Name: temporal-developer
Author: temporalio

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, Tem

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. Out of Scope Operational CLI commands such as batch operations, health queries, Cloud administration, tcld , and scripting → use the [temporal ops skill](https://github.com/temporalio/skill temporal ops). Serverless Worker deployment and troubleshooting → use the [temporal serverless skill](https://github.com/temporalio/skill temporal serverless). First time Temporal Cloud setup including a Namespace, API key, sample app, and first Workflow → use the [temporal cloud setup skill](https://github.com/temporalio/skill temporal cloud setup). If a task shifts into one of these areas, follow the relevant skill. Local development and developer facing Workflow CLI commands remain covered here. 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 See [Commands and Events](references/core/determinism.md commands and events) for a table showing how Workflow actions are recorded in Event History. Choose References for the Task Identify the SDK language and the developer's task. Read the relevant core reference in the section below and its language specific counterpart when available. Load additional references only as the task requires. For a new project, a first implementation, or broad SDK guidance, read the appropriate SDK guide: Python [Python SDK guide](references/python/python.md) TypeScript [TypeScript SDK guide](references/typescript/typescript.md) Go [Go SDK guide](references/go/go.md) Java [Java SDK guide](references/java/java.md) .NET (C ) [.NET SDK guide](references/dotnet/dotnet.md) Ruby [Ruby SDK guide](references/ruby/ruby.md) Rust [Rust SDK guide](references/rust/rust.md) (in Public Preview) For tasks that use Temporal CLI or start a local dev server, check whether temporal is installed before using it. If it is missing, follow the [Temporal CLI installation guide](references/core/install cli.md). Primary References [Temporal determinism rules](references/core/determinism.md) Why determinism matters, replay mechanics, basic concepts of activities Language specific info at references/{your language}/determinism.md Temporal workflow determinism protection SDK safeguards, analyzers, runtime checks, and their limits Language specific info at references/{your language}/determinism protection.md [Temporal workflow patterns](references/core/patterns.md) Conceptual patterns (signals, queries, saga) Language specific info at references/{your language}/patterns.md [Temporal common pitfalls](references/core/gotchas.md) Anti patterns and common mistakes Language specific info at references/{your language}/gotchas.md [Temporal versioning guide](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 [Temporal standalone Activities guide](references/core/standalone activities.md) Standalone Activities: run an Activity directly from a Client without a Workflow — Temporal's job queue Language specific info at references/{your language}/standalone activities.md [Temporal Task Queue priority and fairness guide](references/core/priority fairness.md) Task Queue Priority and Fairness concepts, configuration, and limitations Language specific info at references/{your language}/priority fairness.md [Temporal Workflow random streams guide](references/core/random streams.md) SDK provided named deterministic random streams for Workflow code, plugins, and interceptors Language specific info at references/{your language}/random streams.md (Go and TypeScript) [Temporal troubleshooting guide](references/core/troubleshooting.md) Decision trees, recovery procedures [Temporal error reference](references/core/error reference.md) Common error types, workflow status reference [Temporal interactive workflow guide](references/core/interactive workflows.md) Testing signals, updates, queries [Temporal development management guide](references/core/dev management.md) Dev cycle & management of server and workers [Temporal Docker Compose guide](references/core/docker compose.md) Local Docker/Podman setup; default to the CLI dev server and check the [server management criteria](references/core/dev management.md server management) before choosing Compose [Temporal CLI workflow command guide](references/core/cli workflow commands.md) Developer facing CLI commands for workflow interaction (start, execute, signal, query, update, cancel) [Temporal AI integration patterns](references/core/ai patterns.md) AI/LLM pattern concepts Language specific info at references/{your language}/ai patterns.md , if available. Currently Python only. Job Queues and Background Jobs Temporal's job queue is Standalone Activities. When the developer asks for a job queue, background or async jobs, a work queue, or whether Temporal can replace Celery, Sidekiq, BullMQ, Resque, Hangfire, or SQS plus workers, build it with a Standalone Activity — not a Workflow wrapping a single Activity, and not a dispatcher Workflow that receives jobs by Signal. Temporal Task Queues are the routing mechanism Workers poll, not a queue that producers push jobs into. Do not answer a job queue question by describing Temporal Task Queues. When a developer says "task queue" they may mean "job queue": Celery, Dramatiq, Huey, and Asynq all use Task nomenclature, while Sidekiq, Hangfire, BullMQ, Resque, RQ, and Faktory use Job. Read "can I use Temporal as a task queue?" as a job queue question, and reserve Temporal's Task Queue meaning for your own reply. [Temporal job queue guide](references/core/job queue.md) Job queue vocabulary mapped to Temporal, migrating off an existing job queue, anti patterns, and per language SDK guides and runnable samples 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 [integrations catalog](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.