chains/

A chain is an ordered list of workflow runs executed as one session — CI then deploy, release then publish. Chain scenario files live in .overwire/chains/<name>.yml and run with overwire chain <file>. JSON Schema: chain.

# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://docs.overwire.io/schemas/chain.schema.json
name: CI then Deploy
runs:
  - id: ci
    workflow: ci.yml
    event: push
  - id: deploy
    workflow: deploy.yml
    event: workflow_dispatch
    continueOnError: true

Run entry fields

Field	Description
workflow	Workflow to run, by file name or stem (required).
event	Event to simulate for this run. Defaults to push.
id	Optional label for the entry.
payload	Optional path to an event payload override JSON file for this run.
defaultMode	Optional skip/mock/live default for this run, overriding modes.yml.
continueOnError	Keep the session going when this run fails. Defaults to false — a failed or cancelled run stops the chain.

Saved dispatch defaults and payload overrides from .overwire/ apply to chain runs the same way they apply to overwire run, so a workflow_dispatch entry does not need a payload: of its own.

Downstream discovery

After each run completes, workflows triggered by workflow_run on the finished workflow join the session automatically, so a chain that runs CI also exercises everything CI triggers.

Sessions

Each chain execution records a session under .overwire/state/. Inspect past sessions with overwire chain list and overwire chain show <session-id> — note that list/show operate on recorded sessions; running a chain always takes a scenario file path.