# learn-temporal

**Repository Path**: mirrors_dwyl/learn-temporal

## Basic Information

- **Project Name**: learn-temporal
- **Description**: 🌐 Quick intro to temporal.io for busy engineers who need to get started fast! ⏳
- **Primary Language**: Unknown
- **License**: GPL-2.0
- **Default Branch**: main
- **Homepage**: None
- **GVP Project**: No

## Statistics

- **Stars**: 0
- **Forks**: 0
- **Created**: 2022-03-05
- **Last Updated**: 2026-01-24

## Categories & Tags

**Categories**: Uncategorized

**Tags**: None

## README

<div align="center">
  <a href="https://temporal.io/">
    <img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/194400/158250447-78d23304-94aa-4850-a8d6-9c3e3815a304.jpeg" alt="Temporal Logo">
  </a>
  <p>
    <strong>Learn Temporal</strong>: a <em><strong>quick intro</strong></em> to 
    <strong><a href="https://temporal.io">temporal.io</a></strong> (<em>Workflow Engine</em>)
    for <em><strong>busy engineers</strong></em>.
  </p>
</div>

## Why?

<!--
You are building a system used by _millions_ of people
and processing _billions_ of transactions each day.
-->

You need the declarative log-based transactional workflow engine 
with built-in task queue, state management and retry mechanism 
to handle communicating/coordinating with several slow 
or unreliable 3rd party systems.

If that sounds like a bit of a buzzword bingo ...

<img alt="dilbert buzzword bingo" 
  src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/194400/158487250-dc73bdff-3afa-4234-9b0f-da65852a0e87.png">

don't worry, we will break it down as we go.

You can still play buzzword bingo if you like.
Or just have a sip of water each time 
the CEO/CTO of Temporal says the word "scalable". 😉

<!--
You need to build a robust system but don't want to use Elixir/Erlang 
which has all of this either built-in or easily reachable e.g: https://github.com/safwank/ElixirRetry
-->


## What?

A workflow engine that can simplify writing orchestration between various APIs/services.



## Who?

If you are building a complex app that has many moving parts 
e.g: microservices, datastores & 3rd party / unreliable APIs,
Temporal can greatly simplify this process.

If you're _not_ building something 
that has many moving parts,
you **_probably_**
[**don't need**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it) 
Temporal, yet. <br />
You can still _learn_ how Temporal Workflows work 
if you're _curious_;
that's great!
But don't feel the need to over-engineer
a simple App just because you have a shiny new tool.

<div align="center">
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overengineering">
    <img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/194400/158479521-81cfdde3-8c4c-43fb-829a-2ca0459094eb.png" 
    alt="over engineering">
  </a>
  <p>
    <a href="https://xkcd.com/974">
      https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/the_general_problem.png
    </a>
  </p>
</div>




## How?

If you're feeling adventurous, 
dive straight into the official 
`TypeScript` Hello World Walkthrough:
https://docs.temporal.io/docs/typescript/hello-world/

It's a good way for you
to see how good the Temporal docs 
& onboarding steps are.

If (when) you get stuck,
or if you don't want to waste too much time,
come back here for the step-by-step guide.

## Short on Time & Want a 10 min Step-by-Step Tutorial?

Your wish is my command: 
[**`/tutorial`**](https://github.com/dwyl/learn-temporal/tree/main/tutorial)


## Recommended Reading

+ Temporal architecture:
https://docs.temporal.io/blog/workflow-engine-principles/#temporal-architecture-2010
+ Choreography vs Orchestration in the land of serverless: 
https://theburningmonk.com/2020/08/choreography-vs-orchestration-in-the-land-of-serverless/
+ What is a Temporal Cluster?
https://docs.temporal.io/docs/concepts/what-is-a-temporal-cluster/
+ TypeScript Introduction:
https://docs.temporal.io/docs/typescript/introduction/
+ TypeScript Getting Started: 
https://docs.temporal.io/docs/typescript/introduction/#getting-started
+ Getting Started Google Doc (Presentation):
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mAPYXNmRdDKepXylB91F2uqFyHm8rG12K2PMRHxoUfM/edit#slide=id.g104dc941926_0_187
+ Workflows in TypeScript:
https://docs.temporal.io/docs/typescript/workflows/
+ Activities in TypeScript: 
https://docs.temporal.io/docs/typescript/activities/
+ TypeScript SDK:
https://github.com/temporalio/sdk-typescript

<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<br />

### Building Construction Analogy

For a quick analogy, let's take real world building construction:

<img width="1047" alt="skyscraper vs. house" 
  src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/194400/158482229-c4de7310-6f60-40a9-90fd-347392126293.png">

If someone asks an Architect to design a place to live for them and their family,
there are _many_ questions  them to clarify their requirements.
Do they 

If you're building a free-standing single-family home,
traditional framing 
(bricks+mortar, timber & standard job-site tools)
is probably adequate 
to achieve a good result.
Many impressive homes and even palaces have been built with this method over the centuries
and it's still a perfectly valid means of construction today.

This would be your standard 
but perfectly functional web framework
which can be deployed in 5 minutes and scaled to meet the demand/needs of the intended audience.

However if you are building a **sky scraper** or a new **city**,
you need to think about the _infrastructure_ and use a very different 
construction method,
e.g. steel reinforced concrete, 
large quantities of structural glass,
excavators, tower cranes & specialised engineering contractors.

Temporal is a framework for a different level of engineering challenge.
If you're not building the digital equivalent of a Skyscraper,
use something simpler 
that doesn't require a dedicated DevOps person on your team.

The vast majority of architects, engineers and trades people are not building skyscrapers.
But if you are a City Planner or Structural Engineer, 
then by all means use consider the advanced tools for the job.

<br />

Examples of projects that became their own _planets_ with relatively simple tech stacks:

**Instagram** reached **500 million** users 
using the **`Django`** Web framework 
and horizontal scaling:
https://instagram-engineering.com/web-service-efficiency-at-instagram-with-python-4976d078e366

**WhatsApp** built their messaging infrastructure 
in **`Erlang`** 
reaching **900 million** monthly **active users**
sending **60 Billion daily messages**
with **50 engineers**
(mostly on the Android/iOS apps!) 
and a **$19 Billion** valuation:
https://www.wired.com/2015/09/whatsapp-serves-900-million-users-50-engineers/
These are both examples of 
["boring" tech](https://www.radicalsimpli.city/)
that are perfect choices for their chosen application.

<br />

Remember:

> "_If it takes an hour 
to figure out what’s going on, 
well, that’s an hour 
that wasn’t spent doing something else 
more useful and interesting._" 
~ [Rachel Kroll](https://rachelbythebay.com/w/2021/09/05/clever/)

There are no shortage of Ghostscrapers 
and Ghost cities in the world, 
e.g: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-occupied_developments_in_China 
and  
https://youtu.be/lLzJpCd5X9g

If you build something