Skip to main content

Result Storage & References — current DSL

This document merges and supersedes the older result/TempRef docs and updates them to the latest current DSL rules:

  • No sink concept: “sink” is a pattern, not a tool kind.
  • No eval: / expr:. Outcome handling uses spec.policy.rules with when.
  • Events and step context pass references only (inline only for small previews / extracted fields).
  • Storage backends: NATS KV, NATS Object Store, Google Cloud Storage, Postgres.

See also:

  • current DSL runtime results model: documentation/docs/reference/dsl/runtime_results.md
  • Legacy v2 doc (pre-policy DSL): documentation/docs/reference/result_storage_v2.md

0) Goals​

  1. Event-sourced correctness: event log remains the source of truth for what happened.
  2. Efficiency: large payloads MUST NOT bloat the event log.
  3. Composable access: downstream steps can reference:
    • latest result
    • per-attempt (retry) results
    • per-page (pagination) results
    • per-iteration (loop) results
    • combined results via manifests (streamable)
  4. Pluggable storage: store results in Postgres / NATS KV / NATS Object Store / GCS, and keep only refs in events.
  5. Streaming-friendly: combine via manifests; avoid giant merged arrays.

1) Concepts​

1.1 Tool output vs step result​

  • Tool output: output of a single task invocation (HTTP call, DB command, Python run).
  • Step result: the logical outcome of a step; may include multiple tool outputs from pagination/loop/retry.

1.2 Reference-first rule​

A task output is either:

  • inline (only if size is less than or equal to the cap), OR
  • stored externally with a ResultRef (preferred).

The event log stores: metadata + ResultRef + extracted fields + preview.

2) ResultRef (Standard pointer)​

2.1 Structure​

{
  "kind": "result_ref",
  "ref": "noetl://execution/123/step/fetch/task/fetch_page/run/abc123",
  "store": "nats_kv|nats_object|gcs|postgres",
  "scope": "step|execution|workflow|permanent",
  "expires_at": "2026-02-01T13:00:00Z",
  "meta": {
    "content_type": "application/json",
    "bytes": 52480,
    "sha256": "abc123...",
    "compression": "gzip"
  },
  "extracted": {
    "has_more": true,
    "page": 2,
    "next_cursor": "c_123"
  },
  "preview": {
    "truncated": true,
    "bytes": 1024,
    "sample": [{"id": 1}, {"id": 2}]
  }
}

2.2 Logical vs physical addressing​

  • ref is a logical URI (noetl://...) stable across backends.
  • Physical details (bucket/key/object/table range) live in meta and/or a server mapping.

3) Storage backends (Standard)​

3.1 NATS KV (small)​

Use for:

  • cursors, tokens, small JSON
  • small page payloads (within practical limits)

Recommended ResultRef meta:

  • meta.bucket, meta.key

3.2 NATS Object Store (medium)​

Use for:

  • medium artifacts (page payloads, streamed chunks)

Recommended ResultRef meta:

  • meta.bucket, meta.key, optional meta.etag

3.3 Google Cloud Storage (large / durable)​

Use for:

  • large payloads
  • longer retention
  • cross-system access

Recommended ResultRef meta:

  • meta.bucket, meta.object (or meta.uri)

3.4 Postgres (queryable)​

Use for:

  • queryable intermediate tables (facts, audit rows)
  • projections and indices for refs

Recommended ResultRef meta:

  • meta.schema, meta.table, meta.range (or meta.pk)

standard: Postgres is both event store/projections and optionally a result store (tables).

A runtime SHOULD support store.kind: auto with size-aware selection:

  • <= inline_max_bytes → inline
  • <= kv_max_bytes → NATS KV
  • <= object_max_bytes → NATS Object Store
  • else → GCS (or Postgres table when queryability is required)

Thresholds are runtime config, but the tier model is stable.

5) DSL configuration​

5.1 Where config lives​

Result storage config is per-task under task.spec.result.

