E-Commerce Order Processing Workflow

Developer demo showing how to build a production-ready e-commerce workflow in Orkes Conductor.
The workflow automates order creation, payment processing, inventory updates, and fulfillment confirmation.

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Prerequisites

• Google account or email to sign into Orkes Playground (free)
• Basic understanding of REST APIs
• Familiarity with JSON (helpful but not required)

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The Problem We're Solving

When a customer places an order on an e-commerce site, multiple things need to happen:

1. Process their payment
2. Check if the payment succeeded
3. If yes: reserve inventory, send confirmation email, notify warehouse
4. If no: send failure notification

Coordinating all these steps across different services is complex. Conductor makes it simple.

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Step 1: Access Orkes Playground

Go to Orkes Playground.

You'll see the Launch Pad with two options: browse pre-built workflow templates or start from scratch.

The Orkes Conductor Launch Pad — click "Start from Scratch" to begin.

For this tutorial, click "Start from Scratch" so you can learn how to build a workflow from the ground up.

You'll be prompted to log in.

Login screen — sign in with Google or email to access the platform.

Sign in with your Google account or email. Once logged in, you'll be taken to the main Conductor interface.

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Step 2: Navigate to Workflow Definitions

The workflow creation interface after clicking "Start from Scratch" — shows an empty canvas ready to build.

From the main interface, navigate to Definitions → Workflow in the left sidebar.
Click the "Create Workflow" button in the top right.

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Step 3: Set Up Workflow Details

You'll see the workflow configuration form. Fill it out:

Name: E-Commerce Order Processing

Description:
When a customer places an order, this workflow handles everything: payment processing, inventory checks, email confirmations, and shipping coordination.
Shows how to build resilient, production-ready automation for e-commerce systems.

Leave the other settings at their defaults for now.

Workflow Details form filled with name and description.

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Step 4: Define Input Parameters

Scroll down to Input and Output Parameters.
Click "Add parameter" five times and add these keys:

1. orderId
2. customerId
3. customerEmail
4. totalAmount
5. items

All input parameters (orderId, customerId, customerEmail, totalAmount, items) and output parameter (trackingNumber) configured.

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Step 5: Add an Output Parameter

Still in the parameters section, scroll to Output parameters and add:
Parameter: trackingNumber

Leave the Value field blank — it will be filled during execution.

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Step 6: Build the Payment Processing Task

Click the "Task" tab at the top.

The Task tab shows a visual canvas with Start and End nodes.

Click the + button below Start.

The task picker menu — select HTTP Task.

Select "HTTP Task" from Quick Add.

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Step 7: Configure the Payment Task

Click on the HTTP task to configure it.

Reference name: process_payment
Method: POST
URL: https://httpbin.org/post

Scroll to the Body section and replace {} with:

{
  "orderId": "${workflow.input.orderId}",
  "customerId": "${workflow.input.customerId}",
  "totalAmount": "${workflow.input.totalAmount}",
  "paymentMethod": "credit_card"
}

HTTP task configured with POST method and order details.

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Step 8: Add Conditional Logic

Click the + button below process_payment.

Add a Switch task for conditional routing.

Select "Switch" task.

The Switch task appears on the canvas as a diamond shape for branching.

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Step 9: Configure the Payment Check

Click on the Switch task.

Reference name: check_payment_status
Key: paid → Value: success
Evaluate: ECMASCRIPT
Code:

$.paid

Switch case key: success

Switch task configured with ECMASCRIPT evaluation.

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Step 10: Save and Test Your Workflow

Click "Save".

Click Save to validate and store your workflow configuration.

Run your workflow to test. You'll see tasks executing in real-time.

Completed workflow execution showing payment processing and confirmation.

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Step 11: Add Email Confirmation Task

On the success branch, click the + icon and add another HTTP Task.

Reference name: send_confirmation_email
Method: POST
URL: https://httpbin.org/post

Body:

{
  "to": "${workflow.input.customerEmail}",
  "subject": "Order Confirmation",
  "orderId": "${workflow.input.orderId}",
  "message": "Your order has been confirmed!"
}

Email confirmation task sends notification when payment succeeds.

Save your workflow — it should look like this:

Complete workflow showing all tasks connected: payment → switch → email.

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Workflow Summary

Start
  ↓
Process Payment (HTTP POST)
  ↓
Check Payment Status (SWITCH)
  ↓ (success)
Send Confirmation Email (HTTP POST)
  ↓
End

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Next Steps

• Add FORK Tasks to run inventory updates and notifications in parallel.
• Add error handling for payment failures.
• Connect to real APIs (Stripe, PayPal, SendGrid).
• Configure retry logic and timeouts for resilience.

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Resources

• Orkes Documentation
• Conductor OSS GitHub

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Questions or suggestions?
Open an issue or reach out!