Understanding UiPath 'Corrupted/Broken' Workflow Structure After Downloading from Orchestrator

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Understanding UiPath ‘Corrupted/Broken’ Workflow Structure After Downloading from Orchestrator

Issue

After downloading a project from UiPath Orchestrator to my local machine, the workflow appears broken or unreadable. For example, activities show as Delegate Body, and the structure looks different from what I originally published.

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Cause

When you download a process from Orchestrator, some dependencies are converted to runtime packages instead of the standard design-time activity packages. Specifically:

  • UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities → becomes → UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities.Runtime
  • UiPath.System.Activities → becomes → UiPath.System.Activities.Runtime

This causes the workflow to look broken because the design-time activities are missing.

Example from project.json:

"dependencies": {
    "UiPath.System.Activities.Runtime": "[24.10.6]",
    "UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities.Runtime": "[24.10.7]"
}

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Solution

To fix this:

  1. Open your project in UiPath Studio.
  2. Go to Manage Packages.
  3. Under Installed, uninstall:
  • UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities.Runtime
  • UiPath.System.Activities.Runtime
  1. Switch to All Packages and install:
  • UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities
  • UiPath.System.Activities
  1. Click Save. UiPath will uninstall the runtime packages and install the correct design-time packages.
  2. Reopen your workflow – it should now display correctly.

:white_check_mark: After doing this, your workflow will return to its normal structure.

Why Does Orchestrator Use Runtime Packages?

When you publish a process to Orchestrator, UiPath optimizes the package for execution on Robots, not for design in Studio. This means:

  • Design-time packages (like UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities and UiPath.System.Activities) contain all the metadata and UI elements needed for editing workflows in Studio.
  • Runtime packages (like UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities.Runtime and UiPath.System.Activities.Runtime) are lightweight versions that only include what’s necessary for execution. They do not include the designer components, so when you download the process back from Orchestrator, Studio cannot render the activities properly.

This is why the workflow looks “broken” or shows Delegate Body placeholders—the activities themselves are missing because Studio only sees runtime assemblies.

In short:

  • Orchestrator → Publishes runtime-optimized packages for Robots.
  • Studio → Needs full design-time packages to display and edit workflows.
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Hello @valerie.erasmus

Have you tried changing this property under Project Settings when developing your solutions?

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Regards
Soren

1 Like
3

Hi Soren,

I will investigate that and hopefully that works for future package downloads from Orchestrator.

I appreciate the feedback.

Kind regards,
Valerie Erasmus

1 Like