Sub-workflow

Runs another workflow in this package and continues with whatever it returns.

Finding it in the library

Search the builder's node library for Sub-workflow (it lives under Workflow). A single click opens the in-editor docs panel shown here — description, ports, and every property, without leaving the canvas. Double-click (or drag) to add it to the workflow.

Library capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes.

Wired up in the builder

Sub-workflow in a real, runnable flow — captured live from the Studio editor, exactly as it looks on your canvas. This is the same workflow used for the example input & output below.

Canvas capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes.

How it’s configured

The node’s settings as the builder shows them — every field laid out with real values. In the Studio these are edited on the node: click the chevron on the divider under its ports to open them.

Config capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes. See the full property reference below.

Ports

Ports are the node’s contract with its neighbours. In the editor a port label renders bold when wired and italic when optional; ◈ ports accept attachment carriers rather than data wires.

How data flows through it

Sub-workflow consumes the content of the incoming envelope — when it is fed directly by a trigger, the trigger’s wrapper is unwrapped at the node boundary so the node sees the actual data, not the metadata shell. Its output becomes the payload for the next node, while the envelope (trace ids, correlation, binary refs) rides along untouched. In the Runs view you always see the whole envelope for both sides of this node.

Expressions in the config

String-typed properties accept {{ }} expressions evaluated against the incoming item at run time — e.g. {{ $json.customer.email }}. On this node that’s entry. JSON- and code-typed fields never interpolate — they are passed through literally.

Build it with AI

Every node in this reference is reachable through Flowdrome’s AI Copilot and the MCP tools — say what you want, and the graph surgery happens server-side. Node types resolve fuzzily, so the catalog label (Sub-workflow) works as well as the exact type id (workflow.call).

In the Copilot panel (or any connected AI):

add a sub-workflow node after the trigger

As a step in a create_chain_workflow call:

{"type":"Sub-workflow","config":{}}

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:4800/mcp -H "content-type: application/json" -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": "1", "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "add_node", "arguments": { "workflowId": "<id>", "type": "Sub-workflow" } } }'

Example input & output

Captured from a real test run of the workflow above — this is what the Runs view shows after pressing Test workflow.

Ran the Utilities workflow at entry "main" and continued with what it returned.

{
  "kind": "json",
  "contentType": "application/json",
  "payload": {
    "ticket": "T-4821",
    "customer": "ada"
  },
  "body": {
    "ticket": "T-4821",
    "customer": "ada"
  }
}

{
  "kind": "json",
  "contentType": "application/json",
  "payload": {
    "ticket": "T-4821",
    "customer": "ada"
  },
  "body": {
    "ticket": "T-4821",
    "customer": "ada"
  }
}

Property reference

Every setting, with its type and default — the same fields shown configured above.

Related nodes

The rest of the Workflow group — the same folder you’d scan in the editor’s library.

• Execute Workflow Runs one or more sub-workflows in sequence (output → next input) or in parallel (one labelled output each).
• Input A named entry point into this workflow
• Output Returns its input to the workflow that called this one

This page is generated from the node registry by gen-node-docs.mjs on every site build — ports, properties, defaults and visibility rules cannot drift from the code. The screenshots and example data are captured from a live Flowdrome by npm run shots:nodes and npm run gen:examples.