Deterministic Workflow
A process where the steps are fixed in advance, so the same input follows the same path every time.
Think of it like
A recipe followed exactly — same ingredients, same steps, same cake, every single time.
Example
Every invoice runs the identical path: parse, check totals, match to a PO, then route for approval — no improvising.
How it actually works
When you know the steps ahead of time, hard-coding them is more reliable, cheaper, and easier to test than letting a model decide each move. You often still use an LLM inside a step (to extract or classify) while the flow itself stays fixed. The limit is obvious: deterministic flows can’t handle situations you didn’t anticipate, so they suit well-understood processes, not open-ended tasks.
For product teams
For predictable, high-volume processes, a fixed flow beats an agent on cost, reliability, and testability.
For engineers
The control flow is statically defined; models may fill steps, but the path between steps is fixed.
Related
- Dynamic Workflow — The open-ended opposite.
- Workflow Engine — The engine that runs fixed flows.
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