Inconsistent response from endpoint /api/v1/workflows/ depending on whether the workflow is persisted or not

[jacek-jablonski]

Pre-requisites

• I have double-checked my configuration
• I have tested with the :latest image tag (i.e. quay.io/argoproj/workflow-controller:latest) and can confirm the issue still exists on :latest. If not, I have explained why, in detail, in my description below.
• I have searched existing issues and could not find a match for this bug
• I'd like to contribute the fix myself (see contributing guide)

What happened? What did you expect to happen?

After updating Argo Workflows to version v3.5.6 and above, we have noticed, that response is now different then in previous versions, depending on whether the workflow is persisted or not.
Sample API call: https://api.argo-workflows.domain.com/api/v1/workflows/?fields=items.metadata.uid%2Citems.metadata.name%2Citems.metadata.namespace%2Citems.metadata.ownerReferences%2Citems.metadata.labels%2Citems.metadata.annotations%2Citems.spec.arguments%2Citems.spec.workflowTemplateRef%2Citems.spec.templates%2Citems.status.phase%2Citems.status.startedAt%2Citems.status.finishedAt%2Citems.status.estimatedDuration%2Citems.status.progress

For not persisted worfklows, all requested fields are present:

{
    "metadata": {
    "name": "monitoring-bq-export-check-results-light-5m-1741707240",
    "namespace": "monitoring",
    "uid": "c50edfb9-81a0-42fa-95fe-a7043f9ac85a",
    "creationTimestamp": null,
    "labels": {
        "app.kubernetes.io/component": "jobs",
        "app.kubernetes.io/instance": "jobs-monitoring-extras",
        "app.kubernetes.io/managed-by": "Helm",
        "app.kubernetes.io/name": "jobs",
        "helm.sh/chart": "jobs-0.2.79",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/completed": "false",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/cron-workflow": "monitoring-bq-export-check-results-light-5m",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/phase": "Running"
    },
    "annotations": {
        "workflows.argoproj.io/pod-name-format": "v2",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/scheduled-time": "2025-03-11T15:34:00Z"
    },
    "ownerReferences": [
        {
        "apiVersion": "argoproj.io/v1alpha1",
        "kind": "CronWorkflow",
        "name": "monitoring-bq-export-check-results-light-5m",
        "uid": "922b13d7-2367-4a0a-92e2-c28cfbe93082",
        "controller": true,
        "blockOwnerDeletion": true
        }
    ]
    },
    "spec": {
    "arguments": {

    },
    "workflowTemplateRef": {
        "name": "monitoring-bq-export-check-results-light"
    }
    },
    "status": {
    "phase": "Running",
    "startedAt": "2025-03-11T15:34:01Z",
    "finishedAt": null,
    "estimatedDuration": 67,
    "progress": "0/1"
    }
}

However for persisted workflow, here is sample response item:

{
    "metadata": {
    "name": "e2e-tests-critical-e5m-1741691400",
    "namespace": "e2e-tests",
    "uid": "c2d39228-5d6b-41f0-80b2-5411151cf5d7",
    "creationTimestamp": null,
    "labels": {
        "app.kubernetes.io/component": "jobs",
        "app.kubernetes.io/instance": "e2e-monitoring-tests",
        "app.kubernetes.io/managed-by": "Helm",
        "app.kubernetes.io/name": "jobs",
        "helm.sh/chart": "jobs-0.2.78",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/completed": "true",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/cron-workflow": "e2e-tests-critical-e5m",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/phase": "Succeeded",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/workflow-archiving-status": "Persisted"
    },
    "annotations": {
        "workflows.argoproj.io/pod-name-format": "v2",
        "workflows.argoproj.io/scheduled-time": "2025-03-11T11:10:00Z"
    }
    },
    "spec": {
    "arguments": {

    }
    },
    "status": {
    "phase": "Succeeded",
    "startedAt": "2025-03-11T11:10:05Z",
    "finishedAt": "2025-03-11T11:10:35Z",
    "estimatedDuration": 21,
    "progress": "1/1"
    }
}

In persisted workflow ownerReferences and workflowTemplateRef fields are missing.
This behaviour breaks our custom GUI and tools depending on AW's API.
Is it possible to make a response from this endpoint consistent again, like it was in v3.5.5?

Version(s)

v3.5.6-v3.6.5