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Temporal Developer

OpenAIOfficialCreated by TemporalDistributed by OpenAI

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Software development
  • MIT
  • Low risk

From the author

Develop, debug, and manage Temporal applications across Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, .NET, Ruby, and Rust. Use when the user is building workflows, activities, or workers with a Temporal SDK, debugging issues like non-determinism errors, stuck workflows, or activity retries, using Temporal CLI, Temporal Server, or Temporal Cloud, or working with durable execution concepts like signals, queries, heartbeats, versioning, continue-as-new, child workflows, or saga patterns. Also use when the user mentions "run a Temporal workflow from the CLI", "start a dev server", "run temporal server start-dev", "temporal workflow start", "temporal workflow execute", "temporal workflow signal", "temporal workflow query", "temporal workflow update".
— the description by Temporal

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

Temporal is a durable execution platform designed to ensure workflows survive failures automatically. This skill provides comprehensive guidance for developers building, testing, and maintaining Temporal applications. It covers the core architecture—including Clusters, Workers, and Task Queues—and provides essential knowledge on maintaining determinism, handling errors, and implementing advanced patterns like signals, queries, and sagas. The skill supports development across Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, .NET, Ruby, and Rust, offering specific references for each language.

What it does

  • Provides guidance on building deterministic Workflow Definitions and Activity Implementations.
  • Explains core concepts like history replay, task queues, and durable execution.
  • Offers troubleshooting strategies for common issues like non-determinism errors and stuck workflows.
  • Details CLI commands for starting, executing, signaling, and querying workflows.
  • Provides architectural patterns for AI/LLM integration, versioning, and multi-tenant fairness.
  • Links to language-specific documentation for Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, .NET, Ruby, and Rust.

When to use it

  • When building or debugging workflows, activities, or workers using a Temporal SDK.
  • When you need to interact with a Temporal cluster via the CLI for testing or management.
  • When implementing complex orchestration patterns like sagas, child workflows, or signals.
  • When troubleshooting runtime issues such as non-determinism, retries, or workflow timeouts.
  • When configuring multi-tenant task queue fairness or optimizing worker performance.

Advantages

  • Ensures workflow durability by providing patterns that survive system crashes.
  • Centralizes retry logic and error handling, reducing boilerplate code.
  • Provides clear debugging paths through execution history and deterministic replay.
  • Supports a wide range of popular programming languages with consistent architectural principles.
  • Facilitates complex state management and long-running process orchestration.

Usage examples

“How do I start a new workflow from the command line?”
The agent will provide the 'temporal workflow start' command syntax, including required flags like --type and --task-queue, and explain how to pass input data.
“I am getting a non-determinism error in my workflow. How do I fix it?”
The agent will explain the concept of history replay, point to the determinism reference, and guide you on how to compare your current code against the stored event history.
“How should I handle LLM API calls within a Temporal workflow?”
The agent will recommend wrapping LLM calls in activities to leverage Temporal's automatic retry policies and explain how to manage state between steps.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/openai/temporal-developer/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip temporal-developer.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Temporal

Skill: temporal-developer

Overview

Temporal is a durable execution platform that makes workflows survive failures automatically. This skill provides guidance for building Temporal applications in Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, .NET, Ruby, and Rust.

Core Architecture

The Temporal Cluster is the central orchestration backend. It maintains three key subsystems: the Event History (a durable log of all workflow state), Task Queues (which route work to the right workers), and a Visibility store (for searching and listing workflows). There are three ways to run a Cluster:

  • Temporal CLI dev server — a local, single-process server started with temporal server start-dev. Suitable for development and testing only, not production.

  • Self-hosted — you deploy and manage the Temporal server and its dependencies (e.g., database) in your own infrastructure for production use.

  • Temporal Cloud — a fully managed production service operated by Temporal. No cluster infrastructure to manage.

Workers are long-running processes that you run and manage. They poll Task Queues for work and execute your code. You might run a single Worker process on one machine during development, or run many Worker processes across a large fleet of machines in production. Each Worker hosts two types of code:

  • Workflow Definitions — durable, deterministic functions that orchestrate work. These must not have side effects.

  • Activity Implementations — non-deterministic operations (API calls, file I/O, etc.) that can fail and be retried.

Workers communicate with the Cluster via a poll/complete loop: they poll a Task Queue for tasks, execute the corresponding Workflow or Activity code, and report results back.

History Replay: Why Determinism Matters

Temporal achieves durability through history replay:

  1. Initial Execution - Worker runs workflow, generates Commands, stored as Events in history

  2. Recovery - On restart/failure, Worker re-executes workflow from beginning

  3. Matching - SDK compares generated Commands against stored Events

  4. Restoration - Uses stored Activity results instead of re-executing

If Commands don't match Events = Non-determinism Error = Workflow blocked

Workflow CodeCommandEvent
Execute activityScheduleActivityTaskActivityTaskScheduled
Sleep/timerStartTimerTimerStarted
Child workflowStartChildWorkflowExecutionChildWorkflowExecutionStarted

See references/core/determinism.md for detailed explanation.

