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Patterns for managing distributed transactions and long-running business processes.
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| name | saga-orchestration |
| description | Patterns for managing distributed transactions and long-running business processes. |
| risk | unknown |
| source | community |
| date_added | 2026-02-27 |
Patterns for managing distributed transactions and long-running business processes.
resources/implementation-playbook.md.Choreography Orchestration
┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│Svc A│─►│Svc B│─►│Svc C│ │ Orchestrator│
└─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ └──────┬──────┘
│ │ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼ ┌─────┼─────┐
Event Event Event ▼ ▼ ▼
┌────┐┌────┐┌────┐
│Svc1││Svc2││Svc3│
└────┘└────┘└────┘
| State | Description |
|---|---|
| Started | Saga initiated |
| Pending | Waiting for step completion |
| Compensating | Rolling back due to failure |
| Completed | All steps succeeded |
| Failed | Saga failed after compensation |
from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from enum import Enum
from typing import List, Dict, Any, Optional
from datetime import datetime
import uuid
class SagaState(Enum):
STARTED = "started"
PENDING = "pending"
COMPENSATING = "compensating"
COMPLETED = "completed"
FAILED = "failed"
@dataclass
class SagaStep:
name: str
action: str
compensation: str
status: str = "pending"
result: Optional[Dict] = None
error: Optional[str] = None
executed_at: Optional[datetime] = None
compensated_at: Optional[datetime] = None
@dataclass
class Saga:
saga_id: str
saga_type: str
state: SagaState
data: Dict[str, Any]
steps: List[SagaStep]
current_step: int = 0
created_at: datetime = field(default_factory=datetime.utcnow)
updated_at: datetime = field(default_factory=datetime.utcnow)
class SagaOrchestrator(ABC):
"""Base class for saga orchestrators."""
def __init__(self, saga_store, event_publisher):
self.saga_store = saga_store
self.event_publisher = event_publisher
@abstractmethod
def define_steps(self, data: Dict) -> List[SagaStep]:
"""Define the saga steps."""
pass
@property
@abstractmethod
def saga_type(self) -> str:
"""Unique saga type identifier."""
pass
async def start(self, data: Dict) -> Saga:
"""Start a new saga."""
saga = Saga(
saga_id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
saga_type=self.saga_type,
state=SagaState.STARTED,
data=data,
steps=self.define_steps(data)
)
await self.saga_store.save(saga)
await self._execute_next_step(saga)
return saga
async def handle_step_completed(self, saga_id: str, step_name: str, result: Dict):
"""Handle successful step completion."""
saga = await self.saga_store.get(saga_id)
# Update step
for step in saga.steps:
if step.name == step_name:
step.status = "completed"
step.result = result
step.executed_at = datetime.utcnow()
break
saga.current_step += 1
saga.updated_at = datetime.utcnow()
# Check if saga is complete
if saga.current_step >= len(saga.steps):
saga.state = SagaState.COMPLETED
await self.saga_store.save(saga)
await self._on_saga_completed(saga)
else:
saga.state = SagaState.PENDING
await self.saga_store.save(saga)
await self._execute_next_step(saga)
async def handle_step_failed(self, saga_id: str, step_name: str, error: str):
"""Handle step failure - start compensation."""
saga = await self.saga_store.get(saga_id)
# Mark step as failed
for step in saga.steps:
if step.name == step_name:
step.status = "failed"
step.error = error
break
saga.state = SagaState.COMPENSATING
saga.updated_at = datetime.utcnow()
await self.saga_store.save(saga)
# Start compensation from current step backwards
await self._compensate(saga)
async def _execute_next_step(self, saga: Saga):
"""Execute the next step in the saga."""
if saga.current_step >= len(saga.steps):
return
step = saga.steps[saga.current_step]
step.status = "executing"
await self.saga_store.save(saga)
# Publish command to execute step
await self.event_publisher.publish(
step.action,
{
"saga_id": saga.saga_id,
"step_name": step.name,
**saga.data
}
)
async def _compensate(self, saga: Saga):
"""Execute compensation for completed steps."""
