Architecture

System Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                              Browser (external-ui)                           │
│                                                                             │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │              /workflow-interaction Page (Split-Pane)                  │   │
│  │                                                                      │   │
│  │  ┌─────────────────────┐    ┌────────────────────────────────────┐  │   │
│  │  │   Action List Pane  │    │       Action Detail Pane            │  │   │
│  │  │                     │    │                                      │  │   │
│  │  │  • Status filter    │    │  ┌─────────────────────────────┐    │  │   │
│  │  │  • Action cards     │    │  │ GetApprovalHandler          │    │  │   │
│  │  │  • Load More        │    │  │ ShowFormHandler              │    │  │   │
│  │  │                     │    │  │ WaitOnEventHandler           │    │  │   │
│  │  │                     │    │  │ CompletedActionView          │    │  │   │
│  │  │                     │    │  └─────────────────────────────┘    │  │   │
│  │  └─────────────────────┘    └────────────────────────────────────┘  │   │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│                                                                             │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Service Layer: services/backend/wil.ts + auth.ts + axios.ts         │   │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        │                    │                     │
        │ GET /actions       │ POST /callback      │ POST /chefs-token
        │ GET /messages      │                     │
        │ GET /tenants       │                     │
        ▼                    ▼                     ▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     external-hooks (Express on n8n)                            │
│                                                                               │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  /ui-api/wil Router (buildWilRouter)                                   │   │
│  │                                                                        │   │
│  │  Middleware: requireUiRequestContext (OIDC session validation)          │   │
│  │                                                                        │   │
│  │  Helpers:                                                              │   │
│  │   • resolveWilTenantProjectIds — tenant → project IDs                  │   │
│  │   • resolveActorMatchers — session + tenantId → user/role/group ids    │   │
│  │   • mapActionToUiResponse — strip sensitive fields                     │   │
│  │   • formatListResponse — keyset pagination cursor                      │   │
│  │                                                                        │   │
│  │  Services:                                                             │   │
│  │   • ActionService.list() / .getById() / .updateStatus()                │   │
│  │   • MessageService.list()                                              │   │
│  │   • ChefsService.getFormToken()                                        │   │
│  │   • TenantService.listTenants()                                        │   │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        │                                          │
        │ Forward callback body                    │ Basic Auth token exchange
        ▼                                          ▼
┌─────────────────────┐               ┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  n8n Webhook URL    │               │  CHEFS Gateway API           │
│  (upstream callback)│               │  /auth/token/forms/{formId}  │
└─────────────────────┘               └──────────────────────────────┘

Component Hierarchy (Frontend)

WorkflowInteraction (page — pages/workflow-interaction.tsx)
├── TenantSelector (components/wil/tenant-selector.tsx)
├── DateFilter (components/wil/date-filter.tsx)
├── TabBar (components/wil/tab-bar.tsx)
├── StatusFilter (components/wil/status-filter.tsx)
├── Split-Pane Grid
│   ├── ActionsTab (components/wil/actions-tab.tsx)
│   │   └── ActionItem[] (components/wil/action-item.tsx)
│   └── ActionDetailPane (components/action-detail-pane.tsx)
│       ├── Placeholder (no selection)
│       ├── GetApprovalHandler (components/action-handlers/get-approval-handler.tsx)
│       ├── ShowFormHandler (components/action-handlers/show-form-handler.tsx)
│       │   └── ChefsFormViewer (components/chefs/chefs-form-viewer.tsx)
│       │       └── <chefs-form-viewer> (web component)
│       ├── WaitOnEventHandler (components/action-handlers/wait-on-event-handler.tsx)
│       ├── CompletedActionView (components/action-handlers/completed-action-view.tsx)
│       └── UnsupportedAction (fallback)
└── MessagesTab (components/wil/messages-tab.tsx)
    └── MessageItem (inline)

File Organization

The frontend is organized by domain:

