the workflow library

invoice-chaser

{"invoice-chaser":"nika: v1\nworkflow:\n  id: invoice-chaser\n  description: \"Ledger CSV → overdue filter → drafted reminders → human gate → drafts file\"\n\nmodel: ollama/qwen3.5:4b   # local · zero key · swap for groq/llama-3.3-70b (drafting is a fast-model job)\n\nconst:\n  ledger_csv: \"examples/fixtures/invoices.csv\"\npermits:\n  tools: [\"nika:convert\", \"nika:jq\", \"nika:prompt\", \"nika:read\", \"nika:write\"]\n  fs:\n    # Two files, both spelled out — `const.ledger_csv` in, the drafts file\n    # out. A const is baked in and a run cannot move it, so the boundary is\n    # exact: no glob, and nothing else on disk is reachable either way.\n    read: [\"examples/fixtures/invoices.csv\"]\n    write: [\"out/reminders-to-send.md\"]\n\ntasks:\n  ledger:\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:read\"\n      args: { path: \"${{ const.ledger_csv }}\" }\n\n  rows:\n    with:\n      csv: ${{ tasks.ledger.output }}\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:convert\"\n      args:\n        input: \"${{ with.csv }}\"\n        from: csv\n        to: json\n        has_header: true\n\n  overdue:\n    with:\n      rows: ${{ tasks.rows.output }}\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:jq\"\n      args:\n        input: \"${{ with.rows }}\"\n        expression: 'map(select(.status == \"overdue\"))'\n\n  drafts:\n    with:\n      overdue: ${{ tasks.overdue.output }}\n    when: ${{ size(with.overdue) > 0 }}\n    infer:\n      max_tokens: 900       # a ceiling makes the cost report a number, not UNBOUNDED\n      prompt: |\n        Draft one short, polite payment reminder per overdue invoice ·\n        ${{ with.overdue }}\n        Markdown · one section per client · firm but warm.\n\n  approve:\n    with:\n      drafts: ${{ tasks.drafts.output }}\n    when: ${{ with.drafts != null }}   # nothing drafted · nothing to approve\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:prompt\"\n      args:\n        message: \"Save the reminder drafts for sending?\"\n        default: false\n\n  save:\n    with:\n      drafts: ${{ tasks.drafts.output }}\n      approved: ${{ tasks.approve.output }}\n    when: ${{ with.drafts != null && with.approved == true }}   # zero overdue → drafts skipped (null) · don't write nothing\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:write\"\n      args:\n        path: out/reminders-to-send.md\n        create_dirs: true\n        content: \"${{ with.drafts }}\"\n\noutputs:\n  overdue:\n    value: ${{ tasks.overdue.output }}\n    description: \"The overdue rows the reminders were drafted for\"\n","deep-research-brief":"nika: v1\nworkflow:\n  id: deep-research-brief\n  description: \"plan → budgeted research agent → thinking synthesis → brief on disk\"\n\nmodel: ollama/qwen3.5:4b   # local · zero key · `--model mock/echo` rehearses the whole file\n\ninputs:\n  topic:\n    type: string\n    default: \"local-first AI runtimes\"\n    description: \"What to research · free text (--var topic=…), and it never touches a path directly\"\n\npermits:\n  tools: [\"nika:done\", \"nika:fetch\", \"nika:jq\", \"nika:write\"]\n  net:\n    # There is no `*` here and there never will be: `net.http` entries are exact\n    # host names. An agent told to « research the web » therefore cannot — the\n    # corpus it may reach is a decision taken HERE, before the loop starts,\n    # rather than discovered afterwards in a trace. Add the sources you actually\n    # trust; the agent's fetch is judged against this list at RUN, and `check`\n    # cannot see it coming because the agent chooses its own URLs.\n    http:\n      - \"arxiv.org\"\n      - \"export.arxiv.org\"\n      - \"en.wikipedia.org\"\n      - \"hn.algolia.com\"\n  fs:\n    # One brief per topic, written DIRECTLY in ./research/. `*` matches a single\n    # segment and never crosses `/`, so even a slug that somehow kept a slash is\n    # refused rather than steered into a subtree — `./research/**` would let it\n    # through. The slug task below makes that doubly hard; the wall makes it\n    # impossible, and only one of the two is a guarantee.