core-quickstart.md

Core workflow and worker quickstart

Audience: Java developers building their first Conductor workflow worker.
Works with: OSS and Orkes.
Prerequisites: Java 21+, Docker or the Conductor CLI, and a shell.

This is the CI-smoke-tested Hello World path. It registers a task definition and workflow, starts a Java worker, executes the workflow, and shuts the worker down.

Run it

Start a local server once:

conductor server start
export CONDUCTOR_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:8080/api

Run the checked-in example:

cd examples/basics/hello-world
./run.sh

Expected output:

Status: COMPLETED
Output: {greeting=Hello, Developer! Welcome to Conductor.}
Result: PASSED

Open the execution in the local UI at http://localhost:8080. When you are finished, stop the local server:

conductor server stop

If CONDUCTOR_SERVER_URL is unset, run.sh instead starts the example's Docker Compose server. Stop that server with docker compose down in this directory.

What it proves

• A SIMPLE task definition, workflow task name, and Java worker task name match.
• A live worker polls the task and returns output.
• The workflow result is retrieved and checked.

Common failures

• SCHEDULED task: the worker is not polling the exact task name; see workers.
• Connection failure: verify the endpoint ends in /api; see connection and authentication.
• Repeated side effect: make the worker idempotent before using the pattern in production; see reliability.

Next, define a real workflow, make the worker reliable and scalable, and add an integration test.