Quick Start

This guide walks through creating and running your first Tipeline workflow from the terminal, in under five minutes.

Using the Desktop app?

You don't need the terminal: open Workflows → New Workflow, add the same steps in the builder and click Run. See Workflow Builder. The Desktop app starts Core for you.

1. Start the Core Engine

tipeline install   # first time only
tipeline start

tipeline install creates the ~/Tipeline folders and configuration. Core then starts its IPC socket, its WebSocket server (port 4000) and its MCP server (port 4002). It keeps running in the background — you can close the terminal and it will continue.

2. Write a Workflow File

Create a file my-first-workflow.yaml:

name: My First Workflow
description: Opens a web page and prints its title.

pipeline:
  variables:
    - name: url
      type: string
      label: URL
      value: "https://example.com"
      visibility: public
    - name: browser
      type: browser
    - name: pageTitle
      type: string

  actions:
    - group: browser
      name: launch
      params:
        headless: true
      destination: browser

    - group: browser
      name: goTo
      params:
        browser: "{= browser =}"
        url: "{{ url }}"

    - group: browser
      name: getPageTitle
      params:
        browser: "{= browser =}"
      destination: pageTitle

    - group: system
      name: message
      params:
        text: "Page title: {{ pageTitle }}"

    - group: browser
      name: close
      params:
        browser: "{= browser =}"

Every workflow has a name, a description and a pipeline with its variables and actions. Declare every variable a step stores its result in, like browser and pageTitle here. See Workflow Files for every field.

3. Run the Workflow

tipeline workflow run my-first-workflow.yaml

Each step's result streams to the terminal as it finishes, and the run ends with the page title printed by the system.message step. Add -v to see every step's parameters and result.

4. Install the Workflow

To save the workflow to the database for repeated use:

tipeline workflow install my-first-workflow.yaml
tipeline workflow list

Then run it by identifier:

tipeline workflow exec <identifier>

5. Override Variables at Runtime

Pass variable overrides on the command line:

tipeline workflow run my-first-workflow.yaml --var url=https://github.com

Variable Syntax

Syntax	When to use
{{ varName }}	String interpolation (LiquidJS template)
{= varName =}	Raw injection — keeps the original type (object, array, browser handle, …)
{{ _env.KEY }}	A value from a .env file next to the workflow, ~/Tipeline/.env, or the environment
{{ _global.name }}	A global variable
{{ _previous }}	The previous step's result

See Variables & Templates for the details.

Error Handling

Each action supports an onError field:

- group: http
  name: request
  params:
    url: "{{ apiUrl }}"
  onError: continue   # 'throw' (default) | 'continue'
  destination: response

• throw — stops the run immediately and marks it failed (default)
• continue — ignores the error and goes on to the next step; the step's result is empty

Next Steps

• Workflow Files — full workflow file schema and examples
• Actions Reference — browse all 30+ action categories
• CLI Reference — all available CLI commands
• Desktop App — build workflows visually