Get reliable workflow automation with Temporal, a tool for founders, backed by 21k+ GitHub stars.
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21,788 stars1,754 forksGoQuality 9/10Updated 7/22/2026100% free · open source
What it is
You run the Temporal service to manage the execution and scheduling of long-running tasks in your applications.
What you can make with it
Automations like: when a Stripe customer completes a purchase, trigger a series of follow-up tasks to send a thank-you email and update their status in a Notion database.
How it helps
Temporal helps you write more scalable and reliable code by freeing you from worrying about task scheduling and execution, allowing you to focus on your business logic.
Real use case example
"A founder building an e-commerce platform with multiple microservices uses Temporal to schedule and orchestrate tasks that update customer inventory, send notifications, and process payments. They set up Temporal to run on their local machine, define the task workflow in Go, and then deploy their microservices to Kubernetes. The outcome: a more responsive and scalable platform."
If you're new
Beginners should pick this up when they start building complex applications with multiple microservices, and they need a reliable way to manage task execution and scheduling.
If you're senior
Senior engineers and professionals reach for this when they're building large-scale, distributed systems and need a robust solution for managing temporal computations.
Common confusion cleared up
Temporal is often confused with task queues like RabbitMQ or Celery, but it's primarily designed for managing long-running tasks and workflows rather than just passing messages between services.
Why we list it on WorkflowStacks: Temporal is a best-in-class tool for temporal computing, and it's included here because it saves developers cost and complexity compared to custom implementation or using multiple separate tools.
What it does
Temporal provides reliable workflow automation for founders, allowing them to manage and orchestrate complex workflows with ease
Install / run
go get -u github.com/temporalio/temporal/cmd/temporalite
When to use it
•When you need to automate a business process that involves multiple steps and requires high reliability
•When you want to decouple your application's workflow logic from its business logic
•When you need to handle retries, timeouts, and other error-handling scenarios in your workflow
Quick start
1Run the Temporalite server using the command `temporalite start`
2Create a new Go file (e.g. `main.go`) and import the Temporal client library using `import github.com/temporalio/temporal/client`
3Create a new workflow using the `client.RegisterWorkflow` function, as shown in the example at https://github.com/temporalio/temporal/blob/master/examples/go/hello_world/main.go
4Start the worker using the `client.StartWorker` function, as shown in the example at https://github.com/temporalio/temporal/blob/master/examples/go/hello_world/worker/main.go
5Use the `tctl` command-line tool to manage and monitor your workflows, such as `tctl workflow run` to start a new workflow
Ready-to-paste prompt
tctl workflow run --tasklist HelloTaskList --workflowid HelloWorkflowID --wt HelloWorkflowType
Heads up: Make sure you have Go 1.17 or later installed, as Temporal requires this version or later to run
Saves to your device
Topics
cronjob-scheduler
distributed-cron
distributed-systems
durable-execution
golang
microservice-framework
microservice-orchestration
microservices-architecture
orchestrator
service-bus
service-fabric
workflow-automation
workflow-engine
workflow-management
workflow-management-system
workflows
What's inside — free to inspect
No purchase needed
Read the entire source before you build — unlike paid marketplaces that hide it behind a buy button.
12
top-level files
21
folders
146.8M
repo size
MIT
license
Key files
AGENTS.md
README.md
File tree
.claude/
.cursor/
.github/
.vscode/
api/
chasm/
client/
cmd/
common/
components/
config/
develop/
docker/
docs/
proto/
schema/
service/
temporal/
temporaltest/
tests/
tools/
.dockerignore
.gitattributes
.gitignore
Quick Actions
Details
Creator
temporalio
Language
Go
Category
automation
Published
10/16/2019
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