CLI

The Durable Workflow CLI (dw) is a shell interface to the standalone server. It lets operators start, list, signal, cancel, and terminate workflows, manage schedules, inspect task queues, and check server health — all from the command line.

The same CLI works against any Durable Workflow server, regardless of which language your workflows are written in.

Install

curl -fsSL https://durable-workflow.com/install.sh | sh

Verify

dw --version

Configure

Point the CLI at your server:

export DURABLE_WORKFLOW_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:8080
export DURABLE_WORKFLOW_AUTH_TOKEN=your-token
export DURABLE_WORKFLOW_NAMESPACE=default

Or pass them per-command:

dw --server=http://localhost:8080 --token=your-token workflow:list

Commands

Server

dw server:health          # Check server health
dw server:info            # Show server version, capabilities, and worker fleet

Workflows

dw workflow:list                                          # List workflows
dw workflow:start --type=MyWorkflow --input='["arg1"]'    # Start a workflow
dw workflow:describe <workflow-id>                         # Describe a workflow
dw workflow:signal <workflow-id> <signal-name>             # Send a signal
dw workflow:query <workflow-id> <query-name>               # Run a query
dw workflow:cancel <workflow-id>                           # Request cancellation
dw workflow:terminate <workflow-id>                        # Force terminate
dw workflow:history <workflow-id>                          # Show run history

Schedules

dw schedule:list                          # List schedules
dw schedule:create --type=MyWorkflow \
  --cron='0 * * * *'                      # Create hourly schedule
dw schedule:describe <schedule-id>        # Describe a schedule
dw schedule:pause <schedule-id>           # Pause a schedule
dw schedule:resume <schedule-id>          # Resume a schedule
dw schedule:trigger <schedule-id>         # Trigger immediately
dw schedule:delete <schedule-id>          # Delete a schedule

Workers and Task Queues

dw worker:list                    # List registered workers
dw worker:describe <worker-id>    # Describe a worker
dw task-queue:list                # List active task queues
dw task-queue:describe <queue>    # Describe a task queue

Namespaces

dw namespace:list                             # List namespaces
dw namespace:create --name=production         # Create a namespace
dw namespace:describe <namespace>             # Describe a namespace

Search Attributes

dw search-attribute:list                                  # List search attributes
dw search-attribute:create --name=env --type=keyword      # Register an attribute

Exit Codes

The CLI uses a stable exit-code policy so scripts and CI pipelines can react to specific failure modes without parsing stderr. Values follow Symfony Console's canonical 0/1/2 for success / failure / usage, and extend from there.

Code	Name	Meaning
0	SUCCESS	Operation completed successfully.
1	FAILURE	Generic failure — command ran but did not succeed.
2	INVALID	Invalid usage — bad arguments, unknown options, or local validation. Also returned for HTTP 4xx responses that are not covered below (e.g. 400, 422).
3	NETWORK	Could not reach the server (connection refused, DNS failure, TLS handshake failure, transport error).
4	AUTH	Authentication or authorization failure. Returned for HTTP 401 and 403.
5	NOT_FOUND	Resource not found. Returned for HTTP 404.
6	SERVER	Server error. Returned for HTTP 5xx.
7	TIMEOUT	Request timed out before the server responded. Also returned for HTTP 408.

Example:

dw workflow:describe chk-does-not-exist
echo $?  # 5 (NOT_FOUND)

dw server:health --server=http://unreachable:9999
echo $?  # 3 (NETWORK)

The canonical source is DurableWorkflow\Cli\Support\ExitCode in the CLI repository.

Reference

See the CLI repository README for the full command reference, advanced flags, and release notes.