elsa-workflows/elsa-core 3.6.0-rc1

3.6.0 RC1

on GitHub

This release focuses on Flowchart execution improvements, stronger runtime correctness, major test coverage expansion, reliability fixes for scheduling/triggers and HTTP content handling, and a platform upgrade to .NET 10 while retaining support for .NET 8 and .NET 9.

Highlights

• Token-centric Flowchart execution model with configurable MergeMode, plus multiple refinements and DI-based configuration (opt-in). See Flowchart: token-based execution + per-activity MergeMode. (PRs: #6632, #6937, #6993, #7141)
• Upgrade to .NET 10 across the solution (with conditional compatibility dependencies where needed). (PR: #7062)
• New Activity Testing API and a major expansion of unit/integration/component test coverage across core activities, scheduling, HTTP endpoints, JavaScript, and flowchart execution. (PR: #6719 and many follow-ups)
• Improved runtime observability & execution record serialization, including snapshots and a new ActivityCompleted notification. (PRs: #6675, #6800, #6807)
• Reliability fixes across triggers/scheduling and HTTP content handling (cron delay edge cases, multi-engine trigger registration, Content-Length / charset issues). (PRs: #7047, #7131, #6676, #7027)

Flowchart: token-based execution + per-activity MergeMode (opt-in)

Elsa 3.6.0 introduces an optional token-based execution algorithm for the Flowchart activity. Instead of relying on the previous counter-based scheduling model, the Flowchart can now track progress using tokens that represent a taken connection (from a source activity outcome to a target activity).

When an activity completes, the flowchart:

• Emits tokens for each taken outbound connection (based on the activity’s outcome names).
• Consumes inbound tokens that were waiting for the completed activity.
• Schedules downstream activities based on each target activity’s MergeMode.

New: MergeMode (configurable per activity)

With token-based execution enabled, Flowchart supports a new MergeMode concept that determines how a node behaves when it has multiple inbound connections. You can now specify a merge mode per activity, allowing different “join” semantics within the same flowchart.

In broad terms, merge modes enable behaviors like:

• Stream-like behavior: proceeds without strict joining, helping avoid dead-path waiting.
• Forward-join behavior (Merge): waits for tokens from all forward inbound connections (loop/back edges don’t block).
• Strict join behavior (Converge): waits for tokens from all inbound connections, including loop/back edges.
• First-arrival behavior (Cascade / Race): schedules on the first arriving inbound token; in Race mode, other inbound ancestors are canceled so only the “winning” path continues.

This improves predictability for joins, forks, and cyclic graphs, while giving you fine-grained control over how each activity merges incoming paths.

How to opt in (Program.cs)

Token-based Flowchart execution is opt-in. Enable it via the Flowchart feature configuration:

elsa.UseFlowchart(flowchart => flowchart.UseTokenBasedExecution())

Breaking / Upgrading Notes

These are the changes most likely to affect upgrades from 3.5.x.

1) Multi-targeting: .NET 8, .NET 9, and .NET 10

Elsa 3.6.0 multi-targets .NET 8, .NET 9, and .NET 10.

• Most consumers can continue targeting .NET 8 or .NET 9.
• If you build Elsa from source (or run CI against the full repo), ensure your build agents have a .NET 10 SDK available. (PR: #7062)

2) Package / project renames

Some projects / packages have been renamed. Make sure to update your package references accordingly.

In most cases, this also impacted the root namespace of these packages, so update using statements and fully-qualified type names as needed.

Migration tips

• Start by updating NuGet references (e.g., in .csproj, Directory.Packages.props, Directory.Build.props).
• Then update namespaces/usages:
  • A simple approach is a solution-wide search/replace for the old root namespaces (e.g. Elsa.EntityFrameworkCore → Elsa.Persistence.EFCore).
  • If you have global usings, update those too.
• If you use central package management, ensure only the new package IDs remain (to avoid restore conflicts).