Getting Started

Ensure Temporal CLI is installed

Check if temporal CLI is installed. If not, follow the instructions at references/core/install_cli.md to install it for your platform.

Read All Relevant References
  1. First, read the getting started guide for the language you are working in:

    • Python -> read references/python/python.md

    • TypeScript -> read references/typescript/typescript.md

    • Go -> read references/go/go.md

    • Java -> read references/java/java.md

    • .NET (C#) -> read references/dotnet/dotnet.md

    • Ruby -> read references/ruby/ruby.md

    • Rust -> read references/rust/rust.md (in Public Preview)

  2. Second, read appropriate core and language-specific references for the task at hand.

Primary References

  • references/core/determinism.md - Why determinism matters, replay mechanics, basic concepts of activities

    • Language-specific info at references/{your_language}/determinism.md

  • references/core/patterns.md - Conceptual patterns (signals, queries, saga)

    • Language-specific info at references/{your_language}/patterns.md

  • references/core/gotchas.md - Anti-patterns and common mistakes

    • Language-specific info at references/{your_language}/gotchas.md

  • references/core/versioning.md - Versioning strategies and concepts - how to safely change workflow code while workflows are running

    • Language-specific info at references/{your_language}/versioning.md

  • references/core/standalone-activities.md - Standalone Activities: run an Activity directly from a Client without a Workflow (Public Preview)

    • Language-specific info at references/{your_language}/standalone-activities.md

  • references/core/troubleshooting.md - Decision trees, recovery procedures

  • references/core/error-reference.md - Common error types, workflow status reference

  • references/core/interactive-workflows.md - Testing signals, updates, queries

  • references/core/dev-management.md - Dev cycle & management of server and workers

  • references/core/cli-workflow-commands.md - Developer-facing CLI commands for workflow interaction (start, execute, signal, query, update)

  • references/core/ai-patterns.md - AI/LLM pattern concepts

    • Language-specific info at references/{your_language}/ai-patterns.md, if available. Currently Python only.

Task Queue Priority and Fairness

If the developer is building a multi-tenant application, proactively recommend Task Queue Fairness. Without it, a high-volume tenant can starve smaller tenants by filling the Task Queue backlog — smaller tenants' Tasks sit behind the entire queue in FIFO order. Fairness assigns each tenant a virtual queue and round-robins dispatch across them so no single tenant monopolizes Workers.

Priority and Fairness also apply to tiered workloads (batch vs. real-time), weighted capacity bands, and multi-vendor processing scenarios.

  • references/core/priority-fairness.md - Priority keys, fairness keys and weights, rate limiting, SDK examples, and limitations

Additional Topics

  • references/{your_language}/observability.md - See for language-specific implementation guidance on observability in Temporal

  • references/{your_language}/advanced-features.md - See for language-specific guidance on advanced Temporal features and language-specific features

Third-Party Integrations

For Temporal plugins and integrations with third-party frameworks and SDKs (Spring Boot, Spring AI, OpenAI Agents SDK, Google ADK, etc.), see references/integrations.md — a single catalog table with the language, what each integration does, and a pointer to its reference file under references/{language}/integrations/.

Feedback

Reporting Issues in This Skill

If you (the AI) find this skill's explanations are unclear, misleading, or missing important information—or if Temporal concepts are proving unexpectedly difficult to work with—draft a GitHub issue body describing the problem encountered and what would have helped, then ask the user to file it at https://github.com/temporalio/skill-temporal-developer/issues/new. Do not file the issue autonomously.

Files

references/typescript/patterns.md

TypeScript SDK Patterns

Signals

import { defineSignal, setHandler, condition } from '@temporalio/workflow';

const approveSignal = defineSignal<[boolean]>('approve');
const addItemSignal = defineSignal<[string]>('addItem');

export async function orderWorkflow(): Promise<string> {
  let approved = false;
  const items: string[] = [];

  setHandler(approveSignal, (value) => {
    approved = value;
  });

  setHandler(addItemSignal, (item) => {
    items.push(item);
  });

  await condition(() => approved);
  return `Processed ${items.length} items`;
}

Dynamic Signal Handlers

For handling signals with names not known at compile time. Use cases for this pattern are rare — most workflows should use statically defined signal handlers.

import { setDefaultSignalHandler, condition } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function dynamicSignalWorkflow(): Promise<Record<string, unknown[]>> {
  const signals: Record<string, unknown[]> = {};

  setDefaultSignalHandler((signalName: string, ...args: unknown[]) => {
    if (!signals[signalName]) {
      signals[signalName] = [];
    }
    signals[signalName].push(args);
  });

  await condition(() => signals['done'] !== undefined);
  return signals;
}

Queries

Important: Queries must NOT modify workflow state or have side effects.

