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This proposal adds two new RPCs to the durabletask framework which are used to support observability and discoverability of running and completed workflows in Dapr. Specifically, adding a ListInstances and GetInstanceHistory RPC to the durabletask gRPC service.

Today, there is no ways of discovering the list of workflow instances that are currently running or have completed in the past without using external storage queries. The Dapr CLI introduced list and workflow history commands to get information about running and completed workflows, however these commands rely on direct queries to the underlying storage provider. By introducing this functionality into the durabletask framework itself, these commands need only talk to Daprd, removing the requirement for direct access to the storage provider as well as authentication. Daprd can make these queries itself, and use the Actor State Store component to access the underlying storage.

Two new RPCs will be added to the durabletask gRPC service, which will be available to both the application client, as well as the dapr CLI. The list RPC will be used to discover the workflow instance IDs, which their metadatda can then be fetched. The workflow history RPC will be used to fetch the full history of a given workflow instance.

service TaskHubSidecarService {
    rpc ListInstances (ListInstancesRequest) returns (ListInstancesResponse);
    rpc GetInstanceHistory (GetInstanceHistoryRequest) returns (GetInstanceHistoryResponse);
}

// ListInstancesRequest is used to list all orchestration instances.
message ListInstancesRequest {
    // continuationToken is the continuation token to use for pagination. This
    // is the index which the next page should start from. If not given, the first
    // page will be returned.
    optional uint32 continuationToken = 1;

    // pageSize is the maximum number of instances to return for this page. If
    // not given, all instances will be attempted to be returned.
    optional uint32 pageSize = 2;
}

// ListInstancesResponse is the response to executing ListInstances.
message ListInstancesResponse {
  // instanceIds is the list of instance IDs returned.
  repeated string instanceIds = 1;
}

// GetInstanceHistoryRequest is used to get the full history of an
// orchestration instance.
message GetInstanceHistoryRequest {
    string instanceId = 1;
}

// GetInstanceHistoryResponse is the response to executing GetInstanceHistory.
message GetInstanceHistoryResponse {
    repeated HistoryEvent events = 1;
}

@JoshVanL JoshVanL requested a review from a team as a code owner October 28, 2025 17:34
@JoshVanL JoshVanL force-pushed the workflow-list-get-history branch from b1588c4 to 79770d4 Compare October 31, 2025 15:33
* Author(s): @JoshVanL

This proposal adds two new RPCs to the durabletask framework which are used to support observability and discoverability of running and completed workflows in Dapr.
Specifically, adding a `ListInstances` and `GetInstanceHistory` RPC to the durabletask gRPC service.

Today, there is no ways of discovering the list of workflow instances that are currently running or have completed in the past without using external storage queries.
The Dapr CLI [introduced list and workflow history commands](dapr/cli#1560) to get information about running and completed workflows, however these commands rely on direct queries to the underlying storage provider.
By introducing this functionality into the durabletask framework itself, these commands need only talk to Daprd, removing the requirement for direct access to the storage provider as well as authentication.
Daprd can make these queries itself, and use the Actor State Store component to access the underlying storage.

Two new RPCs will be added to the durabletask gRPC service, which will be available to both the application client, as well as the dapr CLI.
The list RPC will be used to discover the workflow instance IDs, which their metadatda can then be fetched.
The workflow history RPC will be used to fetch the full history of a given workflow instance.

```proto
service TaskHubSidecarService {
    rpc ListInstanceIDs (ListInstanceIDsRequest) returns (ListInstanceIDsResponse);
    rpc GetInstanceHistory (GetInstanceHistoryRequest) returns (GetInstanceHistoryResponse);
}

// ListInstanceIDsRequest is used to list all orchestration instances.
message ListInstanceIDsRequest {
    // continuationToken is the continuation token to use for pagination. This
    // is the token which the next page should start from. If not given, the
    // first page will be returned.
    optional string continuationToken = 1;

    // pageSize is the maximum number of instances to return for this page. If
    // not given, all instances will be attempted to be returned.
    optional uint32 pageSize = 2;
}

// ListInstanceIDsResponse is the response to executing ListInstanceIDs.
message ListInstanceIDsResponse {
  // instanceIds is the list of instance IDs returned.
  repeated string instanceIds = 1;

  // continuationToken is the continuation token to use for pagination. If
  // there are no more pages, this will be null.
  optional string continuationToken = 2;
}

// GetInstanceHistoryRequest is used to get the full history of an
// orchestration instance.
message GetInstanceHistoryRequest {
    string instanceId = 1;
}

// GetInstanceHistoryResponse is the response to executing GetInstanceHistory.
message GetInstanceHistoryResponse {
    repeated HistoryEvent events = 1;
}
```

Signed-off-by: joshvanl <[email protected]>
@JoshVanL JoshVanL force-pushed the workflow-list-get-history branch from 5c8c7aa to 5d4bd98 Compare November 5, 2025 16:18
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@cicoyle cicoyle left a comment

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lgtm just 2 nits bc I prefer ID over Id

// ListInstanceIDsResponse is the response to executing ListInstanceIDs.
message ListInstanceIDsResponse {
// instanceIds is the list of instance IDs returned.
repeated string instanceIds = 1;
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Suggested change
repeated string instanceIds = 1;
repeated string instanceIDs = 1;

// GetInstanceHistoryRequest is used to get the full history of an
// orchestration instance.
message GetInstanceHistoryRequest {
string instanceId = 1;
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Suggested change
string instanceId = 1;
string instanceID = 1;

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I guess I see ID and Id here..

@cicoyle cicoyle merged commit 6272619 into dapr:main Nov 6, 2025
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2 participants