- fetch_page:
    kind: http
    method: GET
    url: "{{ workload.api_url }}/items"
    spec:
      result:
        inline_max_bytes: 65536
        preview_max_bytes: 2048
        store:
          kind: auto                 # auto|nats_kv|nats_object|gcs|postgres
          scope: execution           # step|execution|workflow|permanent
          ttl: "1h"
          compression: gzip
        select:
          - path: "$.paging.hasMore"
            as: has_more
          - path: "$.paging.page"
            as: page
          - path: "$.paging.nextCursor"
            as: next_cursor

5.2 Extracted fields​

select fields become ResultRef.extracted.*. They are small, safe for:

  • routing decisions
  • pagination state
  • UI/observability

6) Manifests (combined result without bloat)​

6.1 Manifest object​

{
  "kind": "manifest",
  "strategy": "append|concat|merge|replace",
  "merge_path": "$.data.items",
  "parts": [
    { "ref": "noetl://.../page/1/..." },
    { "ref": "noetl://.../page/2/..." }
  ],
  "total_parts": 2,
  "total_bytes": 30270
}

6.2 Storage​

Manifests are stored reference-first like any other result:

  • inline if tiny
  • else NATS Object Store / GCS / Postgres

7) Correlation keys (MUST for indexing)​

Each task.done event SHOULD include when applicable:

  • iteration, iteration_id (loop)
  • page (pagination)
  • attempt (retry)
  • step_run_id, task_run_id

This supports retrieval patterns:

  • page 3 of iteration 7
  • last successful attempt for page 2
  • all parts for step X

8) Passing results to next steps (reference-only)​

Standard rule: server binds only extracted + refs, not full bodies.

Recommended binding for task label fetch_page:

  • fetch_page.<field> for extracted fields
  • fetch_page.__ref__ for ResultRef
  • optional fetch_page.__preview__ for small UI/debug sample

Downstream steps:

  • use extracted fields directly
  • explicitly resolve full payload if needed

9) Resolving refs (explicit)​

Full payload resolution MUST be explicit:

  • server API: GET /results/resolve?ref=...
  • or tool: kind: artifact / kind: result with action: get

Example:

- load_full_page:
    kind: artifact
    action: get
    args:
      ref: "{{ fetch_page.__ref__ }}"

10) Standard pagination + streaming pattern (single worker logical thread)​

Use loop for outer fan-out (endpoints/cities/hotels), but inside each iteration run a sequential stream:

  • fetch page
  • transform
  • route store by response code (200 vs 404 etc.)
  • decide continue (jump fetch) or finish (break)

All control is via task policy: spec.policy.rules.

11) Implementation requirements (what to build)​

11.1 Worker-side (data plane)​

Implement a result handler that runs after each task:

  1. stable serialize (JSON)
  2. apply task.spec.result:
    • preview (optional)
    • select/extract (optional)
    • choose store backend
    • write payload externally (unless inline)
  3. return final outcome with:
    • outcome.result containing small fields
    • outcome.result.__ref__ containing ResultRef (if externalized)

Emit task.done with:

  • outcome.status, outcome.error, outcome.meta
  • inline small result or ResultRef (+ extracted + preview)
  • correlation keys

11.2 Server-side (control plane)​

On event ingest:

  • persist event
  • upsert projections:
    • result_index keyed by execution/step/task/iteration/page/attempt
    • step_state keyed by execution/step with latest refs and status

Context binding:

  • inject extracted fields and ResultRefs only

12) Garbage collection​

Use scope + ttl:

  • step → cleanup at step finalize
  • execution → cleanup at execution finalize
  • workflow → cleanup at workflow finalize
  • permanent → manual only

Backend-specific deletes:

  • NATS KV: delete key
  • NATS Object Store: delete object
  • GCS: delete object
  • Postgres: delete rows (or partition retention)

13) Terminology: TempRef vs ResultRef​

Legacy docs used TempRef (kind: temp_ref) for step-to-step pointers.

current DSL uses ResultRef (kind: result_ref) everywhere.

If reading legacy:

  • treat temp_ref as alias of result_ref at resolution time
  • emit only result_ref going forward