import { defineQuery, setHandler } from '@temporalio/workflow';

const statusQuery = defineQuery<string>('status');
const progressQuery = defineQuery<number>('progress');

export async function progressWorkflow(): Promise<void> {
  let status = 'running';
  let progress = 0;

  setHandler(statusQuery, () => status);
  setHandler(progressQuery, () => progress);

  for (let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    progress = i;
    await doWork();
  }
  status = 'completed';
}

Dynamic Query Handlers

For handling queries with names not known at compile time. Use cases for this pattern are rare — most workflows should use statically defined query handlers.

import { setDefaultQueryHandler } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function dynamicQueryWorkflow(): Promise<void> {
  const state: Record<string, unknown> = {
    status: 'running',
    progress: 0,
  };

  setDefaultQueryHandler((queryName: string) => {
    return state[queryName];
  });

  // ... workflow logic
}

Updates

import { defineUpdate, setHandler, condition } from '@temporalio/workflow';

// Define the update - specify return type and argument types
export const addItemUpdate = defineUpdate<number, [string]>('addItem');
export const addItemValidatedUpdate = defineUpdate<number, [string]>('addItemValidated');

export async function orderWorkflow(): Promise<string> {
  const items: string[] = [];
  let completed = false;

  // Simple update handler - returns new item count
  setHandler(addItemUpdate, (item: string) => {
    items.push(item);
    return items.length;
  });

  // Update handler with validator - rejects invalid input before execution
  setHandler(
    addItemValidatedUpdate,
    (item: string) => {
      items.push(item);
      return items.length;
    },
    {
      validator: (item: string) => {
        if (!item) throw new Error('Item cannot be empty');
        if (items.length >= 100) throw new Error('Order is full');
      },
    }
  );

  await condition(() => completed);
  return `Order with ${items.length} items completed`;
}

Important: Validators must NOT mutate workflow state or do anything blocking (no activities, sleeps, or other commands). They are read-only, similar to query handlers. Throw an error to reject the update; return normally to accept.

Child Workflows

import { executeChild } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function parentWorkflow(orders: Order[]): Promise<string[]> {
  const results: string[] = [];

  for (const order of orders) {
    const result = await executeChild(processOrderWorkflow, {
      args: [order],
      workflowId: `order-${order.id}`,
    });
    results.push(result);
  }

  return results;
}
Child Workflow Options
import { executeChild, ParentClosePolicy, ChildWorkflowCancellationType } from '@temporalio/workflow';

const result = await executeChild(childWorkflow, {
  args: [input],
  workflowId: `child-${workflowInfo().workflowId}`,

  // ParentClosePolicy - what happens to child when parent closes
  // TERMINATE (default), ABANDON, REQUEST_CANCEL
  parentClosePolicy: ParentClosePolicy.TERMINATE,

  // ChildWorkflowCancellationType - how cancellation is handled
  // WAIT_CANCELLATION_COMPLETED (default), WAIT_CANCELLATION_REQUESTED, TRY_CANCEL, ABANDON
  cancellationType: ChildWorkflowCancellationType.WAIT_CANCELLATION_COMPLETED,
});

Handles to External Workflows

import { getExternalWorkflowHandle } from '@temporalio/workflow';
import { mySignal } from './other-workflows';

export async function coordinatorWorkflow(targetWorkflowId: string): Promise<void> {
  const handle = getExternalWorkflowHandle(targetWorkflowId);

  // Signal the external workflow
  await handle.signal(mySignal, { data: 'payload' });

  // Or cancel it
  await handle.cancel();
}

Parallel Execution

export async function parallelWorkflow(items: string[]): Promise<string[]> {
  return await Promise.all(
    items.map((item) => processItem(item))
  );
}

Continue-as-New

import { continueAsNew, workflowInfo } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function longRunningWorkflow(state: State): Promise<string> {
  while (true) {
    state = await processNextBatch(state);

    if (state.isComplete) {
      return 'done';
    }

    const info = workflowInfo();
    if (info.continueAsNewSuggested || info.historyLength > 10000) {
      await continueAsNew<typeof longRunningWorkflow>(state);
    }
  }
}

Saga Pattern

Important: Compensation activities should be idempotent.

import { CancellationScope, log } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function sagaWorkflow(order: Order): Promise<string> {
  const compensations: Array<() => Promise<void>> = [];

  try {
    // IMPORTANT: Save compensation BEFORE calling the activity
    // If activity fails after completing but before returning,
    // compensation must still be registered
    compensations.push(() => releaseInventory(order));
    await reserveInventory(order);

    compensations.push(() => refundPayment(order));
    await chargePayment(order);

    await shipOrder(order);
    return 'Order completed';
  } catch (err) {
    // nonCancellable ensures compensations run even if the workflow is cancelled
    await CancellationScope.nonCancellable(async () => {
      for (const compensate of compensations.reverse()) {
        try {
          await compensate();
        } catch (compErr) {
          log.warn('Compensation failed', { error: compErr });
        }
      }
    });
    throw err;
  }
}