\n    write: [\"./research/*.md\"]\n\ntasks:\n  # The topic is free text — « Local-First AI Runtimes: a survey/2026 » — and it\n  # ends up in a filename. Deriving the slug in jq keeps that arithmetic out of\n  # the model AND out of the path: the expression is total, so there is no input\n  # for which it returns something containing a separator.\n  slug:\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:jq\"\n      args:\n        input: \"${{ inputs.topic }}\"\n        expression: 'ascii_downcase | gsub(\"[^a-z0-9]+\"; \"-\") | gsub(\"^-|-$\"; \"\")'\n\n  plan:\n    infer:\n      max_tokens: 400              # planning is short · cap it and the cost report is a ceiling\n      prompt: \"Break '${{ inputs.topic }}' into 4 sharp research queries · no overlap.\"\n      schema:\n        # `additionalProperties: false` on every object node — without it the\n        # shape is a suggestion and each provider answers with a slightly\n        # different object. `plan.output.queries` is read below, so it has to be\n        # a promise, not a hope.\n        type: object\n        additionalProperties: false\n        required: [queries]\n        properties:\n          queries:\n            type: array\n            items: { type: string }\n\n  investigate:\n    with:\n      queries: ${{ tasks.plan.output.queries }}\n    agent:\n      system: |\n        You are a rigorous researcher. Work the queries one by one · fetch\n        sources · keep verbatim quotes · note what each source actually\n        supports, and what it does not. If a fetch is refused, record that the\n        source was out of bounds rather than substituting another.\n        Call nika:done when the plan is exhausted.\n      prompt: \"Research plan · ${{ with.queries }}\"\n      tools:\n        # Every id here must also appear in `permits.tools` above — `check`\n        # refuses the mismatch statically (NIKA-SEC-004 · agent tool … is\n        # outside permits.tools). Note what is NOT granted: `nika:write`. The\n        # agent's product is the typed object it returns, so it never needs a\n        # file of its own, and the workflow keeps the only pen in the room.\n        - \"nika:fetch\"                 # the corpus named in permits.net.http\n        - \"nika:done\"                  # the loop-completion sentinel\n      max_turns: 25                    # the leash · a loop that cannot end is a bill\n      max_tokens_total: 150000         # and the second leash, in tokens\n      schema:\n        type: object\n        additionalProperties: false\n        required: [findings, sources]\n        properties:\n          findings:\n            type: array\n            items: { type: string }\n          sources:\n            type: array\n            items: { type: string }\n\n  brief:\n    with:\n      findings: ${{ tasks.investigate.output.findings }}\n      sources: ${{ tasks.investigate.output.sources }}\n    infer:\n      max_tokens: 2000\n      prompt: |\n        Findings · ${{ with.findings }}\n        Sources · ${{ with.sources }}\n        Write the executive brief · what's true · what's contested · what it\n        means · what to do. Two pages max. Anything the sources do not support\n        goes in « contested », never in « true ».\n      thinking:\n        # A reasoning budget, honoured by seats that support extended thinking\n        # and ignored by the ones that do not — declaring it never fails a run.\n        enabled: true\n        budget_tokens: 8000\n\n  save:\n    with:\n      slug: ${{ tasks.slug.output }}\n      brief: ${{ tasks.brief.output }}\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:write\"\n      args:\n        path: \"./research/${{ with.slug }}.md\"\n        content: \"${{ with.brief }}\"\n        create_dirs: true\n\noutputs:\n  brief: ${{ tasks.brief.output }}\n  sources:\n    value: ${{ tasks.investigate.output.sources }}\n    description: \"Every source the agent actually used\"\n  slug:\n    value: ${{ tasks.slug.output }}\n    description: \"The filename stem the brief landed under · ./research/<slug>.md\"\n","localization-factory":"nika: v1\nworkflow:\n  id: localization-factory\n  description: \"glob docs → parallel read → parallel translate → mirror tree\"\n\nmodel: ollama/qwen3.5:4b   # local default · swap for mistral/mistral-large (EU model for EU locales)\n\nconst:\n  lang: \"fr\"\n  # The committed rehearsal tree. Point this at ./docs (or wherever yours\n  # lives) and change `permits.fs.read` to match, in the same edit.