---
title: "Use Temporal for long workflows that must · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage/durable-workflows
id: STK-105
level: Default
updated: 2026-10-27
build: a2a6bdfed830
tokens: 1129
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Use Temporal for long workflows that must survive restarts

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Databases and storage](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-27.

- ID: STK-105
- Level: Default
- Chapter: [Databases and storage](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage.md)
- Rule: Run a business process that spans several steps, services or days as a Temporal workflow, not as a hand-made chain of queues and status columns. An order from payment to delivery is one example.
- Check: Every process with more than two steps across services has a workflow definition in the repository. A test kills the worker in the middle of a workflow, starts it again, and the workflow finishes with each activity applied once.
- Review by: 2027-04-30
- Cost: Open source. The Temporal server and SDKs are MIT licensed. Temporal Cloud is a paid hosted service.
- How: Temporal passes the five tests. The server reached 1.0.0 on 30 September 2020, and 1.32.1 shipped on 8 October 2026. Its Python SDK `temporalio` had about 10.5 million weekly PyPI downloads in October 2026, and its GitHub repository about 24,000 stars. A workflow is plain code. Temporal records each step, so after a crash or deploy the workflow resumes where it stopped. Retries, timers of days and compensation steps then need no code of your own. Each step that calls another system is an activity and must be safe to repeat, as [Make writes safe to repeat](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/api-design/reliability/idempotency-keys.md) says. Self-hosting needs a database, such as PostgreSQL. Choose something else when each job is short and stands alone. Then [Use BullMQ or RQ for background jobs](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage/background-jobs.md) is simpler.

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### Python example

```python
from datetime import timedelta
from temporalio import workflow

with workflow.unsafe.imports_passed_through():
    from shop.activities import charge_card, book_courier, refund_card

@workflow.defn
class FulfilOrder:
    @workflow.run
    async def run(self, order_id: str) -> str:
        await workflow.execute_activity(charge_card, order_id, start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(minutes=1))
        try:
            return await workflow.execute_activity(book_courier, order_id, start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(hours=1))
        except Exception:
            await workflow.execute_activity(refund_card, order_id, start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(minutes=1))
            raise
```

### TypeScript example

```ts
import { proxyActivities } from '@temporalio/workflow';
import type * as activities from './activities';

const { chargeCard, bookCourier, refundCard } = proxyActivities<typeof activities>({ startToCloseTimeout: '1 minute' });

export async function fulfilOrder(orderId: string): Promise<string> {
  await chargeCard(orderId);
  try {
    return await bookCourier(orderId);
  } catch (error) {
    await refundCard(orderId);
    throw error;
  }
}
```

## Related rules

- API-32 [Accept idempotency keys on POST that creates or charges](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/api-design/reliability/idempotency-keys.md) in API design
- STK-35 [Use BullMQ or RQ for background jobs](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage/background-jobs.md) in Software choices

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage/durable-workflows">Agent Wranglers software choices playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Use RabbitMQ for messages between services and Kafka for event streams](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage/message-broker.md)
- Next: [Use ClickHouse when analytics outgrow PostgreSQL](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage/analytics-database.md)
- [Databases and storage](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/stack/databases-and-storage.md)