8000 feat(automations): the variable picker's catalog and a template's preview for a draft automation by adeelahmad · Pull Request #461 · adeelahmad/lense · GitHub
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feat(automations): the variable picker's catalog and a template's preview for a draft automation - #461

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@adeelahmad adeelahmad commented Oct 16, 2026
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Requested by Adeel · project thread

Workflow studio M9, part 3 of 3 (variables and templates). Parts 1 (#454, templates) and 2 (#460, saved variables) are merged.

Description

Before: to write {{ events.mail.object.subject }} you had to know the kind's field names. The only way to see what a template gives was to save the automation and run it.

After:

  • Variable catalog (variables.catalog, POST /api/v1/automations/variables {draft, node?}): what a draft automation's templates can read. Each entry has {path, type, label, example, group, untrusted}.
    • The run context's keys and fields (user.email, namespace.name, now...).
    • Each trigger's activity, events.<as>.<field>, from its kind's schema with the sample's values. A schedule or at trigger starts on clock.tick and a webhook on webhook.received.
    • event.<field> for the fields every trigger's kinds share. A batch's activities come as a list (events.mail.0...).
    • The saved variables, and with node, what the action and decide nodes before it pass on (steps.<id>.<field>), from each action's output schema. An ask_model with a json_schema gives the object that schema describes.
  • Preview (variables.preview, POST /api/v1/automations/preview {template, draft, activity?, trigger?, node?, prompt?}): what a template gives before the automation is saved.
    • It renders against a real activity by id (404 for one you can't see) or the trigger kind's sample.
    • A param's value keeps its type. A prompt shows outside text marked, as the model will see it, with rules.
    • The steps before node are stand-ins named by their path ([steps.ask.trip]).
    • A template that fails comes back as 200 with error (the missing variable and its nearest name) and line. A draft that doesn't check is a 400.
  • Access: anyone signed in may use both, over their own namespaces only. A draft's id must be an automation they may change, or the answer is 404.
  • MCP: automation_variables and preview_template, both read-only.

Motivation and Context

Workflow studio, module M9 (brief workflow-studio/briefs/M9.md, items 6 and 7). This is what the builder's variable picker and its preview line (M11) read.

Defaults taken (reversible):

  • Earlier steps are stand-ins rather than a dry run of the nodes before the template's. This keeps the preview instant and free of model calls; a dry run is under Refine later.
  • event.* lists only the fields every trigger's kinds share, so a picked path works whichever trigger fired.
  • A template that fails returns 200 with error, so the builder can show it under the field.

Types of changes

  • Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
  • New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
  • Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change; ! in the title)

Checklist:

  • The title is a Conventional Commit.
  • My code follows the code style of this project (make hooks checks it on commit).
  • I added or updated tests (tests/api/test_automation_preview.py). They cover two joined kinds, an upstream action, batch and schedule triggers, a preview against the sample and against a real activity (with a 404 for one the person can't see), prompts, errors and the MCP tools.
  • My change requires documentation updates, and I have updated docs/ accordingly: docs/automations.md (The variable picker and preview), docs/api.md and docs/mcp.md.
  • Users need more than the title to understand it, so I wrote it under ## Unreleased in CHANGELOG.md. (n/a)

Done questions (AGENTS.md)

  • Goal: completes M9 once merged with green CI.
  • Agents: the automation_variables and preview_template MCP tools, as well as the REST API.
  • Zero setup: no new prerequisite.
  • Fewest clicks: the picker lists every path with an example, and the preview shows the result and the nearest name for a typo.
  • Configurable: n/a, no new setting.
  • Light: pure Python. A preview runs no node and calls no model.
  • Private and secure: previews read only activities, namespaces and automations the person may see, and render in the existing Jinja sandbox. I added a new entry point to the threat model (all three files).
  • Cost: n/a, no model calls.
  • User decides: read-only; nothing is saved.
  • Upgrades: n/a, no stored data changes.
  • Honest: the docs status table marks the picker and preview built.
  • Tests and docs updated, and the client regenerated with make openapi.
  • Open standards: JSON Schema types for each entry, with no new dependencies.
  • Refine later items are written in docs/automations.md: a dry-run preview of the nodes before, a saved prompt template's output schema in the picker, and matching on variables (M5). I removed the old "an action's outputs in the variable picker" bullet, which this delivers.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01JZDyxMfCBYNRw12CHqE9ss

Generated by Claude Code

@claude
feat(automations): the variable picker's catalog and a template's pre…
15a673c 
…view for a draft automation

variables.catalog lists what a draft's templates can read (the run context, each trigger's activity fields from its
kind's schema, the saved variables, and the outputs of the nodes before a node), with types, labels, examples and
which are outside text. variables.preview renders a template against a real activity or the trigger kind's sample,
prompts shown marked as the model sees them, errors with the nearest name and line. POST /api/v1/automations/variables
and /preview, and the automation_variables and preview_template MCP tools.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01JZDyxMfCBYNRw12CHqE9ss
@adeelahmad adeelahmad self-assigned this Oct 16, 2026
@adeelahmad
adeelahmad merged commit 223a2c2 into main Oct 16, 2026
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@adeelahmad
adeelahmad deleted the claude/project-thread-oi3om9 branch October 16, 2026 02:33
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