Chapter 3: Workflow Design Patterns

Welcome to Chapter 3: Workflow Design Patterns. In this part of CodeMachine CLI Tutorial: Orchestrating Long-Running Coding Agent Workflows, you will build an intuitive mental model first, then move into concrete implementation details and practical production tradeoffs.

Workflow design quality drives reliability in orchestrated coding-agent systems.

Pattern Types

Pattern	Best For
linear staged	deterministic tasks
looped refinement	iterative bug fixing
gated workflow	human approval checkpoints

Summary

You now have design patterns for repeatable orchestration workflows.

Next: Chapter 4: Multi-Agent and Parallel Execution

Source Code Walkthrough

scripts/import-telemetry.ts

The logsToLokiFormat function in scripts/import-telemetry.ts handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

// Convert our log format to Loki push format
function logsToLokiFormat(logs: SerializedLog[], serviceName: string): object {
  // Group logs by their label set
  const streams = new Map<string, Array<[string, string]>>();

  for (const log of logs) {
    // Build labels
    const labels: Record<string, string> = {
      service_name: serviceName,
      severity_text: log.severityText || 'UNSPECIFIED',
      imported: 'true',
    };

    // Add trace correlation if present
    if (log.attributes['trace.id']) {
      labels.trace_id = String(log.attributes['trace.id']);
    }
    if (log.attributes['span.id']) {
      labels.span_id = String(log.attributes['span.id']);
    }

    // Create label key for grouping
    const labelKey = Object.entries(labels)
      .sort(([a], [b]) => a.localeCompare(b))
      .map(([k, v]) => `${k}="${v}"`)
      .join(',');

    // Convert timestamp
    const [seconds, nanos] = log.timestamp;
    const timestampNs = String(BigInt(seconds) * BigInt(1_000_000_000) + BigInt(nanos));

This function is important because it defines how CodeMachine CLI Tutorial: Orchestrating Long-Running Coding Agent Workflows implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

scripts/import-telemetry.ts

The sendTracesToTempo function in scripts/import-telemetry.ts handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

// Send traces to Tempo via OTLP
async function sendTracesToTempo(spans: SerializedSpan[], serviceName: string, tempoUrl: string): Promise<void> {
  const otlpData = spansToOTLP(spans, serviceName);
  const url = `${tempoUrl}/v1/traces`;

  const response = await fetch(url, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(otlpData),
  });

  if (!response.ok) {
    const text = await response.text();
    throw new Error(`Failed to send traces to Tempo: ${response.status} ${text}`);
  }
}

// Send logs to Loki
async function sendLogsToLoki(logs: SerializedLog[], serviceName: string, lokiUrl: string): Promise<void> {
  const lokiData = logsToLokiFormat(logs, serviceName);
  const url = `${lokiUrl}/loki/api/v1/push`;

  const response = await fetch(url, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(lokiData),
  });

This function is important because it defines how CodeMachine CLI Tutorial: Orchestrating Long-Running Coding Agent Workflows implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

scripts/import-telemetry.ts

The sendLogsToLoki function in scripts/import-telemetry.ts handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

// Send logs to Loki
async function sendLogsToLoki(logs: SerializedLog[], serviceName: string, lokiUrl: string): Promise<void> {
  const lokiData = logsToLokiFormat(logs, serviceName);
  const url = `${lokiUrl}/loki/api/v1/push`;

  const response = await fetch(url, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(lokiData),
  });

  if (!response.ok) {
    const text = await response.text();
    throw new Error(`Failed to send logs to Loki: ${response.status} ${text}`);
  }
}

// Read and parse a JSON file
function readJsonFile<T>(path: string): T | null {
  try {
    const content = readFileSync(path, 'utf-8');
    return JSON.parse(content) as T;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`Failed to read ${path}:`, error);
    return null;
  }
}

// Main function

This function is important because it defines how CodeMachine CLI Tutorial: Orchestrating Long-Running Coding Agent Workflows implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

scripts/import-telemetry.ts

The main function in scripts/import-telemetry.ts handles a key part of this chapter's functionality:

// Main function
async function main() {
  const config = parseArgs();

  if (!config.sourcePath) {
    console.log(`
Usage: bun scripts/import-telemetry.ts <path-to-traces-dir>

Examples:
  bun scripts/import-telemetry.ts .codemachine/traces
  bun scripts/import-telemetry.ts ~/Downloads/bug-report-traces
  bun scripts/import-telemetry.ts ./traces --loki-url http://localhost:3100

Options:
  --loki-url <url>   Loki URL (default: http://localhost:3100)
  --tempo-url <url>  Tempo OTLP URL (default: http://localhost:4318)
  --logs-only        Only import logs
  --traces-only      Only import traces
`);
    process.exit(1);
  }

  if (!existsSync(config.sourcePath)) {
    console.error(`Path not found: ${config.sourcePath}`);
    process.exit(1);
  }

  console.log(`Importing telemetry from: ${config.sourcePath}`);
  console.log(`Loki URL: ${config.lokiUrl}`);
  console.log(`Tempo URL: ${config.tempoUrl}`);
  console.log('');

This function is important because it defines how CodeMachine CLI Tutorial: Orchestrating Long-Running Coding Agent Workflows implements the patterns covered in this chapter.

How These Components Connect

flowchart TD
    A[logsToLokiFormat]
    B[sendTracesToTempo]
    C[sendLogsToLoki]
    D[main]
    A --> B
    B --> C
    C --> D