Local Development (3)

Last updated Oct 12, 2026 Workflows support local development using Wrangler, the command-line interface for Workers. Wrangler runs an emulated version of Workflows compared to the one that Cloudflare runs globally.

Prerequisites

To develop locally with Workflows, you will need:

Use Vite+ ( vp env) ↗︎ to install and manage Node.js versions. - If you are new to Workflows and/or Cloudflare Workers, refer to the Workflows Guide to install wrangler and deploy their first Workflows.

Start a local development session

Open your terminal and run the following commands to start a local development session:

# Confirm we are using wrangler v3.89.0+
npx wrangler --version

⛅️ wrangler 3.89.0

Start a local dev session

# Start a local dev session:
npx wrangler dev

------------------
Your worker has access to the following bindings:
- Workflows:
  - MY_WORKFLOW: MyWorkflow
⎔ Starting local server...
[wrangler:inf] Ready on http://127.0.0.1:8787/

Local development sessions create a standalone, local-only environment that mirrors the production environment Workflows runs in so you can test your Workflows before you deploy to production.

Refer to the wrangler dev documentation to learn more about how to configure a local development session.

Manage Workflows locally

Note

The --local flag for wrangler workflows commands requires Wrangler version 4.79.0 or greater. Use npx wrangler@latest to always use the latest version.

While a wrangler dev session is running, you can use all wrangler workflows commands with the --local flag to interact with your local Workflow instances.

The --local flag also works with Workflows declared only in the exports field of your Wrangler configuration, without a workflows binding. This requires Wrangler 4.142.0 or above.

For example, to list your local Workflows:

npx wrangler workflows list --local

To trigger a Workflow locally:

npx wrangler workflows trigger my-workflow --local

To inspect a specific instance:

npx wrangler workflows instances describe my-workflow <INSTANCE_ID> --local

All commands accept --port to target a specific wrangler dev session (defaults to 8787).

Local Explorer

Local Explorer is a browser-based interface for viewing and managing your local Workflow instances during development. Instead of running CLI commands, you can open Local Explorer in your browser and interact with your Workflows directly.

While a wrangler dev session is running, press e in your terminal to open Local Explorer, or go to http://localhost:8787/cdn-cgi/local/explorer in your browser.

With Local Explorer you can:

  • View all Workflows defined in your project and their instances.
  • Inspect the step history and current status of each instance.
  • Trigger new Workflow runs and send events to running instances.
  • Pause, resume, terminate, and restart instances.
  • Delete specific instances or clear all of them at once.

Local Explorer requires Wrangler version 4.82.1 or later, or Cloudflare Vite plugin version 1.32.0 or later.

Local Explorer also lists Workflows declared only in exports, with Wrangler version 4.142.0 or later, or Cloudflare Vite plugin version 1.61.0 or later.

Known Issues

Workflows are not supported as remote bindings or when using npx wrangler dev --remote.

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description: Best practices for building resilient Workflows, including idempotency, state management, and error handling. title: Rules of Workflows image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/workflows/build/rules-of-workflows/og.png?v=d41ea2e8f47b17f3

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