\n  source_root: \"./examples/fixtures/docs\"\n\npermits:\n  tools: [\"nika:glob\", \"nika:jq\", \"nika:read\", \"nika:write\"]\n  fs:\n    # `nika:glob` opens the ROOT of its pattern, so the bound has to cover\n    # the directory AND everything under it — `**` does both (it matches the\n    # dir itself and any descendant at any depth). A bound naming only the\n    # `.md` files refuses the glob before it lists anything:\n    # `NIKA-SEC-004 · ./examples/…/docs resolves outside permits.fs.read`.\n    read: [\"./examples/fixtures/docs/**\"]\n    # The mirror is as deep as the source tree, so this one earns its `**`:\n    # every locale lands under ./i18n/ and nothing lands outside it. Naming\n    # the locale (`./i18n/fr/**`) would be tighter but would have to be\n    # re-edited for every value of `const.lang` — the bound is the tree the\n    # factory owns.\n    write: [\"./i18n/**\"]\n\ntasks:\n  # ── the collection is discovered, never declared ────────────────────\n  files:\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:glob\"\n      args:\n        pattern: \"${{ const.source_root }}/**/*.md\"\n        exclude: [\"**/node_modules/**\"]\n\n  # ── stage 1 · read every file, 8 at a time ─────────────────────────\n  texts:\n    with:\n      files: ${{ tasks.files.output }}\n    for_each: ${{ with.files }}\n    max_parallel: 8                    # local disk · the only cost is file handles\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:read\"\n      args: { path: \"${{ item }}\" }\n\n  # ── the zip · path + text, and the source root comes off ───────────\n  # `texts` is an array in the SAME ORDER as `files`, so transpose pairs\n  # them index-for-index. `ltrimstr` makes each path relative to the source\n  # root — that stripped path is what the mirror tree is built from.\n  pairs:\n    with:\n      files: ${{ tasks.files.output }}\n      texts: ${{ tasks.texts.output }}\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:jq\"\n      args:\n        input: [\"${{ with.files }}\", \"${{ with.texts }}\"]\n        expression: >-\n          transpose\n          | map({ path: (.[0] | ltrimstr(\"${{ const.source_root }}/\")), text: .[1] })\n\n  # ── stage 2 · translate every file, 3 at a time ────────────────────\n  translated:\n    with:\n      pairs: ${{ tasks.pairs.output }}\n    for_each: ${{ with.pairs }}\n    max_parallel: 3                    # rate-limit the provider, not the disk\n    fail_fast: false                   # finish the batch · one bad file is not a batch failure\n    on_error:\n      recover: null                    # null holds the index open so the zip below stays aligned\n    infer:\n      max_tokens: 4000                 # a doc page, not a book · the cost ceiling is a real number\n      prompt: |\n        Translate to ${{ const.lang }} · keep the markdown structure, leave\n        code blocks untouched, and keep the original tone ·\n        ${{ item.text }}\n\n  # ── the fan-in · drop the files that failed, keep their paths ──────\n  # Second transpose, same law: `translated` is index-aligned with `pairs`\n  # because `recover: null` filled the failures in place. `select(.[1] !=\n  # null)` is where a failed translation leaves the batch — by VALUE, after\n  # the fact, not by aborting the fan-out.\n  bundle:\n    with:\n      pairs: ${{ tasks.pairs.output }}\n      translated: ${{ tasks.translated.output }}\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:jq\"\n      args:\n        input: [\"${{ with.pairs }}\", \"${{ with.translated }}\"]\n        expression: >-\n          transpose\n          | map(select(.[1] != null))\n          | map({ path: .[0].path, text: .[1] })\n\n  # ── stage 3 · write the mirror ─────────────────────────────────────\n  mirror:\n    with:\n      bundle: ${{ tasks.bundle.output }}\n    for_each: ${{ with.bundle }}\n    max_parallel: 8\n    invoke:\n      tool: \"nika:write\"\n      args:\n        path: \"./i18n/${{ const.lang }}/${{ item.path }}\"\n        content: \"${{ item.text }}\"\n        create_dirs: true              # the mirror's subdirectories do not exist yet\n\noutputs:\n  translated:\n    value: ${{ tasks.bundle.output }}\n    description: \"Every file that made it through, as {path, text} · the mirror's manifest\"\n"}

