While you can run workflows directly in the Cortex UI, one of the most powerful aspects of workflows is the ability to integrate them into your applications using the Cortex API or SDKs.

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Using the Result Property

The result property plays a central role in API interactions. In your workflow’s final code step, any data you return in the result property becomes the main output received when calling the workflow via API: 
return {
  result: {
    success: true,
    data: modelStep.output.message,
    metadata: {
      processed_at: new Date().toISOString(),
      confidence_score: modelStep.output.message.confidence_score,
    },
  },
};
When you run this workflow via API, the result object will be directly accessible in the API response.

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Rules for the Result Property

There are some key rules to remember about how the result property works:
  1. If the last code step returns a object with a result property, it becomes the API response
  2. If no result property exists, the entire output of the last step becomes the API response
  3. Earlier steps results are overridden by the last code step
This means you should ensure your final code step’s output contains exactly what you want to return to API consumers.

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Getting Your API Key and Workflow ID

Before you can run workflows via API, you’ll need two things:

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1. Create an API Key

To create an API key:
  • Go to the API Keys page
  • Click “New API Key”
  • Enter a name for the key
  • Copy the key (it will only be shown once)

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2. Find Your Workflow ID

To copy your workflow ID:

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Running a Workflow via API

Let’s take the fields extraction workflow that you built in the Your First Workflow tutorial as an example. Now we’ll see how to run it via API to pass dynamic files and extract fields programmatically, making the extracted data available in your application.

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Preparing Your Workflow for API Access

To make your workflow API-ready, you’ll need to add a code step that returns the extracted data: As you can see, the Code step returns an object with a result property that has a fields property containing the extracted data. Now, let’s deploy the workflow and run it via API. Before you can access your workflow through the API, you need to deploy it first:
  1. Follow the instructions in the Deploy section to publish your workflow
  2. Once deployed, you can run it via API

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Run It

You can run a workflow using either the REST API with a direct HTTP call or using one of our SDKs. 
import { Cortex } from '@cortex-ai/sdk';

const cortex = new Cortex({
apiKey: process.env.CORTEX_API_KEY,
});

const run = await cortex.apps.workflows.runs.create('YOUR_WORKFLOW_ID', {
input: {
fields_to_extract: 'Get the invoice_number and total_amount',
documents: ['https://example.com/invoice.pdf'],
},
});

console.log(run.result.fields); // {invoice_number: '123456', total_amount: '1000'}

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Response Structure

The API response contains various information about the run, including: 
{
  "id": "run_xxx",
  "status": "COMPLETED",
  "result": {
    "fields": {
      "invoice_number": "123456",
      "total_amount": "1000"
    }
  }
  // Additional metadata
}
The most important field is result, which contains the direct output from your workflow’s final code step.

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Understanding the Input Object

The input object you provide when running a workflow corresponds to the fields you’ve defined in your workflow’s input steps. The structure is based on the field you defined in the input step: For example, if your input step has fields like: Your API input would look like: 
{
  "input": {
    "names": ["Alice", "Mark"],
    "preferredContact": "phone",
    "addressInfo": {
      "streetAddress": "123 Maple Street, Springfield, IL 62704, USA"
    }
  }
}

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More Options

Beyond the basic input object, several additional parameters enable more granular control:

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Workflow Version Control

When running workflows via API, you can specify which version of the workflow to use. 
const run = await cortex.apps.workflows.runs.create('YOUR_WORKFLOW_ID', {
  input: {
    /* input data */
  },
  workflow_version_id: 'latest', // Options: 'latest', 'draft', or specific version number
});

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Starting from a Specific Step

If your workflow has multiple entry points (multiple input steps), you can specify which one to start from: 
const run = await cortex.apps.workflows.runs.create('YOUR_WORKFLOW_ID', {
  input: {
    /* input data of the selected input step */
  },
  from_step_key: 'myInputStep', // The key of the starting input step
});

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Background Processing

For long-running workflows, you can execute them in the background: 
const runInfo = await cortex.apps.workflows.runs.create('YOUR_WORKFLOW_ID', {
  input: {
    /* your input data */
  },
  background: true, // Returns immediately with run ID that you can poll later
});

// Later, check the status
const completedRun = await cortex.apps.workflows.runs.retrieve(
  'YOUR_WORKFLOW_ID',
  runInfo.id
);

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Error Handling

When running workflows, various errors can occur: 
try {
  const run = await cortex.apps.workflows.runs.create('YOUR_WORKFLOW_ID', {
    input: {
      /* your input data */
    },
  });

  if (run.status === 'FAILED') {
    console.error('Workflow failed:', run.error);
  } else {
    console.log('Result:', run.result);
  }
} catch (error) {
  console.error('API Error:', error.message);
}

Run Workflow API Reference

Detailed API documentation including all available parameters and response fields