# Compensate in reverse order
for i in range(saga.current_step - 1, -1, -1):
step = saga.steps[i]
if step.status == "completed":
step.status = "compensating"
await self.saga_store.save(saga)
await self.event_publisher.publish(
step.compensation,
{
"saga_id": saga.saga_id,
"step_name": step.name,
"original_result": step.result,
**saga.data
}
)
async def handle_compensation_completed(self, saga_id: str, step_name: str):
"""Handle compensation completion."""
saga = await self.saga_store.get(saga_id)
for step in saga.steps:
if step.name == step_name:
step.status = "compensated"
step.compensated_at = datetime.utcnow()
break
# Check if all compensations complete
all_compensated = all(
s.status in ("compensated", "pending", "failed")
for s in saga.steps
)
if all_compensated:
saga.state = SagaState.FAILED
await self._on_saga_failed(saga)
await self.saga_store.save(saga)
async def _on_saga_completed(self, saga: Saga):
"""Called when saga completes successfully."""
await self.event_publisher.publish(
f"{self.saga_type}Completed",
{"saga_id": saga.saga_id, **saga.data}
)
async def _on_saga_failed(self, saga: Saga):
"""Called when saga fails after compensation."""
await self.event_publisher.publish(
f"{self.saga_type}Failed",
{"saga_id": saga.saga_id, "error": "Saga failed", **saga.data}
)
class OrderFulfillmentSaga(SagaOrchestrator):
"""Orchestrates order fulfillment across services."""
@property
def saga_type(self) -> str:
return "OrderFulfillment"
def define_steps(self, data: Dict) -> List[SagaStep]:
return [
SagaStep(
name="reserve_inventory",
action="InventoryService.ReserveItems",
compensation="InventoryService.ReleaseReservation"
),
SagaStep(
name="process_payment",
action="PaymentService.ProcessPayment",
compensation="PaymentService.RefundPayment"
),
SagaStep(
name="create_shipment",
action="ShippingService.CreateShipment",
compensation="ShippingService.CancelShipment"
),
SagaStep(
name="send_confirmation",
action="NotificationService.SendOrderConfirmation",
compensation="NotificationService.SendCancellationNotice"
)
]
# Usage
async def create_order(order_data: Dict):
saga = OrderFulfillmentSaga(saga_store, event_publisher)
return await saga.start({
"order_id": order_data["order_id"],
"customer_id": order_data["customer_id"],
"items": order_data["items"],
"payment_method": order_data["payment_method"],
"shipping_address": order_data["shipping_address"]
})
# Event handlers in each service
class InventoryService:
async def handle_reserve_items(self, command: Dict):
try:
# Reserve inventory
reservation = await self.reserve(
command["items"],
command["order_id"]
)
# Report success
await self.event_publisher.publish(
"SagaStepCompleted",
{
"saga_id": command["saga_id"],
"step_name": "reserve_inventory",
"result": {"reservation_id": reservation.id}
}
)
except InsufficientInventoryError as e:
await self.event_publisher.publish(
"SagaStepFailed",
{
"saga_id": command["saga_id"],
"step_name": "reserve_inventory",
"error": str(e)
}
)
async def handle_release_reservation(self, command: Dict):
# Compensating action
await self.release_reservation(
command["original_result"]["reservation_id"]
)
await self.event_publisher.publish(
"SagaCompensationCompleted",
{
"saga_id": command["saga_id"],
"step_name": "reserve_inventory"
}
)
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Dict, Any
import asyncio
@dataclass
class SagaContext:
"""Passed through choreographed saga events."""
saga_id: str
step: int
data: Dict[str, Any]
completed_steps: list
class OrderChoreographySaga:
"""Choreography-based saga using events."""
