Workflow editor gains an optional read-only graph (DAG) view alongside the YAML editor

[nastasha-solomon]

Summary

The workflow editor can now show a read-only visual graph (DAG) representation of a workflow's steps and control flow alongside the existing YAML view, with a toggle in a bottom bar that auto-collapses to a pill and syncs step selection and execution status between the two views. The feature requires two settings to both be enabled — the workflows:experimentalFeatures Advanced Setting and a workflows:ui:visualEditor:enabled config flag — so it is off by default and clearly experimental; known dark-mode styling and icon-sync issues are being fixed in follow-up PRs and don't need documenting as caveats.

Why this needs docs: The existing "Use the YAML editor" page explicitly calls itself the primary interface, documents a fixed editor layout with a screenshot, and says nothing about a graph view, so it becomes stale for any user with both flags enabled once this ships; the Advanced Settings reference page also has an entry for the sibling workflows:ui:enabled flag but none yet for the two flags this feature depends on.

Resources

• PR #271676 — [One Workflow] Workflow read-only visualization editor mode

Screenshots from PR

Availability

Channel	Details
Stack	v9.5.0
Serverless	Jul 6–Jul 10
Feature status	preview
Feature flag	experimentalFeatures

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Created with Docs Quest Scanner by @nastasha-solomon

Suggested edits

Use the YAML editor > Editor layout

• What the docs say: "The YAML editor is the primary interface for creating and editing workflows," with an Editor layout table listing: Editor pane, Actions menu, Save button, Run button, Executions tab, Validation logs, and a screenshot (workflows-editor.png).
• What to add: Add a new subsection (e.g. "Switch to the graph view") describing the YAML/Graph toggle in the bottom bar, its auto-collapse-to-pill behavior after 5 seconds, the compact-mode overflow popover below 800px width, step-selection sync between editor and graph, and the execution-status overlay on graph nodes. Wrap this in a technical-preview admonition since it depends on two flags being enabled; do not document the known dark-mode label styling bug or icon/YAML sync issue, both are acknowledged follow-up fixes. Applies from 9.5.0 (technical preview, requires workflows:experimentalFeatures and workflows:ui:visualEditor:enabled) and in serverless.

Advanced Settings > Workflows settings

• What the docs say: Only workflows:ui:enabled is documented, tagged Preview since 9.3, default false, using the definition-term / stack-availability pattern.
• What to add: Add a definition-term entry for workflows:experimentalFeatures (Enable experimental workflow features) following the same pattern as workflows:ui:enabled, tagged Preview rather than GA, and note that the config-file setting workflows:ui:visualEditor:enabled must also be enabled for the graph view to appear (call out if config-file-only settings are out of scope for this page and belong on the setup page instead). Applies from 9.5.0 (technical preview) and in serverless.

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[nastasha-solomon]

Consolidated into elastic/docs-content-internal#1454 (Workflow visualization — diagram (DAG) view), which tracks the read-only graph view. Closing to consolidate.