workflow-orchestration

name	workflow-orchestration
description	Design workflow orchestration systems for complex, multi-step business processes. Outputs orchestration pattern selection, Temporal/Airflow implementation, error handling strategy, and observability.
argument-hint	["workflow complexity","step count","failure requirements","team familiarity","language"]
allowed-tools	Read, Write

Workflow Orchestration

Workflow orchestration manages the execution of multi-step processes: scheduling steps, handling failures, retrying, and maintaining state across long-running operations. The challenge is making complex workflows reliable, observable, and debuggable when any individual step can fail.

When to Use Orchestration

USE ORCHESTRATION when:
  ✓ Multi-step process with dependencies between steps
  ✓ Steps can fail and need automatic retry
  ✓ Process runs for minutes to months (long-running)
  ✓ You need visibility into process state
  ✓ Human approval gates required
  ✓ Compensation (rollback) needed on failure

USE SIMPLE QUEUES when:
  ✓ Single-step processing
  ✓ No dependencies between tasks
  ✓ Stateless; no need to track progress

ORCHESTRATION TOOLS:
  Temporal    — durable execution; code-first; any language
  Apache Airflow — DAG-based; Python; batch/data pipelines
  Step Functions — AWS-native; JSON DSL; serverless-friendly
  Prefect     — Python; data workflows; modern Airflow alternative
  Conductor   — Netflix; microservice workflows; polyglot

Temporal — Code-First Orchestration

from temporalio  activity, workflow
 temporalio.client  Client
 temporalio.worker  Worker
 datetime  timedelta
 asyncio



  () -> :
    
    order =  db.get_order(order_id)
      order:
         ValueError()
     order.()


  () -> :
    
    reservation_id =  inventory_service.reserve(order_id, items)
     reservation_id


  () -> :
    
    charge_id =  payment_service.charge(order_id, amount)
     charge_id


  () -> :
    
     inventory_service.release(reservation_id)


  () -> :
    
     payment_service.refund(charge_id)



 :

      () -> :
        reservation_id = 
        charge_id = 

        :
            
            order =  workflow.execute_activity(
                validate_order, order_id,
                start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(seconds=),
                retry_policy=RetryPolicy(maximum_attempts=, backoff_coefficient=),
            )

            
            reservation_id =  workflow.execute_activity(
                reserve_inventory, order_id, order[],
                start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(seconds=),
                retry_policy=RetryPolicy(maximum_attempts=),
            )

            
            charge_id =  workflow.execute_activity(
                charge_payment, order_id, order[],
                start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(seconds=),
                retry_policy=RetryPolicy(maximum_attempts=),
            )

             {: , : charge_id}

         Exception  e:
            
             charge_id:
                 workflow.execute_activity(refund_payment, charge_id)
             reservation_id:
                 workflow.execute_activity(release_inventory, reservation_id)
            


  ():
    client =  Client.connect()
    handle =  client.start_workflow(
        OrderFulfillmentWorkflow.run,
        order_id,
        =,  
        task_queue=,
    )
     handle.