feat: add Workflows automations to OpenWork server and app

[benjaminshafii]

Summary

Adds a Workflows system to OpenWork: users can create, trigger, edit, schedule, and delete automations from the Settings > Automations tab. Each workflow runs a prompt in OpenCode by creating a session and sending the configured prompt.

The server exposes a generic REST API (/workspace/:id/automations). The app has no knowledge of the execution engine — it can be swapped without touching the frontend.

What this adds

Server (apps/server)

• src/automations.ts — automation store, CRUD, trigger, recurring scheduler
• REST endpoints:
  • GET /workspace/:id/automations — list
  • POST /workspace/:id/automations — create
  • GET /workspace/:id/automations/:autoId — get
  • PATCH /workspace/:id/automations/:autoId — update (name, prompt, schedule)
  • DELETE /workspace/:id/automations/:autoId — delete
  • POST /workspace/:id/automations/:autoId/trigger — run now
• Recurring scheduler: setInterval in the server process, checks every 10s, fires automations whose interval has elapsed
• Trigger creates an OpenCode session via fetchOpencodeJson and sends the prompt with prompt_async
• Inngest SDK installed — durable functions defined but only used when the Inngest dev server is reachable; otherwise falls back to direct OpenCode calls

App (apps/app)

• WorkflowsPanel component in the Automations settings tab
• Create/Edit modal with name, description, prompt, and schedule picker
• Schedule options: Manual, Every 30s (test), 1m, 5m, 15m, 1h, 6h, 24h
• Workflow cards show status badge (Success/Running/Failed), last run time, run count
• Edit button to change prompt or schedule on existing workflows
• Delete and Run buttons
• Auto-refresh every 15s to pick up recurring status changes
• No implementation-specific branding in the UI — generic "Workflows" surface

Evals (evals/workflow-automations.md)

• 7 flows: create, trigger + OpenCode execution, edit schedule, recurring execution, delete, create from preset, server-disconnect graceful degradation

Architecture

App (React)                     Server (v1, automations.ts)          OpenCode
    |                               |                                    |
    |-- REST /automations -------->|  (CRUD: in-memory store)           |
    |                               |                                    |
    |-- POST .../trigger --------->|                                    |
    |                               |                                    |
    |                          ┌────┴──── try inngest.send() ──────┐    |
    |                          │    (if Inngest dev server on :8288)│    |
    |                          │                                    │    |
    |                          │  Inngest Dev Server (optional)     │    |
    |                          │  ┌───────────────────────────┐    │    |
    |                          │  │ Durable execution:        │    │    |
    |                          │  │  step 1: create-session   │────┼───>|
    |                          │  │  step 2: send-prompt      │────┼───>|
    |                          │  │  (retries, observability) │    │    |
    |                          │  └───────────────────────────┘    │    |
    |                          │                                    │    |
    |                          └──── OR fallback: direct call ─────┘    |
    |                               |                                    |
    |                               |-- POST /session ----------------->|
    |                               |<-- { id: "ses_..." } ------------|
    |                               |-- POST /session/:id/prompt_async->|
    |                               |<-- 204 --------------------------|
    |                               |                                    |
    |<-- { sessionId } ------------|                                    |
    |                               |                                    |
    |                          Recurring scheduler                       |
    |                          (setInterval 10s in server process)       |
    |                          checks each automation's interval,        |
    |                          fires direct call path when elapsed        |

Two execution paths, same outcome:

Path	When	What you get
Inngest	Inngest dev server running on :8288	Durable steps with per-step retries, Inngest dashboard observability, event-driven
Direct	Default / Inngest unreachable	Simple fetch calls to OpenCode, no retries, works out of the box

The recurring scheduler always uses the direct path. The Inngest path is opt-in by starting npx inngest-cli@latest dev alongside the server.

Testing

Electron dev flow (Chrome MCP on CDP port 9823):

Step	Action	Result
1	Open Settings > Automations	Workflows panel loads, presets visible
2	Click New Workflow, fill form	Modal with schedule picker
3	Create "Daily potato facts"	Appears in list with Run/Edit/Delete
4	Click Run	Status: Success, Last run: Just now
5	Delete automation	Removed from list
6	Create "Recurring potato writer" (Every 1m)	Schedule badge shows "Every 1m"
7	Wait ~2 minutes	Runs: 2 (scheduler fired automatically)
8	Wait ~6 minutes	Runs: 7 (recurring confirmed)
9	Click Edit, change schedule to 5m	Badge updates to "Every 5m"

API-level verification:

• Created automation via curl, triggered it, verified OpenCode session was created and agent responded with content

Typecheck: pnpm tsc --noEmit passes for apps/server and apps/app

Future work

• Persist automations to SQLite (currently in-memory, lost on server restart)
• Multi-step workflows (chain multiple prompts/actions)
• Cron expression support (in addition to interval-based scheduling)
• Inngest Cloud integration for production (replaces dev server)

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
openwork-app	Error		May 15, 2026 7:41pm
openwork-den	Error		May 15, 2026 7:41pm
openwork-den-worker-proxy	Error		May 15, 2026 7:41pm
openwork-landing	Error		May 15, 2026 7:41pm
openwork-share	Error		May 15, 2026 7:41pm

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The following comment was made by an LLM, it may be inaccurate: