Skip to main content

Checkpoint Action

The Checkpoint Action creates save points in your workflow execution, allowing for recovery, monitoring, and conditional branching.

What does this integration do?​

This action creates checkpoints during workflow execution that can be used for error recovery, progress tracking, and workflow state management. It saves the current workflow state and can pause execution for manual review or approval.

Typical Use Cases:

  • Error Recovery: Save state before risky operations
  • Manual Approval: Pause workflow for human review
  • Progress Tracking: Monitor long-running workflows
  • Conditional Branching: Create decision points in workflows

User Configuration​

Checkpoint Configuration​

Checkpoint Name

  • Purpose: Unique identifier for this checkpoint
  • Format: Text string
  • Example: "pre-payment-processing"

Description

  • Purpose: Human-readable description of the checkpoint
  • Usage: For monitoring and approval interfaces
  • Example: "Ready to process payment - requires approval"

Recovery Options​

Auto-Recovery

  • Purpose: Automatically restart from this checkpoint on failure
  • Default: false
  • Usage: For transient error recovery

Manual Approval Required

  • Purpose: Pause execution until manual approval
  • Default: false
  • Usage: For sensitive operations requiring human oversight

State Management​

Save Variables

  • Purpose: Specify which workflow variables to save
  • Options: All variables, selected variables, or none
  • Security: Sensitive data can be excluded

Checkpoint Timeout

  • Purpose: Maximum time to wait for approval (if required)
  • Default: 24 hours
  • Range: 1 minute to 7 days

Output Variable

  • Purpose: Variable to store checkpoint ID and status
  • Example Variable: checkpointStatus

How it Works​

The Checkpoint Action creates a snapshot of the current workflow state, storing it securely for potential recovery or review. When manual approval is required, the workflow pauses and sends notifications to designated approvers.

Workflow Integration​

Basic Checkpoint​

Configuration:

  • Checkpoint Name: "data-validation-complete"
  • Description: "Data validated, ready for processing"
  • Auto-Recovery: true
  • Output Variable: checkpoint1

Approval Checkpoint​

Configuration:

  • Checkpoint Name: "payment-approval"
  • Description: "Payment of ${{amount}} to {{vendor}} requires approval"
  • Manual Approval Required: true
  • Checkpoint Timeout: 4 hours
  • Output Variable: paymentCheckpoint

Recovery Workflow​

1. HTTP Action (Risky API call)
   On Error: Resume from "pre-api-call"

2. Checkpoint Action
   Name: "pre-api-call"
   Auto-Recovery: true

3. Process API Response
   Continue workflow...

Approval Workflow​

1. Calculate Payment Amount
   Output: paymentAmount

2. Checkpoint Action (Approval Required)
   Name: "payment-approval"
   Description: "Approve payment of $`{{paymentAmount}}`"
   Manual Approval Required: true

3. Process Payment (only after approval)
   Amount: paymentAmount

Checkpoint Status​

Status Values​

  • created: Checkpoint created successfully
  • waiting: Waiting for manual approval
  • approved: Manual approval granted
  • rejected: Manual approval denied
  • timeout: Approval timeout exceeded
  • recovered: Workflow recovered from this checkpoint

Monitoring​

Checkpoints appear in the workflow monitoring interface where approvers can:

  • View checkpoint details and current state
  • Review workflow variables and context
  • Approve or reject the checkpoint
  • Add approval comments

Technical Details​

Data Storage​

  • Workflow state encrypted at rest
  • Automatic cleanup of old checkpoints
  • Configurable retention policies

Security​

  • Role-based approval permissions
  • Audit trail of all checkpoint actions
  • Sensitive data masking in approval interface

Performance​

  • Minimal workflow execution impact
  • Efficient state serialization
  • Scalable checkpoint storage

Best Practices​

Strategic Placement​

  • Place checkpoints before irreversible operations
  • Use approval checkpoints for financial transactions
  • Create recovery checkpoints before external API calls

Timeout Management​

  • Set appropriate timeouts for approval workflows
  • Consider business hours and urgency
  • Implement escalation for timeout scenarios

Variable Security​

  • Exclude sensitive data from checkpoint snapshots
  • Use variable masking for approval interfaces
  • Regular cleanup of checkpoint data