Create workflows in Microsoft Foundry
Unit 4 of 10 · Module 12: Build agent-driven workflows using Microsoft Foundry
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The game board
Building a workflow in Foundry feels like laying out tiles on a board game. In the portal, select Build, then create a new workflow, starting from a blank canvas or a template like Sequential. The designer shows your nodes in the order they run. You can move nodes, add new ones with the plus button, and open each one to change its settings. One important habit: Foundry doesn't save as you go, so select Save after every change. Each save keeps a new version of your design.
Five kinds of tile
There are five kinds of tile. Invoke nodes call an AI agent from your project, or create a new one, and the agent can return plain text or structured output like JSON. Flow nodes steer the path. If/Else branches on a condition, Go To jumps to another node, and For each repeats the same steps for every item in a list. Data transformation nodes handle variables. Set variable stores a value, Reset variable clears it, and Parse value pulls out the piece of data you need. Basic chat nodes send a message to the user, or ask a question and save the answer. And the End node finishes the workflow, optionally returning a final result.
Variables, and trying it out
Variables are the shared notepad of the workflow. One step writes an agent's result or a user's answer into a variable, and later steps read it to make decisions. Agents matter, but it's the teamwork of all the node types that makes a workflow useful. Workflows run inside a conversation, so select Run workflow and chat with it. Then check that every node completes, the chat shows the replies you expect, and your variables hold the values you expect. Get a simple version working before you add more tiles.
Facts from Microsoft's documentation: Build a workflow in Microsoft Foundry (Preview) (CC BY 4.0), rewritten in Loop's own words and examples. Narration, animation, and quiz by Loop. Microsoft, Azure, and Microsoft Foundry are trademarks of Microsoft. Loop is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.