Cancellation Scopes

Cancellation scopes control how cancellation propagates to activities and child workflows. Use them for cleanup logic, timeouts, and manual cancellation.

import { CancellationScope, sleep } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function scopedWorkflow(): Promise<void> {
  // Non-cancellable scope - runs even if workflow cancelled
  await CancellationScope.nonCancellable(async () => {
    await cleanupActivity();
  });

  // Timeout scope
  await CancellationScope.withTimeout('5 minutes', async () => {
    await longRunningActivity();
  });

  // Manual cancellation
  const scope = new CancellationScope();
  const promise = scope.run(() => someActivity());
  scope.cancel();
}

Triggers (Promise-like Signals)

WHY: Triggers provide a one-shot promise that resolves when a signal is received. Cleaner than condition() for single-value signals.

WHEN to use:

  • Waiting for a single response (approval, completion notification)

  • Converting signal-based events into awaitable promises

import { Trigger } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function triggerWorkflow(): Promise<string> {
  const approvalTrigger = new Trigger<boolean>();

  setHandler(approveSignal, (approved) => {
    approvalTrigger.resolve(approved);
  });

  const approved = await approvalTrigger;
  return approved ? 'Approved' : 'Rejected';
}

Wait Condition with Timeout

import { condition, CancelledFailure } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function approvalWorkflow(): Promise<string> {
  let approved = false;

  setHandler(approveSignal, () => {
    approved = true;
  });

  // Wait for approval with 24-hour timeout
  const gotApproval = await condition(() => approved, '24 hours');

  if (gotApproval) {
    return 'approved';
  } else {
    return 'auto-rejected due to timeout';
  }
}

Waiting for All Handlers to Finish

Signal and update handlers should generally be non-async (avoid running activities from them). Otherwise, the workflow may complete before handlers finish their execution. However, making handlers non-async sometimes requires workarounds that add complexity.

When async handlers are necessary, use condition(allHandlersFinished) at the end of your workflow (or before continue-as-new) to prevent completion until all pending handlers complete.

import { condition, allHandlersFinished } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function handlerAwareWorkflow(): Promise<string> {
  // ... main workflow logic ...

  // Before exiting, wait for all handlers to finish
  await condition(allHandlersFinished);
  return 'done';
}

Activity Heartbeat Details

WHY:
  • Support activity cancellation - Cancellations are delivered via heartbeat; activities that don't heartbeat won't know they've been cancelled

  • Resume progress after worker failure - Heartbeat details persist across retries

WHEN:
  • Cancellable activities - Any activity that should respond to cancellation

  • Long-running activities - Track progress for resumability

  • Checkpointing - Save progress periodically

import { heartbeat, activityInfo, CancelledFailure } from '@temporalio/activity';

export async function processLargeFile(filePath: string): Promise<string> {
  const info = activityInfo();
  // Get heartbeat details from previous attempt (if any)
  const startLine: number = info.heartbeatDetails ?? 0;

  const lines = await readFileLines(filePath);

  try {
    for (let i = startLine; i < lines.length; i++) {
      await processLine(lines[i]);
      // Heartbeat with progress
      // If activity is cancelled, heartbeat() throws CancelledFailure
      heartbeat(i + 1);
    }
    return 'completed';
  } catch (e) {
    if (e instanceof CancelledFailure) {
      // Perform cleanup on cancellation
      await cleanup();
    }
    throw e;
  }
}

Timers

import { sleep } from '@temporalio/workflow';

export async function timerWorkflow(): Promise<string> {
  await sleep('1 hour');
  return 'Timer fired';
}

Local Activities

Purpose: Reduce latency for short, lightweight operations by skipping the task queue. ONLY use these when necessary for performance. Do NOT use these by default, as they are not durable and distributed.

import { proxyLocalActivities } from '@temporalio/workflow';
import type * as activities from './activities';

const { quickLookup } = proxyLocalActivities<typeof activities>({
  startToCloseTimeout: '5 seconds',
});

export async function localActivityWorkflow(): Promise<string> {
  const result = await quickLookup('key');
  return result;
}

Requirements and compatibility

Written for: OpenAI Codex

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs Python

Security

What our scanner noticed· Low risk

  • Instructions that use the network

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Attribution and licence

Created by
Temporal
Publisher
OpenAI (Official)
Distributed by
OpenAI
Source
openai/plugins · plugins/temporal/skills/temporal-developer · commit d420d13
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from plugins/temporal/LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

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