AAurora Workflows
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Aurora Workflows

A powerful, extensible workflow automation engine for .NET

What is Aurora Workflows?

Aurora Workflows is a .NET workflow automation platform that lets you design, compile, and execute complex automation workflows. It combines a rich visual designer with a developer-friendly API, a standalone CLI runner, and a dedicated compiler toolchain.

Workflows are composed of tasks (units of work) and triggers (events that start the workflow). They are designed visually in the Desktop Application, saved as .awf files, compiled into self-contained .awfc bundles, and then executed by the CLI Runner or embedded in any .NET application using the Fluent API.

Aurora Workflows desktop editor
Aurora Workflows desktop editor

Key Features

  • Visual Designer – Drag-and-drop workflow editor built on WPF (.NET 10) for Windows. Supports tree-based task composition with live preview.
  • Rich Task Library – 70+ built-in tasks covering file I/O, HTTP, scripting, scheduling, e-mail, databases, hardware information, Windows automation, Selenium, ML image prediction, infrastructure (SSH, DNS, Let's Encrypt), and more.
  • Roslyn Expression Engine – Every task property that accepts an expression is evaluated at runtime by the Roslyn scripting engine, giving you the full power of C# in any workflow property.
  • Fluent API – Build, persist, and execute workflows entirely in code with a chainable, self-documenting builder API.
  • Compiler & CLI Runner – Compile .awf designs into portable .awfc bundles and run them headlessly from any shell or CI system.
  • Publishing & Package Editor – Reference NuGet packages (including the official AURORA task libraries) directly in the designer and publish compiled containers with embedded assemblies to pluggable targets.
  • Workflow Hosting – A SQL Server backed hosting engine schedules, executes, monitors and retries published workflows across one or more nodes; control it live from the designer.
  • Scope Tasks – First-class support for loops, conditionals, try/catch, throttling, change detection, and parallel branches.
  • Triggers – One-time, periodic, cron-scheduled, file-system, and HTTP listener triggers included out of the box.
  • Pause / Resume ⚠️ (Experimental) – Running workflows can be paused to a JSON snapshot and resumed later. This feature is highly experimental and may not behave correctly in all scenarios.
  • Data Context – Typed, key-based variable store shared across all tasks within a workflow execution.

Quick Navigation

Project Structure

AssemblyTargetDescription
Aurora.Workflows.NET Standard 2.0Core engine: Workflow class, task base, triggers, Roslyn evaluator
Aurora.Workflows.Contracts.NET Standard 2.0Interfaces, attributes, and enums shared by all components
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.NET Standard 2.070+ general-purpose built-in tasks
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.Data.NET Standard 2.0SQL Server tasks (backup, restore, query, index maintenance)
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.Hardware.NET Standard 2.0Hardware inventory tasks (CPU, GPU, memory, drives)
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.ItOpsToolBox.NET Standard 2.0SSH, DNS, Hetzner, Let's Encrypt, IIS certificate tasks
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.Media.NET Standard 2.0Audio playback, ElevenLabs TTS
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.ML.NET Standard 2.0ML.NET image prediction and training
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.Selenium.NET Standard 2.0Browser automation via Selenium WebDriver
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.Windows.NET Standard 2.0Windows-specific: screen capture, keystrokes, window handles
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.Workflow.NET 8 (Windows)Tasks for loading, compiling, and running workflows from within workflows
Aurora.Workflows.Fluent.NET Standard 2.0Fluent builder API
Aurora.Workflows.Extensions.NET Standard 2.0ManagedWorkflow, NuGet service, host builder
Aurora.Workflows.Cli.NET 8CLI Runner executable
Aurora.Workflows.Cli.Compiler.NET 8 (Windows)Compiler CLI executable
Aurora.Workflows.Hosting.Contracts.NET 10Shared hosting enums and command line parameters
Aurora.Workflows.Hosting.Core.NET 10Hosting engine: EF Core model, scheduler, orchestrator, executor
Aurora.Workflows.Hosting.Publisher.NET 10Hosting Database publish target and host controller
Aurora.Workflows.Hosting.Cli.NET 10Hosting node executable
Aurora.Workflows.UI.Core.NET 8 (Windows)WPF designer controls, Package Editor, Publish and Workflow Hosting panels
Aurora.Workflows.UI.Host.NET 10 (Windows)Desktop application entry point

NuGet Packages

All libraries are published to nuget.org under the Aurora.Workflows.* prefix, so you can embed the engine, reference the task libraries or build your own tasks without cloning the repository. The same packages are what the designer's Package Editor and the hosting nodes restore at runtime.

dotnet add package Aurora.Workflows
dotnet add package Aurora.Workflows.Tasks
# for custom task development only the contracts are required
dotnet add package Aurora.Workflows.Contracts
PackageUse it when…
Aurora.WorkflowsYou want to build and run workflows from code (core engine).
Aurora.Workflows.ContractsYou implement custom tasks or triggers and only need the interfaces and attributes.
Aurora.Workflows.FluentYou prefer the fluent builder API.
Aurora.Workflows.ExtensionsYou load .awfc bundles via ManagedWorkflow or need the NuGet resolver / host builder.
Aurora.Workflows.TasksYou need the 70+ general-purpose built-in tasks.
Aurora.Workflows.Tasks.*Domain-specific task libraries: Data, Hardware, ItOpsToolBox, Media, Selenium, Windows, Workflow.
Aurora.Workflows.UI.*You want to embed the WPF designer controls in your own application (UI.Contracts, UI.Core, UI.Host).
Tip: Keep all Aurora.Workflows.* references on the same version. The packages are released together, and mixing versions can lead to contract mismatches when tasks are loaded.