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Installation

To install workflow-engine and its associated packages, ensure your project meets the requirements below.

Requirements​

  • Node.js >= 22.11.0 (uses modern JavaScript features and runtime patterns)
  • TypeScript >= 5.0.0 (for full type-inference support)
  • Zod ^4.1 (peer dependency used for type validation schemas)
  • PostgreSQL >= 14 or SQLite (for Prisma persistence)

Installing Packages​

These pages describe 1.0, which is published under the npm alpha dist-tag as 1.0.0-alpha.x. A bare npm install @bratsos/workflow-engine resolves the latest tag, which is still the 0.13 line, so name the tag explicitly. Upgrading from 0.13? Read Migrating from 0.13 to 1.0 first.

1. Core Engine​

Install @bratsos/workflow-engine and zod:

# Using npm
npm install @bratsos/workflow-engine@alpha zod

# Using pnpm
pnpm add @bratsos/workflow-engine@alpha zod

# Using yarn
yarn add @bratsos/workflow-engine@alpha zod

2. Choose Your Host Runtime​

Install the host package that matches your operational environment. The host packages are versioned independently of the engine and are not on the alpha tag; each release depends on the engine release it was built against:

  • Node.js Host (for long-running daemon workers): 
    npm install @bratsos/workflow-engine-host-node
  • Serverless Host (for Cloudflare Workers, AWS Lambda, Vercel Edge, etc.): 
    npm install @bratsos/workflow-engine-host-serverless
  • Remote Host (for credential-free remote execution environments): 
    npm install @bratsos/workflow-engine-host-remote

3. Optional: the operational console​

@bratsos/workflow-engine-console is an embeddable run console — a (Request) => Promise<Response> handler plus a prebuilt UI. Nothing in the engine depends on it; see The embeddable console.

npm install @bratsos/workflow-engine-console

Optional Peer Dependencies​

If your workflows leverage AI models with Anthropic or OpenAI, install the corresponding AI SDK provider packages:

# For Anthropic Claude (native or batch)
npm install @ai-sdk/anthropic

# For OpenAI Models (native or batch)
npm install @ai-sdk/openai

# For Prisma-based database persistence (recommended); Prisma 6 or 7
npm install @prisma/client

Note: @ai-sdk/google and @openrouter/ai-sdk-provider are direct dependencies of @bratsos/workflow-engine; OpenRouter's Batch API is called over plain HTTP and needs no additional SDK. The Prisma adapters never import @prisma/client themselves — you pass them the client you generated, so Prisma 7's prisma-client generator with a custom output works unchanged. The engine also ships its reference schema at node_modules/@bratsos/workflow-engine/prisma/schema.prisma; see Prisma Setup.