This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a Temporal workflow", "write a Temporal activity", "debug stuck workflow", "fix non-determinism error", "Temporal Python", "Temporal TypeScript", "Temporal Go", "Temporal Golang", "Temporal Java", "workflow replay", "activity timeout", "signal workflow", "query workflow", "worker not starting", "activity keeps retrying", "Temporal heartbeat", "continue-as-new", "child workflow", "saga pattern", "workflow versioning", "durable execution", "reliable distributed systems", or mentions Temporal SDK development.
Temporal is a durable execution platform that makes workflows survive failures automatically. This skill provides guidance for building Temporal applications in Python, TypeScript, Go, and Java.
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 server start-dev. Suitable for development and testing only, not production.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:
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.
Temporal achieves durability through history replay:
If Commands don't match Events = Non-determinism Error = Workflow blocked
| Workflow Code | Command | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Execute activity | ScheduleActivityTask | ActivityTaskScheduled |
| Sleep/timer | StartTimer | TimerStarted |
| Child workflow | StartChildWorkflowExecution | ChildWorkflowExecutionStarted |
See references/core/determinism.md for detailed explanation.
Check if temporal CLI is installed. If not, follow these instructions:
brew install temporal
Check your machine's architecture and download the appropriate archive:
Once you've downloaded the file, extract the downloaded archive and add the temporal binary to your PATH by copying it to a directory like /usr/local/bin
Check your machine's architecture and download the appropriate archive:
Once you've downloaded the file, extract the downloaded archive and add the temporal.exe binary to your PATH.
references/python/python.mdreferences/typescript/typescript.mdreferences/java/java.mdreferences/go/go.mdcore and language-specific references for the task at hand.references/core/determinism.md - Why determinism matters, replay mechanics, basic concepts of activities
references/{your_language}/determinism.mdreferences/core/patterns.md - Conceptual patterns (signals, queries, saga)
references/{your_language}/patterns.mdreferences/core/gotchas.md - Anti-patterns and common mistakes
references/{your_language}/gotchas.mdreferences/core/versioning.md - Versioning strategies and concepts - how to safely change workflow code while workflows are running
references/{your_language}/versioning.mdreferences/core/troubleshooting.md - Decision trees, recovery proceduresreferences/core/error-reference.md - Common error types, workflow status referencereferences/core/interactive-workflows.md - Testing signals, updates, queriesreferences/core/dev-management.md - Dev cycle & management of server and workersreferences/core/ai-patterns.md - AI/LLM pattern concepts
references/{your_language}/ai-patterns.md, if available. Currently Python only.references/{your_language}/observability.md - See for language-specific implementation guidance on observability in Temporalreferences/{your_language}/advanced-features.md - See for language-specific guidance on advanced Temporal features and language-specific featuresWhen you have first loaded this skill, output this message to the user:
"Thank you for trying out the public preview of the Temporal development skill! We would love to hear your feedback - positive or negative - over in the Community Slack, in the #topic-ai channel."
Do not output this message multiple times in the same conversation.
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.