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Overview

Upstash Workflow operates on top of QStash, which is available in two distinct regions: EU region and US region. Each region is completely independent with its own infrastructure, pricing, resources, and workflow runs.

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Regional URLs

  • EU Region: https://qstash-eu-central-1.upstash.io, or https://qstash.upstash.io
  • US Region: https://qstash-us-east-1.upstash.io

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Key Concepts

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Separate Regions

Each region maintains:
  • Separate pricing and billing: Usage in each region is tracked and billed independently
  • Separate resources: Workflow runs, events, and configurations are region-specific
  • Separate credentials: Each region has its own API tokens and signing keys

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Migration Between Regions

If you don’t have any active resources (active workflow runs, schedules, url groups etc), you can simply update your environment variables with the new region to migrate. If you have active resources, you will need to migrate more gracefully, as described below. You can migrate your Workflow resources from one region to another using the Upstash Console:
  1. Navigate to the Workflow tab on Upstash Console
  2. Click the Migrate button
  3. Follow the guided migration process
The migration tool will:
  • Help you set up multi-region environment variables
  • Copy and update your QStash resources (schedules, url groups, queues)
Your workflow logs or DLQ aren’t part of the migration. They will remain in the old region.
After migration, your app will be able to handle requests from both regions simultaneously to ensure a smooth transition.

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Operating Modes

Workflow SDK supports two modes of operation:

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Single-Region Mode (Default)

When QSTASH_REGION environment variable is not set, the SDK operates in single-region mode:
  • Uses QSTASH_TOKEN and QSTASH_URL (or defaults to EU region)
  • All workflow triggers are sent through the configured region
  • Incoming workflow requests are verified using default signing keys
# Single-region configuration (EU)
QSTASH_URL="https://qstash.upstash.io"
QSTASH_TOKEN="your_eu_token"
QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY="your_eu_current_key"
QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY="your_eu_next_key"

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Multi-Region Mode

When QSTASH_REGION is set to US_EAST_1 or EU_CENTRAL_1, the SDK enables multi-region mode:
  • Uses region-specific credentials for the primary region
  • Automatically handles region detection for incoming workflow requests
  • Supports receiving workflow calls from multiple regions simultaneously
# Multi-region configuration with US as primary
QSTASH_REGION="US_EAST_1"

US_EAST_1_QSTASH_URL="https://qstash-us-east-1.upstash.io"
US_EAST_1_QSTASH_TOKEN="your_us_token"
US_EAST_1_QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY="your_us_current_key"
US_EAST_1_QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY="your_us_next_key"

EU_CENTRAL_1_QSTASH_URL="https://qstash-eu-central-1.upstash.io"
EU_CENTRAL_1_QSTASH_TOKEN="your_eu_token"
EU_CENTRAL_1_QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY="your_eu_current_key"
EU_CENTRAL_1_QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY="your_eu_next_key"
Multi-region mode relies on environment variables being available via process.env. It won’t work on platforms where process.env is not available, such as Cloudflare Workers.

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SDK Requirements

Multi-region support requires:
  • @upstash/workflow >= 1.1.0
  • @upstash/qstash >= 2.9.0
Update your dependencies: 
npm install @upstash/workflow@latest @upstash/qstash@latest

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Outgoing Requests (Triggering Workflows)

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How the SDK Selects a Region

For outgoing requests (triggering workflows using the client), the SDK determines which region to use based on the QSTASH_REGION environment variable: Single-Region Mode (QSTASH_REGION not set):
  1. SDK reads QSTASH_TOKEN and QSTASH_URL
  2. If QSTASH_URL is not set, defaults to EU region
  3. All workflow triggers are sent through this region
Multi-Region Mode (QSTASH_REGION set):
  1. SDK reads the QSTASH_REGION value (e.g., US_EAST_1)
  2. Uses region-specific credentials: {QSTASH_REGION}_QSTASH_TOKEN and {QSTASH_REGION}_QSTASH_URL
  3. All workflow triggers are sent through the specified region
  4. Falls back to default credentials if region-specific ones are missing

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Incoming Requests (Workflow Execution)

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Understanding the Region Header

QStash includes an upstash-region header with every workflow request to indicate the source region: 
upstash-region: US-EAST-1

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How the SDK Verifies and Routes Incoming Requests

The Workflow SDK has a sophisticated routing mechanism for incoming requests: Single-Region Mode:
  • Uses default signing keys: QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY and QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY
  • All workflow context operations use the default client
  • Ignores the upstash-region header
Multi-Region Mode: For incoming workflow requests, the SDK routes based on the upstash-region header:
  1. Checks the upstash-region header from the incoming request
  2. Uses the region-specific client based on the header value
  3. Falls back to the QSTASH_REGION if no upstash-region header is present
This means: If a workflow run was started in one region, all its steps will execute in that region