Input sources

kdeps workflows receive input through three sources: HTTP API, chat bots, and file input. Configure the source in settings inside workflow.yaml.

Applies to workflow mode. This controls how a running workflow is fed. Agent mode does not use these sources; the prompt is stdin in the REPL. When the LLM calls a workflow as a tool, that workflow still uses its own input settings.

Overview

Source	Use Case
api	HTTP REST server (default)
bot	Chat bot platforms (Discord, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp)
file	File content from stdin, env var, or configured path (single-shot)

The default source is api. If no input config is specified, the workflow starts an HTTP API server on port 16395.

API source

The api source starts an HTTP REST server. This is the default for all workflows.

# workflow.yaml
settings:
  apiServer:
    hostIp: "127.0.0.1"
    portNum: 16395
    routes:
      - path: /api/v1/chat
        methods: [POST]

Requests are JSON and routed to resources based on metadata.targetActionId in the workflow.

Use validations.methods and validations.routes in individual resources to scope them to specific routes.

Bot source

The bot source connects to chat platforms. Supported platforms: Discord, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp.

Bot credentials belong in ~/.kdeps/config.yaml, not workflow.yaml. The workflow only declares which platforms to enable.

# ~/.kdeps/config.yaml
bot_connections:
  discord:
    botToken: "${DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN}"
  slack:
    botToken: "${SLACK_BOT_TOKEN}"
    appToken: "${SLACK_APP_TOKEN}"

# workflow.yaml
settings:
  input:
    sources: [bot]
    bot:
      executionType: polling
      discord: {}   # presence enables the platform; credentials are in ~/.kdeps/config.yaml
      slack: {}

Execution types:

• polling (default): Long-running persistent connection. Blocks until SIGINT/SIGTERM.
• stateless: Reads one message from stdin as JSON, executes the workflow once, writes the reply to stdout, then exits.

File source

The file source reads file content from stdin, the KDEPS_FILE_PATH environment variable, or a configured path. The workflow executes once and exits.

# workflow.yaml
settings:
  input:
    sources: [file]
    file:
      path: /data/input.txt

Override the path at runtime:

kdeps run workflow.yaml --file /path/to/document.txt

Interactive REPL

Start an interactive LLM REPL alongside the normal workflow execution with the --interactive flag. This is independent of the configured input source:

kdeps run workflow.yaml --interactive

This opens a terminal REPL where you can send prompts and invoke tools interactively.

Use cases

• Serve a workflow as an HTTP JSON API for a frontend or another service (api).
• Run a workflow as a chat bot on Discord, Slack, Telegram, or WhatsApp (bot).
• Process one file per invocation from a pipeline, cron job, or CI step (file).

See also

• Workflow configuration - full settings reference
• Workflow mode - how the request-response cycle works
• Bot configuration - full bot settings