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Temporal Server

A durable execution platform that enables developers to build scalable applications without sacrificing productivity or reliability. Execute workflows with automatic failure handling and guaranteed completion.

What is Temporal Server?

Temporal is a distributed systems platform that executes units of application logic called Workflows in a resilient manner. It automatically handles intermittent failures, retries failed operations, and ensures your workflows complete successfully even in the face of transient errors. Key capabilities:
  • Durable Execution — Workflows execute to completion regardless of failures in server or worker processes
  • Event Sourcing — Complete workflow history stored as immutable events enables replay and debugging
  • Distributed Architecture — Multiple internal services (Frontend, History, Matching, Worker) provide scalability
  • Multi-Database Support — Run on Cassandra, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite
  • Horizontal Scalability — Shard-based architecture scales to millions of concurrent workflows

Quick Start

Get Temporal Server running locally in minutes

Installation

Install and configure Temporal Server for your environment

Architecture Overview

Understand how Temporal Server’s distributed services work together

Deployment Guide

Deploy Temporal Server to production environments

Core Concepts

Understanding these fundamental concepts will help you effectively deploy and operate Temporal Server:

Workflows

Durable function executions with automatic state persistence

Activities

Individual units of work that can be retried independently

Workers

Processes that execute workflow and activity code

Task Queues

Routing mechanism connecting workflows to workers

Namespaces

Multi-tenant isolation and resource management

Architecture

Temporal Server is composed of multiple internal services that work together to provide durable execution:

History Service

Manages workflow execution state and event history

Matching Service

Routes tasks from workflows to available workers

Frontend Service

API gateway handling all external gRPC requests

Worker Service

Internal workers for system workflows and background tasks

Deployment Options

Perfect for testing and development:
brew install temporal
temporal server start-dev
The development server runs all services in a single process with SQLite storage.

Operations & Management

Monitoring

Monitor server health and workflow execution metrics

Security

Configure authentication, authorization, and encryption

Scaling

Scale your Temporal cluster for production workloads

Persistence

Configure and optimize database storage backends

Advanced Features

Explore powerful features for complex workflow patterns:
Run workflows on cron-like schedules or at specific intervals with built-in calendar support and timezone handling.
Enable inter-workflow communication and service orchestration across namespace boundaries for complex distributed systems.
Safely update running workflows with validation and rollback support for evolving business logic.
Deploy workflow code changes with zero downtime using build-id based versioning and gradual rollout.

Contributing

Temporal Server is open source and welcomes contributions from the community.

Development Setup

Set up your local development environment

Building from Source

Compile and run Temporal Server locally

Testing

Run unit and integration tests

Contribution Guidelines

Learn our development practices and standards

Getting Help

Community Forum

Ask questions and share knowledge with the Temporal community

Slack Community

Join thousands of developers building with Temporal

GitHub Issues

Report bugs or request features

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