def __init__(self, event_bus):
self.event_bus = event_bus
self._register_handlers()
def _register_handlers(self):
self.event_bus.subscribe("OrderCreated", self._on_order_created)
self.event_bus.subscribe("InventoryReserved", self._on_inventory_reserved)
self.event_bus.subscribe("PaymentProcessed", self._on_payment_processed)
self.event_bus.subscribe("ShipmentCreated", self._on_shipment_created)
# Compensation handlers
self.event_bus.subscribe("PaymentFailed", self._on_payment_failed)
self.event_bus.subscribe("ShipmentFailed", self._on_shipment_failed)
async def _on_order_created(self, event: Dict):
"""Step 1: Order created, reserve inventory."""
await self.event_bus.publish("ReserveInventory", {
"saga_id": event["order_id"],
"order_id": event["order_id"],
"items": event["items"]
})
async def _on_inventory_reserved(self, event: Dict):
"""Step 2: Inventory reserved, process payment."""
await self.event_bus.publish("ProcessPayment", {
"saga_id": event["saga_id"],
"order_id": event["order_id"],
"amount": event["total_amount"],
"reservation_id": event["reservation_id"]
})
async def _on_payment_processed(self, event: Dict):
"""Step 3: Payment done, create shipment."""
await self.event_bus.publish("CreateShipment", {
"saga_id": event["saga_id"],
"order_id": event["order_id"],
"payment_id": event["payment_id"]
})
async def _on_shipment_created(self, event: Dict):
"""Step 4: Complete - send confirmation."""
await self.event_bus.publish("OrderFulfilled", {
"saga_id": event["saga_id"],
"order_id": event["order_id"],
"tracking_number": event["tracking_number"]
})
# Compensation handlers
async def _on_payment_failed(self, event: Dict):
"""Payment failed - release inventory."""
await self.event_bus.publish("ReleaseInventory", {
"saga_id": event["saga_id"],
"reservation_id": event["reservation_id"]
})
await self.event_bus.publish("OrderFailed", {
"order_id": event["order_id"],
"reason": "Payment failed"
})
async def _on_shipment_failed(self, event: Dict):
"""Shipment failed - refund payment and release inventory."""
await self.event_bus.publish("RefundPayment", {
"saga_id": event["saga_id"],
"payment_id": event["payment_id"]
})
await self.event_bus.publish("ReleaseInventory", {
"saga_id": event["saga_id"],
"reservation_id": event["reservation_id"]
})
class TimeoutSagaOrchestrator(SagaOrchestrator):
"""Saga orchestrator with step timeouts."""
def __init__(self, saga_store, event_publisher, scheduler):
super().__init__(saga_store, event_publisher)
self.scheduler = scheduler
async def _execute_next_step(self, saga: Saga):
if saga.current_step >= len(saga.steps):
return
step = saga.steps[saga.current_step]
step.status = "executing"
step.timeout_at = datetime.utcnow() + timedelta(minutes=5)
await self.saga_store.save(saga)
# Schedule timeout check
await self.scheduler.schedule(
f"saga_timeout_{saga.saga_id}_{step.name}",
self._check_timeout,
{"saga_id": saga.saga_id, "step_name": step.name},
run_at=step.timeout_at
)
await self.event_publisher.publish(
step.action,
{"saga_id": saga.saga_id, "step_name": step.name, **saga.data}
)
async def _check_timeout(self, data: Dict):
"""Check if step has timed out."""
saga = await self.saga_store.get(data["saga_id"])
step = next(s for s in saga.steps if s.name == data["step_name"])
if step.status == "executing":
# Step timed out - fail it
await self.handle_step_failed(
data["saga_id"],
data["step_name"],
"Step timed out"
)
The templates above build saga infrastructure from scratch — saga stores, event publishers, compensation tracking. Durable execution frameworks (like DBOS) eliminate much of this boilerplate: the workflow runtime automatically persists state to a database, retries failed steps, and resumes from the last checkpoint after crashes. Instead of building a SagaOrchestrator base class, you write a workflow function with steps — the framework handles persistence, crash recovery, and exactly-once execution semantics. Consider durable execution when you want saga-like reliability without managing the coordination infrastructure yourself.
Works well with: event-sourcing-architect, workflow-automation, dbos-*