Introduction
Tipeline is an automation platform: you compose reusable workflows from 30+ groups of actions, build apps on top of them, and run them from the Desktop app, the terminal, a shared server or an AI assistant.
What is Tipeline?
Tipeline treats automation as a sequence of actions grouped into a pipeline. A pipeline runs inside a workflow, which is defined as a YAML or JSON file. Each action belongs to a category (browser, file, string, AI, …) and receives typed parameters that can include variable templates.
The system is built around three key ideas:
- Declarative workflow definitions — describe what to do in YAML; Tipeline handles how to execute it.
- Live pipelines — every execution is persisted to SQLite with full per-action status, enabling pause, resume, and debug step-through.
- One engine, many ways in — the Desktop app, the CLI, the Tipeline Server and AI tools (over MCP) all drive the same Core engine.
The pieces
| Piece | What it is | Docs |
|---|---|---|
| Core | The engine that runs workflows and stores their runs. Runs in the background on your computer (or a server). | Internals |
| Desktop | The app: build workflows and apps, watch runs, approve, schedule. Starts Core for you. | Desktop |
| CLI | tipeline in the terminal: run, install and schedule workflows, use hubs, ask the assistant. | CLI |
| Assistant | Ask in plain language; it finds the workflow, fills it in and runs it when you confirm. In the Desktop, the CLI, or any MCP client. | Assistant |
| Hubs & plugins | Catalogs of workflows, apps and plugins to install — a website or a shared folder. Plugins add new action groups. | Hub & Plugins |
| Server | Shares one Core with a team: accounts, roles, API tokens, webhooks, audit log. | Server |
Key Concepts
Actions
An action is the smallest unit of work. It belongs to a group (e.g. browser, string, http) and has a specific name (e.g. goTo, replace, request). Actions declare typed parameters and return a typed result that can be captured into a variable.
Workflows
A workflow is a YAML or JSON file with a name, a description and a pipeline of variables and actions. Installed workflows are stored in Core's database under a unique identifier. (In the code and the database a workflow is still called a task.)
Runs
A run (a pipeline in the code) is the record of one execution of a workflow. It stores every action's status, result, and variables at the time of execution. Pipelines support resume — if a workflow fails at action N, it can be restarted from action N without re-running earlier steps.
Variables
Variables are the glue between actions. An action's destination field captures its result into a named variable, and any later action can reference it via {{ varName }} templates or {= varName =} raw injection. See Variables & Templates.
Apps
An app is a set of pages — tables, forms, charts and more — where every button and table runs a workflow. See Apps.
Next Steps
- Installation — set up Tipeline on your machine
- Quick Start — run your first workflow in minutes
- Workflow Files — every field of a workflow
- Architecture Overview — how the pieces fit together