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Poll workflows

Periodically list workflow runs from Seqera Platform and emit messages when new workflows are detected.

This node automatically monitors your workspace for new workflow runs. Trigger events when new pipelines are launched by other users or systems.

Note

The node starts polling as soon as the flow is deployed – it has no message inputs.

poll workflows node poll workflows node edit panel

Configuration

  • Seqera config: Reference to the seqera-config node containing API credentials and default workspace settings.
  • Node name: Optional custom name for the node in the editor.
  • Poll frequency (default 1 minute): Interval between polls. Can be configured in seconds, minutes, hours, or days.
  • Search: Optional search filter for workflow names. Leave blank to include all workflows. Supports TypedInput (msg, flow, global, env, JSONata).
  • Max results (default 50): Maximum number of workflow runs to fetch per poll. Supports TypedInput.
  • Workspace ID: Override the workspace ID from the Config node. Supports TypedInput.

Outputs (two)

The node has two outputs that fire at different times:

  1. All results – Emitted once per poll with the full, filtered list of workflows.
  2. New workflows – Emitted once per new workflow detected since the last poll. If 3 new workflows are found, this output fires 3 separate times.

Output 1: All results

Emitted on every poll cycle with a single message:

  • msg.payload.workflows – Array of workflow objects from the API (full workflow details).
  • msg.payload.nextPoll – ISO timestamp of the next scheduled poll.
  • msg.workflowIds – Convenience array of workflow ID strings.

Output 2: New workflows

Emitted once per new workflow detected. Each message contains:

  • msg.payload.workflow – Single workflow object from the API.
  • msg.workflowId – The workflow ID string.

Tip

Connect output 2 to the monitor workflow node and it will start monitoring the new workflow run without further configuration.

How new workflows are detected

The node tracks seen workflow IDs in its context storage. On each poll:

  1. Fetch the current list of workflows from Seqera Platform
  2. Compare workflow IDs against the list from the previous poll
  3. For each new workflow ID, emit a separate message on output 2
  4. Update the stored list for the next comparison

The comparison is based on the unique workflow.id field.

Info

The very first poll after the node is created sees everything as new and is handled as a special case. It does not output new results to avoid flooding downstream nodes on initialization.

Required permissions

Minimum required role: View

See the configuration documentation for a full table of required permissions for all nodes.

Example usage

Monitor specific pipelines

  1. Add a poll-workflows node to your flow
  2. Set search to filter by pipeline name (e.g., nf-core/rnaseq)
  3. Connect output 2 to a workflow-monitor node to track progress
  4. Chain additional automation based on workflow status

Send Slack notifications for new runs

  1. Add a poll-workflows node
  2. Connect output 2 to a function node that formats a Slack message: 
    msg.payload = {
    text: `New workflow launched: ${msg.payload.workflow.workflow.runName} (${msg.workflowId})`,
};
return msg;
  3. Connect to a Slack webhook node
  4. Deploy

Comparison with Monitor Workflow node

  • Poll Workflows: Discovers new workflows automatically by polling the workspace
  • Monitor Workflow: Tracks the status of a specific workflow you already know about

Use Poll Workflows when you want to react to workflows launched by others. Use Monitor Workflow when you want to track a workflow you just launched.

See also