workflow-orchestration-patterns

Workflow orchestration with Temporal lets you define multi-step processes (inventory, payment, fulfillment) as deterministic code that automatically preserves state, handles failures, and applies retry logic without manual state management.

Workflows contain orchestration logic and must be deterministic; activities handle external interactions like API calls or database writes and can be non-deterministic. This separation ensures reliable failure recovery and state reconstruction.

Apply saga and compensation patterns: define compensating actions that reverse each step if a later step fails, enabling automatic rollback across multi-step processes without manual intervention.

Yes. Human-in-the-loop scenarios are supported through async callbacks and deterministic workflows that pause execution, await human input or external signals, then resume with automatic timeout and retry handling.

Avoid non-deterministic operations (randomness, timestamps, external calls) in workflow code itself. Delegate external interactions to activities, use deterministic libraries, and structure callbacks to preserve workflow replay and state consistency.

Fan-out parallelizes independent activities (e.g., multiple payment validations), then fan-in aggregates results before proceeding. Temporal handles coordination, timeouts, and partial failure across parallel branches automatically.