microsoft / microsoft/agent-framework

.NET: [Feature]: Extend RunStatus to cover distributed/durable workflow states

Open
#4,069 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
.NET workflows
Dominant language
Python
Stars
13.6k
Forks
2.3k
Avg merge
2d 45m
Merged PRs (30d)
358

Description

### Problem

The current [`RunStatus`](https://github.com/microsoft/agent-framework/blob/main/dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.Workflows/RunStatus.cs#L8) enum covers in-process workflow lifecycle states:

1. NotStarted
2. Idle
3. PendingRequests
4. Ended
5. Running

These work well for in-process workflows, but don't cover states that arise in distributed/durable workflow scenarios, such as:

1. **Completed** : The workflow finished successfully. _(Is Ended same? Was it a successful end or non successful end?_)
2. **Failed** : The workflow terminated due to an error.
3. **Terminated** : The workflow was explicitly terminated by an external request.
4. **Suspended** : The workflow is paused and can be resumed later.
5. **NotFound** : The workflow instance doesn't exist (e.g., expired or never created).
6. **Pending** : The workflow is scheduled but hasn't started executing yet.

Currently, distributed workflow implementations have to define their own status enums to represent these states, since `RunStatus` doesn't have equivalents. Only `Running` overlaps between the two.

### Proposal

Extend `RunStatus` (or introduce a complementary enum) to include terminal and distributed-specific states so that all workflow runtime implementations can use a shared status type. This would allow consumers to write runtime-agnostic code that checks workflow status without depending on implementation-specific enums.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reading dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.Workflows/RunStatus.cs at the enum definition. Review how the existing in-process states map to the proposed distributed and durable workflow states, especially the distinction between Ended and Completed. Done means the shared status design covers the listed runtime states and supports implementation-agnostic status checks.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
csharp
Domain
distributed-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.