Optional commands (adjust paths as needed):

# If you want a quick way to find old package IDs/usings in your codebase:
rg "Elsa\\.(EntityFrameworkCore|Dapper|MongoDb|Elasticsearch|Webhooks|CSharp|Dsl|JavaScript|Liquid|Python|Kafka|MassTransit|FileStorage|Hangfire|Quartz)" -S

# Restore/build after updates:
dotnet restore --ignore-failed-sources
DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT=1 dotnet build

3) Modules moved out of Core

• SQL activities removed from Core. If you used SQL activities, reference the appropriate extension package(s) instead of relying on core-only dependencies. (PR: #6625)
• IO module moved to Extensions. If you depended on IO activities/types from core, update references to the new extension location. (PR: #6835)
• Persistence and integration packages renamed. If you referenced these packages previously, update your package references accordingly:
  • Elsa.Dapper → Elsa.Persistence.Dapper
  • Elsa.MongoDb → Elsa.Persistence.MongoDb
  • Elsa.Elasticsearch → Elsa.Persistence.Elasticsearch
  • Elsa.Webhooks → Elsa.Http.Webhooks
  • Elsa.Kafka → Elsa.ServiceBus.Kafka
  • Elsa.MassTransit.* → Elsa.ServiceBus.MassTransit.*
  • Elsa.FileStorage → Elsa.Storage.FileStorage
  • Elsa.Hangfire → Elsa.Scheduling.Hangfire
  • Elsa.Quartz.* → Elsa.Scheduling.Quartz.*

4) Persistence & database migrations

• Database extensions were refactored and migration support for v3.6 was added. Review persistence configuration and apply migrations where applicable. (PRs: #6788, #6931)

5) Flowchart execution semantics

• The token-centric Flowchart model and merge-mode changes can affect execution semantics in complex graphs (especially joins/loops/cycles). Re-test those workflows after upgrading. See Flowchart: token-based execution + per-activity MergeMode. (PRs: #6632, #6937, #6993, #7141)

Recommended verification checklist

After upgrading, we recommend validating the following areas:

• Flowcharts using joins, loops, and cyclic graphs (FlowJoin/WaitAny, merge modes). (#6592, #6632, #6937, #7151)
• Scheduling & cron triggers, especially fast schedules / edge cases. (#6641, #7047, #7045)
• Multi-engine environments for trigger registration correctness (no duplicates). (#7131)
• HTTP activities: Content-Type/charset handling and Content-Length correctness; file upload/download scenarios. (#6676, #7027, #7094, #7125)
• Persistence: migration path and EF Core provider configuration in your target environment. (#6788, #6931)

What’s Changed

Flowchart & core execution

• Fix unexpected FlowJoin(WaitAny) behavior in cyclic flow. (PR: #6592)
• Introduce token-centric Flowchart execution model with configurable MergeMode. (PR: #6632)
• Refactor flowchart token handling and enhance merge mode behavior. (PR: #6937)
• Refactors and clarifies Flowchart merge modes. (PR: #6993)
• Configures Flowchart Execution via DI. (PR: #7141)
• Fix Switch activity behavior and improve testing utilities. (PR: #7151)
• Improves Fork activity and break signal handling. (PR: #7104)
• Add missing Pending state to ActivityStatus enum. (PR: #6856)

Workflow composition, scripting & developer hooks

• Add optional workflow output flag. (PR: #6659)
• Add ActivityCompleted notification for workflow activity completion. (PR: #6675)
• Fix Liquid expressions not working in sub-workflows (workflow-as-activity). (PR: #6678)
• Allow C# Script to use dot notation with ExpandoObject (JSON variables). (PR: #6689)
• Search for workflow-as-activities based on DefinitionId (not only VersionId). (PR: #7149)
• Add Elsa Script DSL. (PR: #7076)
• Add bus configurator hook to MassTransitFeature. (PR: #6658)
• Workflow input as activity input. (PR: #6910)

HTTP, endpoints & content handling

• Fix Content-Type header charset auto-appending in HTTP requests. (PR: #6676)
• Fix Content-Length mismatch by reworking RawStringContent. (PR: #7027)
• Update RawStringContent encoding in JsonContentFactory. (PR: #6786)
• Fix wrong strategy selection for some string content. (PR: #6777)
• Expose the first uploaded file. (PR: #7010)
• Better base64 evaluation + appropriate zip entry naming. (PR: #6783)
• Fix wrong naming in resulting entries when file is input from HTTP. (PR: #6806)
• Unit & integration tests for DownloadHttpFile. (PR: #7094)
• HTTP endpoint unit, integration and component tests. (PR: #7125)

Triggers, scheduling & concurrency

• Trigger payload validation; refactor HttpEndpoint validator; add Cron validator. (PR: #6641)
• Fix cron triggers silently stopping when delay calculation returns zero. (PR: #7047)
• Fix semaphore release logic in scheduled task execution. (PR: #7045)
• Fix race condition causing duplicate trigger registration in multi-engine environments + add concurrency regression tests. (PR: #7131)
• Extensive unit and component tests for scheduling activities. (PR: #7036)

