrieve step entries to see the input, output, and timing of every workflow step
Trigger workflow executions from Pub/Sub topics through the triggerPubsubExecution endpoint
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Workflow Executions API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Event-driven serverless orchestration
Run a multi-step workflow in response to an event such as a file upload or a Pub/Sub message. The Workflow Executions API exposes triggerPubsubExecution so a workflow can be wired directly to a Pub/Sub topic without an intermediate Cloud Function. Execution state can be polled or watched through stepEntries to drive downstream UI updates.
POST to /v1/{+workflow}:triggerPubsubExecution with a Pub/Sub message envelope and return the resulting execution name.
Synchronous workflow invocation from a backend
A backend service triggers a workflow with POST /v1/{+parent}/executions, polls the execution by name until state is SUCCEEDED, then reads the result field for the structured output. This pattern replaces ad-hoc step functions or hand-coded retry loops with a declarative workflow definition. The stepEntries endpoint provides observability that an opaque function call cannot.
Create an execution under parent projects/{project}/locations/{loc}/workflows/{workflow} with argument payload {"orderId":"abc"}, poll until state=SUCCEEDED, and return the result field.
Operational debugging and audit
When a workflow fails, the stepEntries endpoint exposes input, output, exception, and routine name for every step, giving engineers a precise replay of execution flow. Combined with deleteExecutionHistory and exportData, teams can keep recent runs queryable while archiving older execution traces. This is essential for SRE postmortems and compliance auditing.
List stepEntries under a failed execution, find the step where exception is non-empty, and return its routine and exception fields.
Agent-driven workflow control through Jentic
Operations agents can launch, monitor, and cancel Cloud Workflows runs through Jentic without engineers writing client glue. The agent searches Jentic for trigger a cloud workflow, loads the executions create operation, and executes with the JSON arguments built from a user request. State changes can be polled through the same client.
Through Jentic, create an execution on a named workflow with arguments derived from the user's request, then poll the execution until state is SUCCEEDED or FAILED.
Key Endpoints
9 endpoints — the google workflow executions api runs workflows defined in google cloud workflows and exposes the lifecycle of each execution.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
POST
/v1/{+parent}/executions
Create a new workflow execution
GET
/v1/{+name}
Get execution details
POST
/v1/{+name}:cancel
Cancel an active execution
GET
/v1/{+parent}/stepEntries
List step entries for an execution
POST
/v1/{+workflow}:triggerPubsubExecution
Trigger an execution from a Pub/Sub message
POST
/v1/{+name}:exportData
Export historical execution data
POST
/v1/{+parent}/executions
Create a new workflow execution
GET
/v1/{+name}
Get execution details
POST
/v1/{+name}:cancel
Cancel an active execution
GET
/v1/{+parent}/stepEntries
List step entries for an execution
POST
/v1/{+workflow}:triggerPubsubExecution
Trigger an execution from a Pub/Sub message
POST
/v1/{+name}:exportData
Export historical execution data
Jentic AI Readiness Score
This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.
W
Workflow Executions API
- Non-Ready (F)39/100
47
Foundational Compliance56
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility18
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience94
Agent Usability63
Security68
AI DiscoverabilityPowered by JenticScoring Framework 1.0.0 | Scoring Engine 0.4.0
Show dimension breakdown
47
Foundational Compliance
Base layer of spec validity and structural soundness.
Grade: D+Signals: 4
79%
Lint Results
Aggregated quality score from linter diagnostics, weighted by severity.
100%
Resolution Completeness
Percentage of `$ref` references that resolve successfully.
0%
Specification Validity
Checks whether the API description parses successfully and conforms to its declared specification (e.g., OpenAPI).
10%
Structural Integrity
Structural correctness score based on schema issues using logarithmic dampening.
56
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility
Clarity, completeness, and ingestion readiness for developers and tooling.
