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Introduction to the Temporal Go SDK

Welcome to the Temporal Go SDK developer’s guide.

Temporal Go SDK API reference

https://pkg.go.dev/go.temporal.io/sdk

The open source Temporal Go SDK released on March 23, 2020. This guide documents the concepts, features, and tools needed to create, test, and execute Temporal applications in Go.

The open source Temporal Go SDK enables developers to build, test, and execute Temporal applications in Go.

Supported runtimes​

What are the supported Go runtimes?

The Temporal Go SDK supports Go 1.18+.

Ensure you have the latest version of the Temporal Go SDK by checking releases.

Add to project​

go get go.temporal.io/sdk

Import SDK packages in your code:

import (
    "go.temporal.io/sdk/client"
    // other imports...
)

Expected skills and experiences​

What Go programming skills and experiences should a developer have to succeed with the Go SDK?

The Temporal Platform enables developers to build a wide range of applications that serve a variety of use cases.

We recommend that developers are equipped with some of the following skills to develop production-level Temporal Applications:

Recommended

Core fundamentals:

  • Go syntax and structure
  • Variables, Types, and Structures
  • Control flow: loops, conditionals
  • Slices and Maps
  • Basic I/O operations

Go-specific principles:

  • Understanding Goroutines and Channels
  • Error handling in Go
  • Go Modules and Dependency Management
  • Pointers in Go
  • Structs, Interfaces, and Embedding
  • Go Testing and Benchmarking
Nice to have

Tools

We recommend that developers have a beginner to moderate level of experience using a Go IDE, or a preferred editor with Go extensions, such as Visual Studio Code with Go extension.

Testing

We recommend that developers have some experience with Go's built-in testing framework.

Code base version control

We recommend that developers have some experience using a version control system, such as Git.

Dependency management

Being familiar with Go modules for dependency management can be beneficial.

Listing and sorting

Understanding SQL-like syntax and CRUD operational concepts can help utilize Temporal’s Visibility tools.

Security

We recommend having some understanding and experience with TLS, security certificates, and private keys for onboarding with Temporal Cloud or setting up a Self-Hosted Cluster.

Privacy

We advise having an understanding and experience with PII and sensitive information encryption for applications that handle user data.

Complex and large-scale use cases

Large scale use cases:

For intricate and vast use cases, having some experience with the following could be helpful:

  • Deeper Go runtime understanding, including:
    • Go's memory model
    • Go garbage collection
  • Design Patterns applicable to Go, such as Singletons or Factories.
  • Distributed system architectures:
    • Event-driven architectures and how events drive processes in the context of Workflows.
  • The distinctions between stateful vs. stateless processes.
  • Implications of service scalability on performance and reliability.
  • Ensuring fault tolerance and understanding supervisor systems for progress checks and resumptions.

Code samples and resources?​

Where can I find code samples and other resources to learn to use the Go SDK?

How to contribute to the Temporal Go SDK?​

The Temporal Go SDK is MIT licensed, and open source contributions are very welcome. Join us in the Temporal #go-sdk Slack channel or ask questions in the Community Forum

We'd love your help in improving the Temporal Go SDK. Please review our contribution guidelines.