Retool Workflow IDE

The Retool Workflow IDE provides the development interface for creating workflows. The following lab performs a walkthrough of common functionality a developer will use.

Workflow IDE walkthrough

The following image labels the core features of the IDE.

Workflow IDE

The Workflow IDE is the interface you use to build workflows. It is made up of these primary areas:

1. Canvas (Green): Arrange blocks and build your workflow.
2. Left panel(Dark blue): Add blocks and functions, configure triggers, and configure code libraries.
3. Toolbar (Purple): Rename, run, and deploy a workflow.
4. Status bar (Light blue): Select an environment and debug workflow runs.

Simple example

The following video shows a completed workflow that will be built using Retool Workflows and Database.

Import data

In this step we will setup a sample table that you can use in the example.

Create schema

The schema we will create is defined in the following table.

Column name	Description	Value Type
id	auto-generated primary key	Int
vendor	Public Cloud Vendor	Enum (AWS, Azure, GCP)
instance_id	VM instance identifier	Text
created_at	DateTime the instance was created	Date + Time
cpu_count	Number of vCPU	Number
ram_count	Amount of RAM	Number
network	Network speed	Number
cost_center	Owner of the instance	Enum (engineering, operations, finance, support)
purpose	Description as to what the instance is being used for.	Text
instance_type	Virtual Machine instance type	Text
monthly_cost	Public cloud provider monthly charge for instance	Number

• Select Retool Home > Database

Import CSV

Next we want to populate this table with data. Download this CSV to import into the new table.

• Select Import CSV > Into a new table
• A import window appears showing the column names and types.
• Select Create table.

We want to alter the vendor and cost_center columns to be of type Enum.

• Select the down carrot for the vendor column and selecting Settings.
• Select Field type and change from Text to Enum and select Save.
• Repeat this process for the cost_center column.

The following Arcade video will guide through importing the CSV and changing the columns.

Create a Workflow

• Select Home (Retool icon) to return to the home page. Select Workflow > Create Workflow. Provide an workflow name and save.
• The Workflow IDE screen will now display an empty canvas.

Remove Code Block and Create Trigger

Focus Area: Left panel + Canvas

The Left panel and Canvas provide access to the construction features in Retool. Let's remove the code block and update the startTrigger block.

• Select the workflow name and edit it to infra-monthly-test
• Select the ... on the upper right hand side of the Code block and select Delete.
• Select the startTrigger block > Edit trigger.
• Enable the Schedule by selecting the switch. Clicking on the schedule will open the properties where you can then put in an Interval or Cron statement.

Add Resource query block (Database)

Focus Area: Canvas

We need to query the Retool Database table, multi_cloud_infrastructure to get the instance_id and instance_type information from all cost_center.

• Select the circle on the right-hand side of the startTrigger block.
• Select Add block > Resource query
• Change the name to getInfraDetails.
• Specify the resource of Retool Database.
• Use the following query to get the instance_id and instance_type values.

SELECT instance_id,instance_type FROM "multi-cloud-infrastructure";

Add Loop block

Focus Area: Canvas

With the results from the getInfraDetails block, we have an array that we can process. We will leverage the Loop block and multi-step function to call an external API and then insert the costs per each instance into the Retool Database.

• Select Add block > Loop (new)
• Change the name to loopOnInfraDetails.
• Loop input should be set to getInfraDetails which returns an array of database entries.
• Execution mode is left at Parallel.
• Select Loop Runner > Create multi-step loop. This will initialize a mult-step function.

Update Multi-step function params block and Loop block

Focus Area: Left panel + Canvas

Multi-step function provides a way of executing a series of blocks once or via a loop n-number of times. We will use this to call an external API to get the instance costs. Finally we will update the entries in the Retool Database to have a current cost value in the monthly_costs column.

• In the params block select Add parameter and add the following two parameters, instance_id and instance_type.
• Select the Return to workflow button. This will re-display the parent workflow.
• In the Loop block, the two new parameters are displayed instance_id and instance_type.
• Select the empty field to the right of the instance_id and enter:

{{value.instance_id}}

• Select the empty field to the right of the instance_type and enter:

{{value.instance_type}}

value.[parameter] provides the way that you can enter properties that are fed in by the Loop input, in this example that is getInfraDetails.

Add Multi-step function Resource Query block (API)

Focus Area: Left panel + Canvas

In this step we are calling an external API where we provide the instance_type as a query parameter. The response is the monthly cost of the instance.

• Select Edit function in the Loop block.
• Change query1 to getCosts.
• Update the REST endpoint query to the following:

https://16a87obxu5.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/costs?type={{ params.instance_type }}

Add Multi-step function Resource Query block (Database)

Focus Area: Left panel + Canvas

In the final step of the multi-step function we do an update of the monthly_cost column in the multi-cloud-infrastructure table using the instance_id.

• Select Add block > Resource query.
• Change the name of the block to updateCosts.
• Specify Retool Database for the resource.
• Enter the following query to update the database. The cost value will come from the previous block.

UPDATE "multi-cloud-infrastructure"
SET monthly_costs = {{ getCosts.data.instance_cost }}
WHERE instance_id = {{ params.instance_id }};

Run workflow

Focus Area: Navbar + Status bar

With the workflow completed, we can run it. This displays the Run history dialog that helps understand what blocks ran, how long it took and inputs/outputs/console logging.

• Select Return workflow.
• In the Navbar, select Run.
• The workflow will execute displaying the Status bar / Run history.
• When the workflow is complete navigate the block display to see the values that were retrieved.