Passing Data

You can pass data into a workflow via the start() method.

use Workflow\V2\WorkflowStub;

$workflow = WorkflowStub::make(MyWorkflow::class);
$workflow->start('world');

Arguments are passed to the workflow's handle() method.

Similarly, you can pass data into an activity via the activity() helper function.

use function Workflow\V2\activity;
use Workflow\V2\Workflow;

class MyWorkflow extends Workflow
{
    public function handle($name)
    {
        return activity(MyActivity::class, $name);
    }
}

Arguments are passed to the activity's handle() method.

use Workflow\V2\Activity;

class MyActivity extends Activity
{
    public function handle($name)
    {
        return "Hello, {$name}!";
    }
}

In general, you should only pass small amounts of data in this manner. Rather than passing large amounts of data, you should write the data to the database, cache or file system. Then pass the key or file path to the workflow and activities. The activities can then use the key or file path to read the data.

When the application genuinely needs to carry large bytes through history — documents, media blobs, serialized exports — enable External Payload Storage on the namespace. The runtime offloads over-threshold payloads to a configured object store and records a verifiable reference envelope in history, keeping replay integrity while staying under the payload_size_bytes structural limit.

Output

Once the workflow has completed, you can retrieve the output using the output() method.

$workflow->output();
=> 'Hello, world!'

Models

Passing in models works similarly to SerializesModels.

use App\Models\User;
use function Workflow\V2\activity;
use Workflow\V2\Workflow;

class MyWorkflow extends Workflow
{
    public function handle(User $user)
    {
        return activity(MyActivity::class, $user->name);
    }
}

When an Eloquent model is passed to a workflow or activity, only its ModelIdentifier is serialized. This reduces the size of the payload, ensuring that your workflows remain efficient and performant.

object(ModelIdentifier) {
    id: 42,
    class: "App\Models\User",
    relations: [],
    connection: "mysql"
}

When the workflow or activity runs, it will retrieve the complete model instance, including any loaded relationships, from the database. If you wish to prevent extra database calls during the execution of a workflow or activity, consider converting the model to an array before passing it.

Dependency Injection

In addition to passing data, you are able to type-hint dependencies on the workflow or activity handle() methods. The Laravel service container will automatically inject those dependencies.

use Illuminate\Contracts\Foundation\Application;
use Workflow\V2\Workflow;

class MyWorkflow extends Workflow
{
    public function handle(Application $app)
    {
        if ($app->runningInConsole()) {
            // ...
        }
    }
}

Dependency injection does not relax workflow determinism. A workflow may type-hint stable services such as the Laravel application container or configuration readers, but injected dependencies that do work still need the right durable boundary. Put external I/O, database access, service calls, or other work that can fail or should retry in activity(...) or localActivity(...). Use sideEffect() only for a one-time replay-safe value snapshot that should be frozen in history, such as a wall-clock read, generated randomness, or a config value captured at decision time.