Accessing files

Workflow Steps are simply Jobs. Steps, like Jobs, run is a subdirectory of a Project. Neither Jobs nor Steps have general access to Project files.

If a step needs to access Project files, or files generated by other steps it declares this need in the step's Plumbing.

Accessing project files

If a Step needs to access a Project file it must make two declarations. The Workflow must declare a Workflow Variable that is an input. When a user runs the Workflow there are then forced to provide a value for the input - a file in the Project volume. Secondly, any Step that wishes to use this file needs to declare it in their plumbing. Here's an example of a Workflow variable declaring a Project file as an inout: -

variables:
  inputs:
    type: object
    properties:
      candidateMolecules:
        title: Molecules
        type: file

When the user runs the workflow they will be required to provide a value for the variable candidateMolecules, a file in the Project.

So, that declares a file in the Project, how does a Step use that file? It declares this in its Plumbing, illustrated below.

step:
- name: step-1
  plumbing:
  - variable: outputFile
    from-workflow:
      variable: outputFile

Accessing files in prior steps