Get Started with Workflow Engine
Workflow Engine .NET is a library that automates business processes. You define a process - approvals, reviews, escalations, any multi-step workflow - as a scheme, and Workflow Engine runs it as a process instance. The library handles state persistence, timer scheduling, rule evaluation, and action execution. There is no separate service to deploy: you add NuGet packages to your application and configure Workflow Engine to connect it to your database.
Why use a workflow engine
Every application eventually needs to manage multi-step processes. An order goes through validation, payment processing, fulfillment, and shipping. A document goes through drafting, review, approval, and publication. A support ticket goes through triage, investigation, resolution, and customer confirmation.
Without a workflow engine, you build this yourself: database tables for state tracking, background jobs for timeouts, permission checks scattered across controllers, and a growing tangle of conditional logic that is hard to test and harder to change. A workflow engine replaces all of that with a single abstraction.
Separating workflow logic from application code makes the process visible and changeable. The scheme is a standalone document that anyone can read - developers, analysts, testers. Changing the process means editing the scheme, not rewriting C# methods scattered across controllers and services. A process change that would take a week of code changes takes a scheme edit and a migration call.
What Workflow Engine .NET solves
Workflow Engine .NET replaces ad-hoc state management with three building blocks:
- Scheme - a declarative definition of the process: the steps (activities), the paths between them (transitions), and what triggers each path (commands, timers, automatic conditions).
- Runtime - the engine that loads the scheme, creates process instances, evaluates conditions, runs actions, and persists every state change to the database.
- Process Instance - one running execution of a scheme. Each instance tracks its own current activity, parameters, and history independently.
Once a process is defined as a scheme, you can:
- Persist state automatically - the runtime saves every transition, parameter change, and timer to the database. No manual state tracking.
- Enforce timing rules - timers fire transitions on deadlines, SLAs, and schedules. Missed timers catch up when the application restarts.
- Control access - rules and restrictions determine which users can execute which commands at each step.
- Extend with custom code - actions run your C# methods when a transition fires: send emails, call APIs, update business data.
- Keep an audit trail - every transition is recorded. You can replay a process instance's history end-to-end.
Frequently asked questions
What is Workflow Engine .NET?
Workflow Engine .NET is a .NET library that automates business processes. You define a process as an XML scheme, and the library runs it as a process instance with automatic persistence, timers, rules, and actions. There is no separate service to deploy.
Why do I need a workflow engine instead of writing my own state machine?
A hand-written state machine works for simple cases, but every new requirement - persistence, timers, audit trails, access control - adds complexity. Workflow Engine .NET provides all of these out of the box. You define the process flow, the library handles the infrastructure.
What databases does Workflow Engine .NET support?
SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB, and SQLite. Each has a separate NuGet provider package.
Do I need a license to start?
No. Workflow Engine Free requires no license key and is suitable for evaluation and small projects. When you are ready for production, pass a commercial license key to unlock clustering, scheme inlining, and unlimited process instances.