Persistence, database & migrations

• Refactor database extensions and support migrations for v3.6. (PR: #6788)

Serialization, conversion & correctness

• Add FuncExpressionValueConverter for JSON serialization. (PR: #6607)
• Introduce activity execution record capturing and serialization improvements. (PR: #6800)
• Refactor activity execution record serialization with snapshots. (PR: #6807)
• Add IEnumerableTypeConverter. (PR: #7020)
• Add IAsyncEnumerable check to GetItemSource. (PR: #6897)
• Parse VariableTestValues more robustly (ExpandoObject + type conversion). (PR: #6883)
• Use FullName in WorkflowDictionary. (PR: #6923)
• Add ILoggerFactory support to converters. (PR: #7153)
• Fix missing DefaultValue for OuterBoundInclusive in For activity. (PR: #6680)

Platform / dependencies / repo organization

• Upgrade projects to target .NET 10; update project files for consistency; add conditional compatibility dependencies. (PR: #7062)
• Update Jint to 4.3.0. (PR: #6794)
• Enhanced SasTokensFeature to support sharing protected keys via shared drive, Redis cache, and other mechanisms. (PR: #6665)
• Realign Core and Extension repos. (PR: #6664)
• Add back SasToken project. (PR: #6673)
• Remove SQL activities from Core. (PR: #6625)
• Remove IO module from Core (moved to Extensions). (PR: #6835)
• Enhance thread safety with ConcurrentDictionary usage. (PR: #6760)
• Downgrade JetBrains.Annotations to fix package builds. (PR: #6848)

Runtime stability / cleanup

• Fix FileSystemWatcher cleanup. (PR: #6657)
• Fix ASP.NET integration test crashes by adding proper Elsa background task shutdown. (PR: #6686)
• Fix EventBase child activity not executing OnEventReceived. (PR: #6687)
• Fix ParentWorkflowInstanceId not being set. (PR: #7029)

UI / Studio / Designer

• View suspended workflow in studio fix. (PR: #6646)
• New UI hint: RadioList (API models + UI components + related refactors). (PRs: #6711, #6712, #6713, #6714)
• Generic activity name fix. (PR: #6698)
• Refactor ActivityRegistry to populate all activities in workflow edit. (PR: #6605)
• Fix: allow loading all descriptors in the UI. (PR: #6648)

Testing (major coverage expansion)

This release includes a large number of new tests across most core activities. Some representative additions:

• Implement Activity Testing API. (PR: #6719)
• Coverage enforcement for test projects. (PR: #6950)
• Code coverage configuration and test project adjustments. (PR: #7049)
• Integration tests for Flowchart. (PR: #6991)
• Integration tests for RunJavaScript + introduce WorkflowTestFixture. (PR: #7002)
• Integration tests for WorkflowDefinitionActivity scenarios. (PR: #6999)
• ExecuteWorkflow activity tests. (PR: #7003)
• BulkDispatchWorkflows tests and improved activity coverage. (PR: #7026)
• DispatchWorkflow tests with new workflow definitions. (PR: #7035)
• Integration tests for core activities. (PR: #7100)
• Many more unit & integration tests across core activities such as Container, Sequence, Start/End/Complete/Finish/Fault, ParallelForEach, Correlate, EventBase, Publish Event, and multiple flow activities. (Multiple PRs including: #6989, #6995–#6997, #7001, #7004, #7005, #7007, #7008, #7016, #7031, #7090, #7093, #7102, #7103, #7108–#7117, #7119–#7120, #7112)

Misc / docs / polish

• Update CommonTypesDefinitionProvider.cs. (PR: #6615)
• Fix typo in README section title. (PR: #6629)
• Fix spelling in hosted service LogError messages. (PR: #6654)
• Fix duplicate words in XML comments. (PR: #6655)

New Contributors

Thanks to our new contributors:

• @Nordran (PR: #6592)
• @mhichb (PR: #6615)
• @MaxBrooks114 (PR: #6607)
• @LaamiriOuail (PR: #6629)
• @zengande (PR: #6761)
• @FuJa0815 (PR: #6897)
• @mberthillot-flowwa (PR: #6910)
• @crashkonijn (PR: #7029)
• @j03y-nxxbz (PR: #7149)
• @Jelger-Quadira (PR: #7146)

Full Changelog

• Compare view: 3.5.2...3.6.0-rc1