{"slug": "your-coding-agent-can-now-write-a-net-workflow-engine-integration", "title": "Your coding agent can now write a .NET workflow engine integration", "summary": "Optimajet has redesigned its Workflow Engine documentation to make it AI-agent-friendly, publishing a single-file full-text version and an automated trial key endpoint so coding agents can complete integrations without human intervention. The .NET workflow library, commercial since 2014, now offers llms.txt indexes and a 1,256-page API reference across 20 packages.", "body_md": "Ask Codex, Claude or Cursor to wire a workflow library into a .NET service and you usually get code that looks right and calls a method that doesn't exist. Say the agent gets past that. It then hits the line \"obtain a license key from the vendor\" and stops, because that step was built for a human with a browser and an email inbox.\n\nI work on Workflow Engine at Optimajet, and we've recently rebuilt our documentation. The new primary documentation is available at [docs.workflowengine.io](https://docs.workflowengine.io/). It is gradually replacing the legacy documentation at [workflowengine.io/documentation](https://workflowengine.io/documentation/). It publishes its full text as a single file so an agent reads the whole thing in one request instead of guessing, and a trial key can now be obtained by an agent, without a human clicking through a form.\n\nThe rest is for humans: 57 pages, four sections, 24 feature pages, 17 pages that each define exactly one concept, plus the generated C# API reference on its own host, [api.workflowengine.io](https://api.workflowengine.io/), 1256 pages across 20 packages.\n\nIf you've never touched the product: **Workflow Engine by Optimajet** is an embeddable .NET library for workflow automation. You add a NuGet package to your app, point it at the database you already have, and it handles process state, transitions, timers, rules and actions in-process. Nothing extra to deploy, no separate workflow server to babysit. It works on .NET Framework 4.6.2 and up as well as modern .NET and ASP.NET Core, and it persists to SQL Server (2017+), PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQLite or MongoDB, whichever provider package you install.\n\nA quick note before anyone asks: Workflow Engine is commercial software with a free tier. It's not open source, but Enterprise customers can obtain the full source code as part of their license. We've been shipping it since 2014. The latest stable release is 22.0.0, released on July 16, 2026.\n\n[ llms.txt](https://docs.workflowengine.io/llms.txt) is the index, every published page with a one-line description, about 11 KB.\n\n`llms-full.txt`\n\nThe key is the other half. `trial.workflowengine.io/llms.txt`\n\ncarries instructions an agent can follow to obtain a trial license key by itself. Writing correct integration code and then stalling on paperwork is a stupid way to lose an evaluation, and it was the failure we kept watching happen.\n\nThe API reference host publishes an `llms.txt`\n\ntoo. Bookmark [api.workflowengine.io](https://api.workflowengine.io/): it's the generated C# reference for all 20 packages (Core, six database providers, six plugins, the Migrator, and the Web API with its six provider packages). The main docs don't link to it yet, so browsing won't get you there. That one's on us, it's in the queue.\n\n| Section | Pages | What it's for |\n|---|---|---|\n`/evaluate/` |\n30 | Deciding. 24 feature pages, the edition list, licensing and trial keys. |\n`/get-started/` |\n24 | Running it. Install, first workflow, designer integration, 17 concept pages. |\n`/roadmap/` |\n1 | What's next. |\n`/video-tutorials/` |\n1 | For people who'd rather watch. |\n\nThe feature pages are one page per capability, named the way the product names them: Visual Designer, Simple Process Notation, Process Versioning, Parallel Processes, Timers & Scheduling, Direct State Control, HTTP API, BPMN Support, Plugin System, Pluggable Security, Clustering, Multitenancy, Attachable Forms, Customization, Multi-Database Support, Bulk API, Work Calendar, Pre-Execution (Simulation), Process Logs, Workflow as Code, Database Versioning, Offline API, Interactive Designer, Workflow Templates.\n\nThe concept pages were the ones I most wanted to exist. Seventeen terms, one page each, no page trying to explain four things at once: activity, transition, command, scheme, process instance, workflow runtime, persistence, action, parameter, condition, rule, timer, annotation, process logs, localization, subprocess, work calendar. Workflow tools all use the same handful of words to mean slightly different things, and a shared vocabulary saves a lot of arguing.\n\nGet Started is three short pages: install, define a scheme, start an instance. Here's the shape of it, with SQLite because it doesn't need a server running.\n\n```\ndotnet new webapi -n WorkflowApi --framework net10.0\ncd WorkflowApi\ndotnet add package OptimaJet.Workflow.Api\ndotnet add package OptimaJet.Workflow.Api.Sqlite\n```\n\nRegister the services and map the endpoints:\n\n``` js\nvar builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);\n\nbuilder.Services.AddControllers().AddJsonOptions(ConfigureJson);\nbuilder.Services.AddWorkflowApiSqlite();\nbuilder.Services.AddWorkflowApiCore(SetupWorkflowApiCore);\nbuilder.Services.AddWorkflowRuntime(SetupWorkflowRuntime);\n\nvar app = builder.Build();\n\napp.UseRouting();\napp.MapWorkflowApi();\napp.Run();\n```\n\nYou can write the scheme as XML, or draw it in the designer without installing the designer at all:\n\n```\nnpx @optimajet/workflow-designer http://localhost:5274/workflow-api/designer Approval\n```\n\nThat opens the full designer in a browser tab, wired to your local Web API. Save from there and the scheme goes into your database. Then start a process instance:\n\n```\ncurl -X POST http://localhost:5274/workflow-api/rpc/create-instance \\\n  -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n  -d '{ \"schemeCode\": \"Approval\", \"processId\": \"a3f5b2c1-4d6e-7f8a-9b0c-1d2e3f4a5b6c\" }'\n```\n\nYou need the .NET SDK 10.0 and a database for that path, and SQLite counts, it's just a file. Console apps and worker services have their own page, [Framework-Agnostic Install](https://docs.workflowengine.io/get-started/framework-agnostic-install/). We didn't want ASP.NET Core to be a precondition for trying the library.