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create-workflow is the authoring counterpart to the rest of the pack: describe what you want in plain English, and it clarifies, provisions, designs, scaffolds, verifies, and documents a real, runnable workflow instead of you hand-writing a .tsx graph and its prompts (see Stages below).
By default it pauses for design approval before writing any files. Clear the gate with bunx smithers-orchestrator approve RUN_ID --node approve-design, or run autonomously with --input '{"review":false}'.

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When NOT to use it

The clarify stage right-sizes every request before anything is built. A most-trivial edit is routed back to be done directly, and a clear, well-scoped task one strong agent can finish in one context window is routed to smithers oneshot; both end the run at status routed-simple with the exact command to run instead. Structure is a cost: the OrchBench benchmark (benchmarks/orchbench/RESULTS.md in the repo) measured a solo frontier agent outscoring a three-model review panel at half the wall clock, so create-workflow only proceeds when the task genuinely needs ordered stages, durability, approvals, loops, or reuse. To force a workflow anyway, say so in the prompt.

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Stages

  1. clarify: right-size the request (direct edit, smithers oneshot, or a real workflow), then turn the freeform ask into a structured, buildable spec (goal, trigger, inputs, stages, loops, human gates, success criteria).
  2. provision: pull the relevant llms-*.txt docs, find the closest examples/ template, pick components, and install the worker skills the new workflow needs (bunx smithers-orchestrator skills add).
  3. design: produce the concrete graph blueprint (schemas, tasks, JSX shape, prompts to author).
  4. approve-design: durable human approval gate (skippable via review: false).
  5. scaffold: write the workflow .tsx and its .mdx prompts to .smithers/.
  6. verify: bunx smithers-orchestrator graph the new workflow (load + render without executing); a fix agent edits and retries until it renders cleanly.
  7. document: write a skill doc so agents know how to run the new workflow.

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Inputs

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Monitor it

Use this to add automation to your .smithers/ pack without learning the full authoring API: it grounds its design in real Smithers components and verifies the result before handing it back.