temporal-starter

name	temporal-starter
description	Scaffold a Temporal PHP client starter that creates a WorkflowClient and kicks off a workflow run. Use when the user asks to "start a workflow", "create a client", or "add workflow starter".

Temporal Workflow Starter (PHP)

Generate a client-side script that connects to Temporal and starts (or signals) a workflow.

Ask the user (only if unclear)

• Target workflow interface FQCN
• Task queue the worker is listening on
• Desired workflowId strategy (deterministic vs. random)
• Arguments to pass to the workflow method
• Timeouts (executionStartToCloseTimeout, runStartToCloseTimeout)

File to create

starter.php (or bin/start-{{workflow}}.php)

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

use Temporal\Client\GRPC\ServiceClient;
use Temporal\Client\WorkflowClient;
use Temporal\Client\WorkflowOptions;

require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

$workflowClient = WorkflowClient::create(
    ServiceClient::create($_ENV['TEMPORAL_ADDRESS'] ?? '127.0.0.1:7233'),
);

$workflow = $workflowClient->newWorkflowStub(
    {{Workflow}}Interface::class,
    WorkflowOptions::new()
        ->withTaskQueue('{{taskQueue}}')
        ->withWorkflowId('{{workflowId}}')
        ->withWorkflowExecutionTimeout('1 hour'),
);

// Fire-and-forget start (returns immediately with WorkflowRun):
$run = $workflowClient->start($workflow, {{argNames}});

printf("Started %s / %s\n", $run->getExecution()->getID(), $run->getExecution()->getRunID());

// To wait for the result synchronously instead:
// $result = $workflow->{{method}}({{argNames}});
// var_dump($result);

Conventions

• One WorkflowClient per process is fine; it holds the gRPC channel.
• Prefer deterministic workflowIds (e.g. order-{$orderId}) so duplicate starts are rejected idempotently via WorkflowIdReusePolicy::REJECT_DUPLICATE.
• start() returns immediately with a WorkflowRunInterface; calling the annotated workflow method on the stub directly blocks until completion.
• For signal-with-start use $workflowClient->startWithSignal(...).

After generation

• Show how to query state later: $stub = $workflowClient->newRunningWorkflowStub({{Workflow}}Interface::class, $workflowId);
• Suggest wiring this into the app's CLI (e.g. a Symfony/Laravel command) rather than keeping a standalone script.