external-ui/src/
├── pages/
│   └── workflow-interaction.tsx         ← Page shell (state, layout, routing)
├── components/
│   ├── wil/                            ← WIL page sub-components
│   │   ├── index.ts                    ← Barrel export
│   │   ├── tenant-selector.tsx         ← Tenant dropdown (react-query)
│   │   ├── date-filter.tsx             ← Time range filter + computeSinceDate()
│   │   ├── status-filter.tsx           ← Multi-select status toggle
│   │   ├── tab-bar.tsx                 ← Actions/Messages tab switcher
│   │   ├── actions-tab.tsx             ← Action list with query + pagination
│   │   ├── action-item.tsx             ← Single action card (badges)
│   │   └── messages-tab.tsx            ← Message list with query + pagination
│   ├── action-handlers/                ← Action type interaction handlers
│   │   ├── shared/
│   │   │   └── error-utils.ts          ← Shared extractErrorMessage utility
│   │   ├── get-approval-handler.tsx
│   │   ├── show-form-handler.tsx
│   │   ├── wait-on-event-handler.tsx
│   │   └── completed-action-view.tsx
│   ├── action-detail-pane.tsx          ← Handler dispatcher (routes by actionType)
│   └── chefs/                          ← CHEFS form viewer integration
│       ├── chefs-form-viewer.tsx
│       ├── use-chefs-script.hook.ts
│       └── types.ts
└── services/backend/
    ├── wil.ts                          ← WIL API service functions
    ├── auth.ts                         ← Whoami / session calls
    └── axios.ts                        ← Axios instance + token storage

Backend Route Structure

Express app (n8n)
└── /ui-api (buildUiApiRouter)
    ├── /session, /auth/*, /whoami, /workflows (existing)
    └── /wil (buildWilRouter — sub-router)
        ├── GET  /tenants        → TenantService.listTenants()
        ├── GET  /messages       → MessageService.list()
        ├── GET  /actions        → ActionService.list() + mapActionToUiResponse
        ├── POST /chefs-token    → ActionService.getById() + ChefsService.getFormToken()
        └── POST /callback       → ActionService.getById() + fetch(callbackUrl) + updateStatus()

Request Lifecycle

Standard Action List Request

1. Browser sends GET /ui-api/wil/actions?status=pending&limit=20 with headers:

   • Authorization: Bearer <app-token>
   • X-TENANT-ID: <uuid>

2. requireUiRequestContext middleware validates the Bearer JWT, attaches session.

3. resolveWilTenantProjectIds extracts and validates X-TENANT-ID, queries tenant_project_relation table for project IDs.

4. resolveActorMatchers builds the actor filter from the OIDC session and the validated tenantId:

   • userId — user's email
   • userFallback — OIDC subject (legacy identifier)
   • roleNames — CSTAR role names the user holds in this tenant
   • groupNames — CSTAR group names the user belongs to in this tenant

5. Zod schema parses query params (limit, since, status).

6. ActionService.list() queries action_requests table with a single OR clause:

   WHERE project_id IN (resolved project IDs)
     AND (
       (actor_type = 'user'  AND actor_id IN [email, subject])
       OR (actor_type = 'role'  AND actor_id IN [role names])
       OR (actor_type = 'group' AND actor_id IN [group names])
     )
     AND status IN (filter values)

7. mapActionToUiResponse strips sensitive fields from each action.

8. formatListResponse adds nextCursor if results fill the limit.

9. Response returned to browser.

Callback Proxy Request

1. Browser sends POST /ui-api/wil/callback with body { actionId, body: {...} }.

2. Backend fetches the full action record (including callbackUrl, callbackMethod).

3. If callbackMethod === 'NONE' or URL is empty → mark completed, return.

4. Otherwise, forward body to callbackUrl with 30-second timeout.

5. On upstream 2xx → update action status to completed → return success.

6. On upstream error → return error without updating status (user can retry).

Key Architectural Decisions

Why a Callback Proxy?

The n8n webhook URLs contain internal routing information. Exposing them to the browser would:

• Allow users to bypass the UI and call webhooks directly
• Reveal internal infrastructure details
• Prevent server-side audit logging of interactions

The proxy fetches the URL from the DB at call time, ensuring the frontend only needs the actionId.

Why Separate CHEFS Token Exchange?

The CHEFS FormAPIKey is a long-lived secret that grants full API access to a form. The exchange endpoint:

• Keeps the key server-side (never sent to browser)
• Returns a short-lived JWT scoped to one form
• Allows the backend to validate the action exists and belongs to the actor before issuing a token

Why Keyset Pagination?

Offset-based pagination (OFFSET N) suffers from drift when new records are inserted. Keyset pagination using createdAt|id cursors provides:

• Stable results as new actions arrive
• O(1) performance regardless of offset depth
• Simple "Load More" UX without page numbers

Why OR-Based Actor Matching?

Actions and messages can be assigned to a user (by email or OIDC subject), a CSTAR role, or a CSTAR group. A single OR-based query matches all three in one database round-trip:

• actor_type = 'user' — direct user assignment by email or legacy OIDC subject
• actor_type = 'role' — any user holding that CSTAR role in the current tenant sees the item
• actor_type = 'group' — any member of that CSTAR group in the current tenant sees the item

This allows workflow designers to target a position (role) or a team (group) rather than a specific individual, which is the common case in government workflows where the responsible party may vary.