🧩 Python Automation Recipes – ⚙️ Workflow Runner

Posted on: April 27, 2026

Description:

📌 Introduction

Hardcoding every task inside a script works at first, but it becomes messy when workflows grow. A better approach is to define tasks in a config file and let Python execute them dynamically.

This automation recipe shows how to build a simple config-based workflow runner using JSON. It reads a config file, checks which tasks are enabled, and executes them in order.

This is a great foundation for:

automation pipelines
internal tools
batch jobs
mini workflow engines

🔎 Explanation

The workflow is defined in a separate JSON config file.
Each task has:
- a task name
- an enabled/disabled flag
The Python script reads the config and maps task names to functions.
Only enabled tasks are executed.
This keeps the workflow flexible without constantly changing the script.

Later, this can be extended with:

YAML support
task parameters
retries
logging
dependencies between tasks

✅ Key Takeaways

⚙️ Run workflows from a config file.
🧩 Keep automation logic clean and flexible.
🚀 Foundation for building mini workflow engines.

📄 Sample `workflow_config.json`

{
  "workflow_name": "daily_automation",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "name": "backup_folder",
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "name": "clean_logs",
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "name": "send_report",
      "enabled": false
    }
  ]
}

Code Snippet:

import json
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime

# --- Step 1: Configure config file path ---
CONFIG_FILE = Path("workflow_config.json")

# --- Step 2: Define task functions ---
def backup_folder():
    print("Running folder backup task...")
    # Add real backup logic here

def clean_logs():
    print("Running log cleanup task...")
    # Add real log cleaning logic here

def send_report():
    print("Running report email task...")
    # Add real email report logic here

# --- Step 3: Map task names from config to Python functions ---
TASK_REGISTRY = {
    "backup_folder": backup_folder,
    "clean_logs": clean_logs,
    "send_report": send_report,
}

# --- Step 4: Load workflow configuration ---
if not CONFIG_FILE.exists():
    raise FileNotFoundError(f"Config file not found: {CONFIG_FILE}")

with CONFIG_FILE.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as file:
    config = json.load(file)

workflow_name = config.get("workflow_name", "unnamed_workflow")
tasks = config.get("tasks", [])

print(f"Starting workflow: {workflow_name}")
print(f"Started at: {datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')}\n")

# --- Step 5: Execute enabled tasks in order ---
for task in tasks:
    task_name = task.get("name")
    enabled = task.get("enabled", False)

    if not enabled:
        print(f"Skipped disabled task: {task_name}")
        continue

    task_function = TASK_REGISTRY.get(task_name)

    if task_function:
        print(f"Executing task: {task_name}")
        task_function()
        print(f"Completed task: {task_name}\n")
    else:
        print(f"Unknown task: {task_name}\n")

print("Workflow execution completed.")

← →	move
↑	rotate
↓	soft drop
Space	hard drop
P	pause / resume

🧩 Python Automation Recipes – ⚙️ Workflow Runner

Description:

📌 Introduction

🔎 Explanation

✅ Key Takeaways

📄 Sample `workflow_config.json`

Code Snippet:

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