This document’s purpose is to accelerate your development process by providing a collection of reusable patterns for common tasks.

Instead of showcasing entire** end-to-end** use cases, this guide focuses on individual, common “steps” you’ll encounter while building. For each pattern, we recommend the most efficient method, whether it’s an LLM action, a Moveworks Data Mapper expression, a DSL query, or a Python Script.

Let’s dive into the patterns.

Performing Actions in Batch

Problem: You want to perform a series of actions repetitively for a list elements. For example, sending a notification to a group of users.

List of users

1 {
2   "data": {
3     "email_list": [
4       "jane.doe@example.com",
5       "john_smith88@gmail.com",
6       "alice.w@yahoo.com",
7       "support@mybusiness.net",
8       "data-report-user@company.org",
9       "tester_01@outlook.com"
10     ]
11   }
12 }

Usage Compound Action

1 steps:
2   - action:
3       action_name: mw.batch_get_users_by_email
4       output_key: list_of_users
5       input_args:
6         user_emails: data.email_list
7   - for:
8       output_key: list_of_notifications
9       each: record
10       in: data.list_of_users.user_records
11       index: idx
12       steps:
13         - notify:
14             output_key: notification_output
15             recipient_id: record.lookup_id
16             message:
17               RENDER():
18                 args:
19                   user_name: record.user.full_name
20                 template: Hi {{user_name}}, you have not submitted your project update this week. Please do before the end of the day!
21         - action:
22             action_name: do_some_action_for_user
23             output_key: action_result
24             input_args:
25               user: record.user
26 ...

Deduplicating a List

Problem: You have a list that contains duplicate values, and you need a list with only unique elements.

Deduplicating a list of scalars

Input

1 {
2   "data": {
3     "duplicated_fruit_list": ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "apple", "banana", "date"]
4   }
5 }

1 seen = set()
2 unique = []
3 for x in elements:
4     if x in seen:
5         continue
6     seen.add(x)
7     unique.append(x)
8 return unique

Usage in Compound Action

1 steps:
2   - action:
3 		  name: deduplicate_list
4 			output_key: deduplicate_list_result
5       input_args:
6         elements: data.duplicated_fruit_list
7   - return:
8       output_mapper:
9         unique_list: steps.deduplicate_list

Result

1 {
2 	"duplicated_fruit_list": ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "date"]
3 }

Deduplicating a list of objects

In this case we will deduplicating a list of objects that have the same email key

1 seen = set()
2 out = []
3 for obj in elements:
4     if not isinstance(obj, dict) or key_field not in obj:
5         continue
6     k = obj[key_field]
7     if k in seen:
8         continue
9     seen.add(k)
10     out.append(obj)
11 return out

Usage in Compound Action

1 steps:
2   - action:
3 		  name: deduplicate_object_list
4 			output_key: deduplicate_list_result
5       input_args:
6       elements: data.input_list
7 			key_field: '''email'''
8   - return:
9       output_mapper:
10         unique_list: steps.deduplicate_list

Sort Alphabetically

Problem: You need to provide a list of elements sorted alphabetically

Input Arguments

1 {
2   "data":{
3   "fruits": ["red", "green", "blue", "yellow", "purple"]
4   }
5 }

Compound Action

1 steps:
2   - action:
3       name: enter_fruits_into_system
4       ouput_key: fruits_result
5       inputs_args:
6         sorted_fruits:
7           SORT():
8             items: data.fruits
9             key: item

Result

1 {
2   "sorted_fruits": [
3     "blue",
4     "green",
5     "purple",
6     "red",
7     "yellow"
8   ]
9 }

Sort Timestamps

Problem: You want to sort a list of based on the timestamp

Sorting a list of timestamps

input

1 {
2   "data": {
3     "ts": [
4       "Monday, Sep 22, 2025 at 8:15 AM MDT",
5       "Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 at 10:30 AM MDT",
6       "Friday, Sep 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM MDT",
7       "Friday, Sep 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM MDT"
8     ]
9   }
10 }

Compound Action

1 steps:
2   - action:
3       name: enter_timestamps
4       ouput_key: timestamps_result
5       inputs_args:
6         sorted_timestamps:
7           SORT():
8             items: data.ts
9             key: item.$PARSE_TIME()

Result

1 {
2   "sorted_timestamps": [
3     "Friday, Sep 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM MDT",
4     "Friday, Sep 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM MDT",
5     "Saturday, Sep 20, 2025 at 10:30 AM MDT",
6     "Monday, Sep 22, 2025 at 8:15 AM MDT"
7   ]
8 }

Sorting a list of objects by timestamp

Input

1 {
2   "data": {
3     "finances": [
4       {
5         "id": "txn_k5p1",
6         "ts": "2025-09-20T10:30:00-06:00",
7         "amount": 2500.0
8       },
9       {
10         "id": "txn_z7h3",
11         "ts": "2025-09-22T08:15:00-06:00",
12         "amount": -29.99
13       },
14       {
15         "id": "txn_8x4f",
16         "ts": "2025-09-19T17:14:04-06:00",
17         "amount": -8.5
18       },
19       {
20         "id": "txn_a2d9",
21         "ts": "2025-09-19T21:00:00-06:00",
22         "amount": 150.75
23       }
24     ]
25   }
26 }

Compound Action

1 steps:
2   - action:
3       name: enter_finances
4       ouput_key: finances_result
5       inputs_args:
6         sorted_financials:
7           SORT():
8             items: data.finances
9             key: item.ts.$PARSE_TIME()

Result

1 {
2   "sorted_financials": [
3     {
4       "amount": -8.5,
5       "id": "txn_8x4f",
6       "ts": "2025-09-19T17:14:04-06:00"
7     },
8     {
9       "amount": 150.75,
10       "id": "txn_a2d9",
11       "ts": "2025-09-19T21:00:00-06:00"
12     },
13     {
14       "amount": 2500,
15       "id": "txn_k5p1",
16       "ts": "2025-09-20T10:30:00-06:00"
17     },
18     {
19       "amount": -29.99,
20       "id": "txn_z7h3",
21       "ts": "2025-09-22T08:15:00-06:00"
22     }
23   ]
24 }

Easiest way to multiline string usage in YAML

Problem: You want to a multiline string’s structure to be maintained

Solution: Use Render() and the | character with your template value indented

Compound Action

1 result:
2   display_instruction_for_model:
3     RENDER():
4       template: |
5         Each row = one unique order line item in a customer’s purchase.
6         Uniqueness: LINE_ITEM_ID is the primary key (unique per row).
7         Aggregation grain:
8           - Line item–level -> count rows / COUNT(DISTINCT LINE_ITEM_ID)
9           - Order-level -> COUNT(DISTINCT ORDER_ID)
10           - Customer-level -> COUNT(DISTINCT CUSTOMER_ID)
11           - Product-level -> COUNT(DISTINCT PRODUCT_ID)
12         Rule: Always aggregate at the appropriate grain to ensure metrics align correctly with the business question.