Introduction to Liteflow Rule Engine: Architecture, Components, Configuration, and Business Use Cases

In daily development, serial and parallel business processes often need coordination without direct correlation; using a rule engine like Liteflow can address this need efficiently.

Liteflow is a lightweight yet powerful rule engine that can be used out‑of‑the‑box with Spring Boot, MyBatis Plus, Vue & Element, supporting multiple rule file formats (XML, JSON, YAML) and storage options such as SQL, Zookeeper, Nacos, or Apollo.

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.yomahub</groupId>
  <artifactId>liteflow-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
  <version>2.10.6</version>
</dependency>

Liteflow’s architecture consists of a flow executor, data context for parameter passing, and node components. Node types include ordinary components (implementing NodeComponent), switch components (extending NodeSwitchComponent), and conditional components (extending NodeIfComponent), each supporting custom business logic and error handling.

Configuration is performed via YAML, for example:

liteflow:
  ruleSource: liteflow/*.el.xml
  retry-count: 0
  print-execution-log: true
  monitor:
    enable-log: true
    period: 300000
  request-id-generator-class: com.platform.orderserver.config.AppRequestIdGenerator
  slot-size: 10240
  main-executor-works: 64
  when-max-wait-seconds: 15
  when-max-workers: 16
  when-queue-limit: 5120
  parse-on-start: true
  enable: true

Example XML rule files illustrate serial composition ( THEN(a, b, c)), parallel composition ( WHEN(a, b, c)), switch logic ( SWITCH(a).to(b, c)), and conditional execution ( THEN(IF(x, a), b)).

A practical e‑commerce scenario demonstrates a flow where, after an order is completed, points are granted, a message is sent, and email and SMS notifications are dispatched in parallel, showcasing Liteflow’s ability to orchestrate complex business processes.

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