Durable Workflow CLI

September 1, 2026 · View on GitHub

dw is the command-line interface for Durable Workflow Cloud and self-hosted Durable Workflow Server. Use it to start and inspect workflows, send signals and updates, manage schedules and namespaces, diagnose workers and task queues, and automate operations with stable JSON output.

Install

The standalone binary does not require PHP.

# Linux and macOS
curl -fsSL https://durable-workflow.com/install.sh | sh

# Windows
irm https://durable-workflow.com/install.ps1 | iex

The installers verify the downloaded binary against the release SHA256SUMS manifest. Releases also include GitHub artifact attestations, native binaries, dw.phar, installer scripts, and a Homebrew formula.

dw --version
dw list

See the distribution guide for exact-version installs, direct downloads, checksum and attestation verification, Homebrew, PHAR, and reproducible builds.

Connect

Named profiles keep a runtime URL, namespace, token source, TLS policy, and output preference together.

# Self-hosted Server
dw env:set local \
  --server=http://localhost:8080 \
  --namespace=default \
  --make-default

# Durable Workflow Cloud namespace
dw env:set cloud \
  --server="$DURABLE_WORKFLOW_RUNTIME_URL" \
  --namespace="$DURABLE_WORKFLOW_NAMESPACE" \
  --token-env=DURABLE_WORKFLOW_CLIENT_TOKEN

dw doctor --env=local
dw server:info --env=cloud

An unknown profile fails instead of silently falling back to another runtime. Literal tokens are redacted from normal profile output; prefer --token-env so credentials remain outside the config file.

Run a Workflow

Start a worker for the same namespace and task queue, then run:

dw workflow:start \
  --type=orders.checkout \
  --task-queue=orders \
  --workflow-id="order-$(date +%s)" \
  --input='{"order_id":"123"}' \
  --wait \
  --json

Common operations:

dw workflow:list --status=running
dw workflow:describe <workflow-id> --json
dw workflow:signal <workflow-id> payment-received --input='{"amount":99.99}'
dw workflow:query <workflow-id> current-status --json
dw workflow:update <workflow-id> approve --input='{"approver":"operator"}'
dw workflow:cancel <workflow-id> --reason="Customer request"
dw workflow:history <workflow-id> <run-id>

Automation Contract

All read and mutating commands support machine-readable output. Use --output=json for one response or --output=jsonl for line-oriented records.

dw workflow:list --output=json | jq '.workflows[].workflow_id'
dw schedule:list --output=jsonl
dw schema:list
dw schema:show workflow:list > workflow-list.schema.json

Exit codes distinguish usage, network, authentication, not-found, server, timeout, and compatibility failures. Published JSON Schema manifests define the patch-stable response envelopes.

Reference

Development

composer install
composer test
make phar

Run make help for the complete local development surface.

License

MIT