Grade: CSignals: 4
0%
Example Density
How richly the API is illustrated with examples.
100%
Example Validity
Percentage of examples that conform to their schemas.
25%
Response Coverage
Percentage of operations with complete response definitions (success, client error, server error).
100%
Tooling Readiness
Health of API ingestion, bundling, and resolution within Jentic pipelines.
18
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience
Semantic breadth, depth, and agent comprehension for AI systems.
Grade: FSignals: 4
72%
Description Coverage
Coverage of descriptions across API elements.
0%
Error Standardization
Coverage of RFC 9457 Problem Details for error responses.
0%
OperationId Quality
Coverage, uniqueness, and casing consistency of operationIds for AI inference.
0%
Summary Coverage
Coverage of summaries across operations/tags/info.
94
Agent Usability
Functional utility, complexity comfort, and AI orchestration readiness.
Grade: A+Signals: 1
94%
Complexity Comfort
Agent comfort level based on API operational and structural complexity.
63
Security
Trust, risk posture, and security compliance.
Grade: B-Signals: 1
62%
Authentication Strength
Average quality of security schemes based on authentication method strength (weakest link for OAuth2).
68
AI Discoverability
Findability, semantic richness, and reasoning readiness.
Grade: B+Signals: 1
68%
Descriptive Richness
Clarity and depth of descriptions across API elements.
Score it yourself
Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring the Workflow Executions API by hand means setting up OAuth 2.0 for your Google Cloud project, refreshing access tokens, and matching execution control calls against the workflowexecutions.googleapis.com host. Through Jentic you install once, import the Workflow Executions API from the API Directory, store the OAuth credential once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
The Workflow Executions API puts the execution and workflow in the URL path (/v1/{name}:cancel), so a rule can pin your agent to one execution or workflow: it can create and inspect executions there and nothing else. You choose the operations it may call, so cancelling runs is not included unless you add it.
Credential isolation
Your Google Cloud OAuth credential is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. Its client secret and refresh token never enter the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'trigger a workflow run' or 'list execution step entries', and Jentic returns the executions create or step entries operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Workflow Executions API through Jentic.
What authentication does the Workflow Executions API use?
It uses OAuth 2.0 (Oauth2 and Oauth2c schemes) scoped to https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform. Through Jentic the OAuth credentials are stored encrypted and exchanged for access tokens at execution; the agent runtime never holds the refresh token.
Where do I define the workflow itself?
Workflow definitions are managed by the separate Workflows API. Workflow Executions only handles run-time concerns: creating, listing, getting, cancelling executions and reading stepEntries. The execution endpoints reference workflows by their fully qualified name like projects/{project}/locations/{loc}/workflows/{workflow}.
What are the rate limits for the Workflow Executions API?
Per-project quotas for execution creation and concurrent active executions are configured in the Cloud Console under APIs and Services. The published default is enough for most workloads; teams running thousands of concurrent runs request a quota increase. Step throughput within a single execution is governed separately by the Workflows runtime.
How do I trigger a workflow execution through Jentic?
Search Jentic for trigger a cloud workflow, load the schema for POST /v1/{+parent}/executions, and execute it with the parent set to the workflow name and an argument JSON payload. Jentic returns the execution name; poll GET /v1/{+name} until state is SUCCEEDED or FAILED.
Can I trigger workflows from Pub/Sub directly?
Yes. POST /v1/{+workflow}:triggerPubsubExecution accepts a Pub/Sub envelope and starts an execution without needing an intermediary Cloud Function. Configure your Pub/Sub subscription to push to this endpoint for fully serverless event-driven workflows.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Workflow Executions API?
Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which operations and credentials the agent may use. The Workflow Executions API puts the execution and workflow in the URL path, so a rule can pin the agent to a single workflow or execution, letting it create and inspect runs there and nothing else. You pick the operations it may call, so cancelling a run through /v1/{name}:cancel is off limits unless you explicitly grant it.
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