Workflowfrom

Workflowfrom is a concept used in workflow management and automation to denote an operation that creates a new workflow by deriving it from an existing workflow or a template. The idea mirrors common patterns in software development, where a base artifact is cloned or extended to produce a specialized variant while preserving core structure and behavior.

In practice, workflowfrom takes a source workflow and optional overrides or parameters, and returns a new workflow object. The resulting workflow typically inherits the steps, transitions, triggers, and dependencies of the source, with user-specified refinements such as a new name, modified triggers, altered step parameters, or changed routing logic. Depending on the implementation, identifiers may be remapped to avoid conflicts, and the copy may be shallow or deep, affecting how nested configurations are shared or duplicated.

Common use cases include creating variants of a baseline process, such as adapting a standard approval workflow for different departments, regions, or exception handling paths. It supports rapid reuse and consistency while enabling targeted customization. Workflowfrom is often provided as a feature in workflow engines, orchestration systems, or domain-specific languages, either as a built-in operator, a templating mechanism, or a user interface action that duplicates and then edits a workflow.

Compared with related concepts, workflowfrom emphasizes derivation from an existing artifact rather than starting from an abstract template or performing a full clone. Related ideas include workflow templates, cloning, and forking, each with different guarantees around immutability, provenance, and reuse.

See also: workflow template, workflow engine, cloning, forking, orchestration.