\n\nThe license key you pass to `WorkflowRuntime.RegisterLicense()`\n\ndecides which edition you're running. Same package either way, so moving up a tier is a key swap, not a rewrite.\n\n| Edition | License | Limits and additions |\n|---|---|---|\n| Workflow Engine Free | Perpetual, personal and non-commercial | 10 schemas, 4 execution threads, unlimited activities, transitions and commands, Optimajet branding in the designer, no key needed |\n| Workflow Engine Team | Perpetual, internal commercial use | No schema limit, higher thread and command limits, single server, 365 days of updates |\n| Workflow Engine Complete | Perpetual, internal commercial use | No usage limits, multi-server clustering, no designer branding |\n| Workflow Engine NEO | Annual subscription | RPC and REST API, full hybrid multitenancy, clustering, forms integration |\n| Workflow Engine NEO Business | Perpetual | NEO APIs, clustering, forms, without full hybrid multitenancy |\n| Workflow Engine NEO SaaS | Perpetual | Full NEO set, plus Active Directory connector and BPMN import |\n| Workflow Engine NEO Enterprise | Perpetual | All of the above, plus white-label canvas, OEM redistribution, the FormEngine React form builder, one year of source code access |\n\nDetails are on [Workflow Engine Editions](https://docs.workflowengine.io/evaluate/workflow-engine-editions/), key mechanics on [License Key](https://docs.workflowengine.io/evaluate/license-key/).\n\nThe documentation at **docs.workflowengine.io** is the new primary documentation for Workflow Engine. It is intended to replace the legacy documentation hosted at **workflowengine.io/documentation/** over time.\n\nThe migration is still in progress. The new documentation already covers evaluation, installation, concepts, features, tutorials and API usage, but some reference material remains on the legacy site while it is being reviewed, updated and migrated.\n\nAt the moment both documentation sites are maintained. If a topic cannot yet be found in the new documentation, the legacy documentation remains the authoritative source for that section until migration is complete.\n\nThis is the section most docs announcements leave out, and it's the one that saves you a search.\n\nStill on the old host at `workflowengine.io/documentation/`\n\n:\n\nThose pages are alive and correct, they just haven't been rewritten for the new site. And Workflow Server, which is a different product with its own license, documents itself at [workflowserver.io/documentation/](https://workflowserver.io/documentation/). Don't go hunting for it under the engine docs, it isn't there.\n\n| You want | Page |\n|---|---|\n| Install into ASP.NET Core |\n`/get-started/install-workflow-engine/` |\n\n`/get-started/framework-agnostic-install/`\n\n`/get-started/create-your-first-workflow/`\n\n`/get-started/integrate-the-designer/`\n\n`/get-started/concepts/`\n\n`/evaluate/workflow-engine-features/`\n\n**What is Workflow Engine by Optimajet?**\n\nAn embeddable .NET library for workflow automation. It's a NuGet package inside your application, using your database, running in-process. No separate workflow server.\n\n**Is Workflow Engine open source?**\n\nNo. Commercial software with a free tier, under a commercial license. Workflow Engine Free is perpetual and needs no key, but it's personal and non-commercial use only, capped at 10 schemas and 4 execution threads.\n\n**Which databases does it support?**\n\nSQL Server 2017 and above, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQLite, MongoDB. You install the matching provider package and register it at startup.\n\n**Which .NET versions?**\n\n.NET Framework 4.6.2 and up, plus modern .NET and ASP.NET Core. The ASP.NET Core quickstart targets the .NET SDK 10.0.\n\n**Where is the documentation now?**\n\nMain docs at docs.workflowengine.io. Generated C# API reference at api.workflowengine.io. Web API setup and security, release notes, BPMN tables and database entity tables are still at workflowengine.io/documentation/. Workflow Server is at workflowserver.io/documentation/.\n\n**Can an AI agent read the docs?**\n\nYes, that's what `llms.txt`\n\nand `llms-full.txt`\n\nare for, and the API reference host has its own `llms.txt`\n\n. An agent can also get a trial key by following `trial.workflowengine.io/llms.txt`\n\n.\n\n**Why not just write my own state machine?**\n\nSome teams should. The moment you need persistence, timers, rule evaluation, scheme versioning, clustering and a visual editor a business user can open, you're building a product next to your product. That's the trade we ask people to think about before adopting anything, ours included.\n\n[docs.workflowengine.io/get-started/](https://docs.workflowengine.io/get-started/) if you want code in front of you in the next quarter of an hour. [docs.workflowengine.io/evaluate/](https://docs.workflowengine.io/evaluate/) if you're still deciding whether an embedded engine beats rolling your own.\n\nAnd if a page is wrong, missing or confusing, tell me in the comments. I'd rather hear it here than not hear it at all.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-can-now-write-a-net-workflow-engine-integration", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/optimajet/your-coding-agent-can-now-write-a-net-workflow-engine-integration-2lkb", "published_at": "2026-07-29 19:34:17+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-29 20:04:00.579705+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools"], "entities": ["Optimajet", "Workflow Engine", "Codex", "Claude", "Cursor"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-can-now-write-a-net-workflow-engine-integration", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-can-now-write-a-net-workflow-engine-integration.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-can-now-write-a-net-workflow-engine-integration.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/your-coding-agent-can-now-write-a-net-workflow-engine-integration.jsonld"}}