# Quickstart

From zero to a verified, resumable run: write a flow, run it, and pick it back up after a crash.

Rendered page: https://agentrelay.com/docs/relayflows/quickstart
Markdown endpoint: https://agentrelay.com/docs/relayflows/markdown/quickstart.md

---

This walks you from a fresh install to a real run in a few commands, using nothing but the published `relayflows` CLI. No scaffolder, no project template.

## 1. Install

```bash TypeScript
npm init -y
npm install @relayflows/surface relayflows
```
```bash YAML
npm install -g relayflows
```

TypeScript flows import `@relayflows/surface` at runtime, so it's a project dependency. YAML is data — the global `relayflows` install is all you need.

## 2. Write a flow

```typescript TypeScript
// hello.flow.ts
import { flow } from '@relayflows/surface';

export default flow('hello', async (f) => {
  const greeting = await f.run('printf "Hello from Relayflows"');
  console.log(greeting.trim());
  f.done('success');
});
```
```yaml YAML
# hello.flow.yaml
version: '0.1.0'
name: hello
steps:
  - id: greeting
    type: deterministic
    command: "printf 'Hello from Relayflows'"
    verification:
      type: output_contains
      value: Hello
  - id: finish
    type: deterministic
    dependsOn: [greeting]
    command: "printf done"
```

YAML is canonical — the compiler can check it without running anything. TypeScript is the power tool: the same primitives, called imperatively, with ordinary `if`/`for` control flow around each `await`.

## 3. Run it

```bash TypeScript
npx flows run hello.flow.ts --input '{}'
```
```bash YAML
npx flows check hello.flow.yaml   # preflight only — nothing runs
npx flows run hello.flow.yaml
```

This is a real, captured run:

```text TypeScript
Hello from Relayflows
RUN 01M26JC2VPAGFVTCVWFT3GSCXQ completed (2 steps) completionReason: success
```
```text YAML
CHECK PASSED hello.flow.yaml
RUN 01M26HYJNS6A4K5Q64FH6D0SG9 completed (2 steps) completionReason: success
```

Every step's outcome is in the journal now, keyed by that run ID. `flows check` only takes a `flow.yaml` or `spec.json` — a TypeScript flow gets the same preflight for free, as the first thing `flows run` does.

## 4. If it gets interrupted

`flows run` starts a background daemon, `relayflowd`. The journal lives there, not in the CLI process you typed the command into. Close the terminal, lose power, or kill the daemon itself mid-run: nothing is lost.

```bash
flows resume 01M26JC2VPAGFVTCVWFT3GSCXQ
```

`resume` starts a fresh daemon if none is up, reads the journal from disk, and continues from the first step that never recorded a `completionReason` — the step already marked done doesn't run again.

## Next

- [Build a flow](https://agentrelay.com/docs/relayflows/build): Write your own steps, verification, and permissions — YAML or TypeScript.
  - [Multi-agent flows](https://agentrelay.com/docs/relayflows/multi-agent): Several named agents, different CLIs, one flow.
  - [CLI](https://agentrelay.com/docs/relayflows/cli): Every command: check, run, resume, tick, observe.