Deploying Workflows
When you deploy a workflow, you register it with a workflow registry so it can activate and respond to triggers across a Decentralized Oracle Network (DON). CRE supports two registry models, selected per deployment target via deployment-registry in workflow.yaml:
- Private workflow: Lifecycle operations (deploy, activate, pause, update, delete) are authorized by your CRE login session against the Chainlink-hosted private registry. No linked wallet, no gas, no Ethereum Mainnet RPC required for registry management. This is the default for new projects initialized with
cre init. - Public/onchain workflow: Lifecycle operations submit transactions to the Workflow Registry contract on Ethereum Mainnet, authorized by your linked web3 wallet key.
This is a control-plane choice — it governs how workflow management is authorized, not how workflow execution behaves. See Private workflow and Confidential execution for the distinction.
Comparing registries
Run cre registry list to see which registries are available to your organization:
cre registry list
Example output:
Registries available to your organization
ethereum-mainnet (0x4Ac5...E7e5)
ID: onchain:ethereum-mainnet
Type: on-chain
Addr: 0x4Ac54353FA4Fa961AfcC5ec4B118596d3305E7e5
Private (Chainlink-hosted)
ID: private
Type: off-chain
Use the ID value as the deployment-registry in your workflow.yaml.
| Private workflow | Public / onchain workflow | |
|---|---|---|
deployment-registry value | "private" | "onchain:ethereum-mainnet" |
| Authorization | CRE login session | Linked web3 wallet key |
| Ethereum Mainnet RPC required | No | Yes |
| ETH for gas (registry ops) | No | Yes |
cre account link-key required | No | Yes |
| Creates onchain record | No | Yes, in Workflow Registry contract |
Default for cre init projects | Yes | No |
| Ideal for | Testing, team-managed workflows | Production, multisig ownership |
Secrets follow the same split. See Using Secrets with Deployed Workflows for the per-registry secrets flows.
Limits
Both registry types have per-organization defaults. See Service Quotas for current values.
| Default limit | |
|---|---|
| Private registry workflows per organization | 3 |
| Linked keys per organization (onchain) | 1 |
| Workflows per linked key (onchain) | 3 |
Deployment guides
For step-by-step instructions, choose the guide for your target registry:
- Deploying to the Private Registry — Uses your CRE login session. No wallet, no gas, no Ethereum Mainnet RPC required for registry operations.
- Deploying to the Onchain Registry — Requires a linked wallet key and ETH on Ethereum Mainnet for registry transaction gas.