Pipeline schema

Pipelines are YAML files in ~/.vectorstep/pipelines/. Each declares a trigger (source + match rules), a list of steps (each with an executor, prompt template, confidence threshold and flow-control policy), and optional pipeline-level settings (stage, tags, notifications, readiness criteria). Steps can be defined inline or pulled from the reusable step library with use:.

A pipeline’s top-level name: (and a library step’s name:) becomes a filename on disk, so both are restricted to [a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_-]{0,63} — letters, digits, underscore and hyphen, starting with a letter or digit, up to 64 characters. A name outside that pattern is rejected with a validation error on write. This does not apply to labels that merely look like names, such as a step’s own name: within steps: or a deterministic check’s name: — those are never used as filenames.

Model selection and verifiers

Model selection is handled by the named agent’s own config in the executor backend. To override the model for a specific step, set executor_config.model — this is passed directly to the executor and takes precedence over the agent’s configured model.

Steps support an optional verifier block for independent confidence verification by a second agent. The verifier trigger can be set to always: true (fires unconditionally), or scoped to a confidence band. See Verifiers for full trigger configuration examples.

Step types

The steps list is heterogeneous — each entry is a sequential step (has a name: key), a parallel group (has a parallel: key), or a fan-out (has a fan_out: key). See Parallel groups & fan-out for parallel groups and fan-out, and Executors (executor: pipeline) for sub-pipeline calls.

Full example

name: alert-triage-critical
description: Full triage pipeline for critical alerts
tags: [critical, sre, grafana]  # optional — free-form labels, searchable on /ui/pipelines
version: 1
stage: production                # testing (default) | production — see /docs/concepts/stages/

trigger:
  match:
    severity: critical          # matched against NormalisedContext fields/labels
    environment: prod           # all conditions must match (AND logic)
  dedup:                        # optional — overrides config.yaml dedup.* for this pipeline
    window_seconds: 600         # see /docs/integrations/webhooks/#idempotency--deduplication

context_template:
  include:                      # fields auto-injected into every step prompt
    - severity
    - labels.service
    - labels.environment
    - summary

vars:                           # pipeline-level variables, available in all prompts
  jira_project: MYPROJECT
  confluence_space: MYSPACE

steps:
  - name: initial-triage
    executor: openclaw           # or: gateway | human | webhook
    executor_config:
      agent: sre-triage-sonnet          # named agent in the executor backend
      session_key: "agent:sre-triage-sonnet:{{pipeline_run_id}}:triage"
      model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6   # optional — overrides agent's configured model
      thinking_level: low                  # optional — off|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh
    confidence_threshold: 0.75
    on_low_confidence: escalate  # escalate | abort | proceed
    on_abort: notify
    timeout_seconds: 120
    prompt_template: |
      You are an SRE triaging a {{severity}} alert for {{labels.service}}
      in {{labels.environment}}.

      Alert summary: {{summary}}

      Return JSON only, no other text:
      {
        "confidence": 0.0,
        "summary": "...",
        "next_step_context": "...",
        "reasoning": {
          "supports": "...",
          "contradicts": "...",
          "assumptions": "..."
        }
      }

  - name: remediation
    executor: openclaw
    executor_config:
      agent: sre-remediation-sonnet
      session_key: "agent:sre-remediation-sonnet:{{pipeline_run_id}}:remediation"
    confidence_threshold: 0.85
    on_low_confidence: escalate
    on_abort: notify
    prompt_template: |
      Previous triage: {{steps.initial_triage.next_step_context}}
      ...
    verifier:
      executor: openclaw
      executor_config:
        agent: sre-verifier-opus
      combination_strategy: veto
      veto_floor: 0.60
      trigger:
        confidence_below: 0.95
        confidence_above: 0.50

notifications:
  escalate:
    - channel: log                   # always available — zero config required
      template: |
        ESCALATED: {{pipeline_name}} — {{step_summary}}
      config:
        level: error                 # debug | info | warning | error | critical
    - channel: telegram
      template: |
        Escalated: {{pipeline_name}}
        Service: {{labels.service}}
    - channel: webhook
      template: |
        {"text": "Escalated: {{pipeline_name}} — {{labels.service}}"}
      config:
        url: https://hooks.slack.com/services/...
        headers:
          Authorization: ${SLACK_TOKEN}

  notify:
    - channel: log
      template: "ABORTED: {{pipeline_name}} — {{step_summary}}"
      config:
        level: warning
    - channel: telegram
      template: |
        Aborted: {{pipeline_name}}
        Service: {{labels.service}}
        Step: {{current_step}}

schedule:                        # optional — omit for webhook-only pipelines
  cron: "*/5 * * * *"
  summary: "Scheduled health check for my-service"
  severity: warning
  labels:
    service: my-service
    environment: prod

budget:                          # optional — omit to run with no token/cost limit
  max_tokens: 50000              # abort run if accumulated tokens across all steps exceeds this
  max_usd: 5.00                  # abort run if COUNTED cost across all steps exceeds this
  count_pricing: live_cross_provider   # which pricing tiers count toward max_usd — see below

At least one of max_tokens/max_usd is required if budget: is present at all; both may be set together (whichever trips first aborts the run and names which limit it was). count_pricing is a trust threshold naming the least-trusted pricing tier still allowed to contribute to max_usd — manual (strictest), live_exact, or live_cross_provider (default, counts everything). It can also be set per step (steps[].count_pricing), overriding the pipeline’s default for that step’s contribution only — None inherits the pipeline’s value. See Cost accounting for the full three-tier pricing model this threshold applies to.

Token budget guardrail

If budget.max_tokens is set, the runner accumulates input_tokens + output_tokens from each completed step (including all branches of parallel/fan-out groups) and aborts the run with status=aborted if the total exceeds the ceiling. The check runs after each successful step — a step that’s already failed or escalated won’t trigger a second abort. A budget_exceeded event is appended to the run log.

Token counts come from meta.agentMeta.usage in the VectorStep Gateway response. Steps using other executors (openclaw, human, webhook) contribute 0 tokens to the accumulator — set max_tokens conservatively if your pipeline mixes executor types.