So, my typical process looks like this

• Exposure I normally leave as is, preferring to use other modules to fix exposure issues. There are exceptions, but generally, I leave this module alone on its "scene referred" default
• I apply haze removal, chromatic aberration, lens correction, denoise (profiled) and raw chromatic aberration without modification, though I will sometimes leave out haze removal if the image is high contrast straight out of the camera
• Tone equalizer, I tend to set to "contrast tone curve: soft", but again, this one will get adjusted as needed.
• Local contrast. I always use this, mostly on "clarity" , but I will use HDR tone mapping if it's a backlit subject or the like
• Sharpen. I rarely use it, as most of my photos are done with pro glass these days, but if I've used a tele converter or the like, I'll sometimes use this modeule
• Colour Balance RGB. This is where I do most of my work. Up until now, I've use presets, but here, I use either "standard" or "vivid" as my starting point, before tinkering. For all of my adjustments here, I use the "RGB parade" panel (rather than a histogram) to watch the exposure and colour balance. I typically start on the 4 way tab, and adjust "power" and "shadows lift". Then on the master tab, I'll adjust the perceptual brilliance grading. This is where I correct any remaining exposure issues, and to some extent, contrast issues. Then, I'll play with vibrance and contrast a little, just to tweak the final result.
• If I am really struggling with a poorly lit subject, or a contrasty background with a non contrasty subject, I'll create a second (and sometimes even a third) Colour Balance RGB module, and use "drawn and parametric masks" to selectively adjust the areas I need. The killer secret to make this work is after you've selected your area, increase the feathering to smooth it out and blur it, and then increase the mask contrast, to make it respect borders. I find that tweaking these is best done with the mask preview turned off.
• Finally, if I'm not happy with the temperature/colour cast, I'll use the "colour correction" module. This one is display referred rather than scene referred, so I always leave it until last. There are other options for adjusting this, but I find the ease of moving the offset point around the colour map too efficient to pass up. I can quickly move through a lot of options and find the value that looks best.

I think I'm the only darktable user to not use filmic rgb :)

Like others here, I'll almost always do:

• Exposure as rendered
• Denoise (profiled)
• Haze removal
• Lens correction

I'll frequently also enable Sharpen and either Filmic RGB or Shadows and Highlights, depending on the style I want.

I'll sometimes crop the images.

When I actually want to do manual editing, it'll mostly be a small tweak in the RGB levels followed by Colour balance RGB module. I'll also adjust exposure partially, via masks, and similar other tweaks.

Very rarely ill want to heal something with Retouch.

When I'm really having fun (and time), I'll just go tinker with everything else just to see what happens. It's rare that I have the time, though.

I recommend to work through a few of these tutorials on youtube, as a start. Darktable's GUI is different, but powerful once you know it. They show the general steps in an efficient order, and their idea of editing. I remember this one https://youtube.com/@maikten but I have also watched a few others.

Sorry that I can't tell you my own workflow, but I use it in German, so I don't know all these English names of the buttons and functions.

There is nothing I do consistently except denoise. Every picture is it's own challenge!

My default style (in pipeline order) is:

• Contrast equalizer - my own "fine clarity" preset with luma turned down a little at the coarse end and up a little toward the fine end. I sometimes adjust the mix slider.
• Color calibration - usually as shot.
• Color balance RGB - some global saturation, with more in the shadows and less in the highlights. I occasionally adjust this.
• Highlight reconstruction - I should revisit whether to include this by default.
• Lens correction - on occasion, I turn off vignetting correction.
• Exposure - I usually tweak this a bit.
• Sigmoid - contrast 1.5 and 0 skew by default, which I often adjust.

This will almost always produce an acceptable image without any manual intervention. I tend to tweak things, but I don't usually need to. Optional extras I'll add are:

• Denoise (profiled) - if there's noise I don't like.
• Tone equalizer - usually if I have to deal with an extreme amount of dynamic range.
• Chromatic aberrations - necessary if I use a certain lens wide open in a contrasty scene.
• Color zones - rarely, for more creative color edits.
• Retouch - if there's sensor dust or occasionally an unwanted object.
• Filmic RGB instead of Sigmoid, if I'm not getting the results I want, especially in the highlights.

now what does everyone set for exports? for example what would be a good size for pixelfed and lemmy