finds the overdue, drafts reminders, waits for your yes. A pack showcase file, shown whole to read; nika run invoice-chaser.nika.yaml is the honest affordance. This site never fabricates a replay for it.

6tasksthe plan below walks them
6wavesrun together when they can
invoke · inferverbsthe whole grammar it speaks
browseread, then runno fabricated replay

the plan

derived from the file, never drawn by hand

ledgerinvoke

rowsinvoke

overdueinvoke

draftsinfer

approveinvoke

saveinvoke

the file, whole

invoice-chaser.nika.yaml

1nika: v12workflow:3  id: invoice-chaser4  description: "Ledger CSV → overdue filter → drafted reminders → human gate → drafts file"56model: ollama/qwen3.5:4b   # local · zero key · swap for groq/llama-3.3-70b (drafting is a fast-model job)78const:9  ledger_csv: "examples/fixtures/invoices.csv"10⛨permits:11  ⛨tools: ["nika:convert", "nika:jq", "nika:prompt", "nika:read", "nika:write"]12  ⛨fs:13    # Two files, both spelled out — `const.ledger_csv` in, the drafts file14    # out. A const is baked in and a run cannot move it, so the boundary is15    # exact: no glob, and nothing else on disk is reachable either way.16    ⛨read: ["examples/fixtures/invoices.csv"]17    ⛨write: ["out/reminders-to-send.md"]1819tasks:20  ledger:21    ◆invoke:22      tool: "nika:read"23      args: { path: "${{ const.ledger_csv }}" }2425  rows:26    with:27      csv: ${{ tasks.ledger.output }}28    ◆invoke:29      tool: "nika:convert"30      args:31        input: "${{ with.csv }}"32        from: csv33        to: json34        has_header: true3536  overdue:37    with:38      rows: ${{ tasks.rows.output }}39    ◆invoke:40      tool: "nika:jq"41      args:42        input: "${{ with.rows }}"43        expression: 'map(select(.status == "overdue"))'4445  drafts:46    with:47      overdue: ${{ tasks.overdue.output }}48    when: ${{ size(with.overdue) > 0 }}49    ◇infer:50      max_tokens: 900       # a ceiling makes the cost report a number, not UNBOUNDED51      prompt: |52        Draft one short, polite payment reminder per overdue invoice ·53        ${{ with.overdue }}54        Markdown · one section per client · firm but warm.5556  approve:57    with:58      drafts: ${{ tasks.drafts.output }}59    when: ${{ with.drafts != null }}   # nothing drafted · nothing to approve60    ◆invoke:61      tool: "nika:prompt"62      args:63        message: "Save the reminder drafts for sending?"64        default: false6566  save:67    with:68      drafts: ${{ tasks.drafts.output }}69      approved: ${{ tasks.approve.output }}70    when: ${{ with.drafts != null && with.approved == true }}   # zero overdue → drafts skipped (null) · don't write nothing71    ◆invoke:72      tool: "nika:write"73      args:74        path: out/reminders-to-send.md75        create_dirs: true76        content: "${{ with.drafts }}"7778outputs:79  overdue:80    value: ${{ tasks.overdue.output }}81    description: "The overdue rows the reminders were drafted for"82

lines 56–64: invoke: a human yes sits before anything is saved. Source: the spec pack · open it in the playground →

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