Workflow vs Pipe vs Run

Disambiguating Argo's `Workflow`, Pipekit's `Pipe`, and Pipekit's `Run`.

These three terms are easy to confuse because they overlap.

Term	Owner	What it is
Workflow	Argo	The Kubernetes custom resource. The YAML you write; the spec Argo executes.
Pipe	Pipekit	A logical container for one Workflow definition and the history of every run of it.
Run	Pipekit	A single execution of the Workflow inside a Pipe. Each submission produces a new Run in the Pipe.

The hierarchy is one-to-many in one direction. One Workflow definition → one Pipe → many Runs. A Pipe is created the first time Pipekit sees a Workflow with a given generateName (or name); subsequent submissions of the same workflow create new Runs inside the same Pipe rather than new Pipes.

Pipekit does not replace or hide Argo's Workflow. The Pipe and Run are Pipekit-side metadata; the underlying Kubernetes object running in your cluster is still an Argo Workflow, managed by the Argo Workflow Controller.

For the day-to-day surfaces, see Pipes and Runs.