Workflow Event Log

The workflow event log records a trace for every durable workflow boundary. Each trace event can include the step input, output, public state before the step, public state after the step, runtime context, artifact references, streaming chunks, timing, and error details.

What gets recorded

Event	When	Data captured
`step_started`	Before a step handler runs	Job ID, queue, attempt, step name, step type, input, and state before execution
`step_completed`	After a step handler succeeds	Input, output, state before, state after, context, artifacts, chunks, and duration
`step_failed`	When a step handler throws	Input, state before, state after when available, context, error class, error message, trace, and duration
`step_branch_completed`	When one parallel branch succeeds	Branch input, output, state before, state after, context, and duration
`step_item_completed`	When one for-each item succeeds	Item input, output, state before, state after, item metadata, context, and duration
`workflow_waiting`	When a wait step parks the run	Wait type, wait targets, wait mode, result key, match metadata, and state while waiting
`workflow_resumed`	When a wait step is satisfied	Resume payload, state before resuming, and state after resuming
`workflow_replayed`	When an export is recreated	Source workflow metadata and replay state

Querying the timeline

PHP

$events = Queuety::workflow_timeline( $workflow_id );

foreach ( $events as $event ) {
    echo $event['step_index'] . ' ' . $event['event'] . ' ' . $event['handler'] . "\n";

    if ( 'step_completed' === $event['event'] ) {
        $input        = $event['input'];
        $output       = $event['output'];
        $state_before = $event['state_before'];
        $state_after  = $event['state_after'];
    }

    if ( 'step_failed' === $event['event'] ) {
        echo 'Error: ' . $event['error']['message'] . "\n";
    }
}

Each event row contains:

id
workflow_id
job_id
parent_event_id
step_index
step_name
step_type
handler
event
queue
attempt
input
output
state_before
state_after
context
artifacts
chunks
error
duration_ms
created_at

Normalized trace bundle

Use workflow_trace() when building a debugger UI:

PHP

$trace = Queuety::workflow_trace( $workflow_id );

The trace bundle includes:

workflow
steps
events
jobs
logs
artifacts
chunks
signals
wait_dependencies

steps groups events by step index and includes the latest important event for each step.

Step state lookup

PHP

$state = Queuety::workflow_state_at( $workflow_id, $step_index );

This returns the public state_after from the latest completed or resumed event for that step, or null when no state was recorded.

Runtime trace metadata

Handlers can add application-level trace details while they run:

PHP

Queuety::trace_input( [ 'resolved' => $resolved_input ] );
Queuety::trace_context( [ 'ability' => 'content/load-post' ] );
Queuety::trace_output( [ 'post' => $post ] );

Step handlers can also return reserved trace metadata:

PHP

return [
    'result' => 'done',
    '_queuety_trace' => [
        'input' => [ 'resolved' => $resolved_input ],
        'context' => [ 'node_id' => 'loadPost' ],
        'artifacts' => [
            [ 'key' => 'brief', 'kind' => 'markdown' ],
        ],
    ],
];

The _queuety_trace key is stored in the event log and is not merged into workflow state.

CLI

View the timeline as a table:

Shell

wp queuety workflow timeline 42

View state after a step:

Shell

wp queuety workflow state-at 42 0

Retention

Event logs accumulate over time. Use prune() to delete old trace events:

PHP

$deleted = Queuety::workflow_events()->prune( 30 );