---
title: parseStepName
description: Parse a machine-readable step name into display-friendly components.
type: reference
summary: Use parseStepName to extract a display-friendly short name from a step's machine-readable identifier.
related:
  - /docs/api-reference/workflow-observability/parse-workflow-name
  - /docs/api-reference/workflow-observability/parse-class-name
---

Step names are stored as machine-readable identifiers like `step//./src/workflows/order//processPayment`. This function parses them into components suitable for display in a user interface.

```typescript lineNumbers
import { parseStepName } from "workflow/observability"; // [!code highlight]

const parsed = parseStepName("step//./src/workflows/order//processPayment"); // [!code highlight]
// parsed?.shortName → "processPayment"
// parsed?.moduleSpecifier → "./src/workflows/order"
// parsed?.functionName → "processPayment"
```

## API signature

### Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Description |
|-----------|------|-------------|
| `name` | `string` | The machine-readable step name (e.g. from `step.stepName`) |

### Returns

`{ shortName: string; moduleSpecifier: string; functionName: string } | null`

| Property | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `shortName` | The display name: the last segment of the function name. For nested steps like `processOrder/chargeCard`, this is `"chargeCard"`. When same-named nested steps require disambiguation, the generated `~N` suffix is preserved (for example, `"chargeCard~1"`). |
| `moduleSpecifier` | The module the step is defined in: a relative path (`./src/workflows/order`) or a package specifier (`@myorg/tasks@2.0.0`). |
| `functionName` | The full function name including nesting (e.g. `processOrder/chargeCard`). |

Returns `null` when the input is not a valid step name.