Introduction to the Temporal TypeScript SDK

Useful programming skills and experiences

You can start working with the SDK with only TypeScript knowledge. Temporal abstracts much of the complexity of distributed systems, but a broad base of knowledge helps you design more efficient and resilient systems.

Core JavaScript or TypeScript knowledge

Required:

• JavaScript syntax and structure, including variable declarations using let, const, and var.
• Basic data types, such as number, string, boolean, null, and undefined.
• Operators and control statements.
• Basic input/output (I/O).
• Familiarity with defining classes, constructors, properties, and methods.
• Knowledge of how to use import and export for module-based development.
• Familiarity with function declarations, arrow functions, and function types.
• Understanding of modern ECMAScript features such as promises and async/await.
• Knowledge of how to configure TypeScript projects using tsconfig.json.

Useful:

• Proficiency in TypeScript, including type annotations, interfaces, and generics.
• Familiarity with object-oriented programming concepts like inheritance, encapsulation, and polymorphism.
• Understanding of composite types like Array<T>, Promise<T>, and { [key: string]: T }.
• Basic understanding of decorators.
• Familiarity with Node.js, the SDK runtime.

Tools

Required:

• Package managers, such as npm, pnpm, or yarn.
• An IDE such as Visual Studio Code (VS Code) or WebStorm.

Useful:

• Testing tools, such as Jest or Mocha and Chai.
• Source control systems (such as Git) and source control platforms (such as GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket).

Other useful knowledge

• Testing and production: unit testing, integration testing, debugging, performance profiling, and CI/CD practices.
• Distributed systems: event-driven architecture, eventual consistency, partitioning, replication, and stateful vs stateless processes.

Where to find code samples

Code samples are integrated into this tutorial. You can find those code samples in the temporalio/documentation-samples-typescript repository on GitHub.

Additional TypeScript code samples are in the temporalio/samples-typescript repository.

Other learning resources

• Temporal 101 and Temporal 102 - free introductory courses.
• Building Reliable Distributed Systems in Node.js - an introduction to Temporal through a sample web app.
• The TypeScript SDK YouTube playlist.
• Tutorials:
  • Build a recurring billing subscription system with TypeScript
  • Choose Your Own Adventure Bot walkthrough in TypeScript
• Blog posts:
  • How Durable Execution Works
  • Temporal for VS Code
  • Using Temporal as a Node.js Task Queue
  • Caching API Requests with Long-Lived Workflows
  • REST APIs for every Temporal Workflow in one line of code
  • 1.0.0 release of the Temporal TypeScript SDK
  • How we use V8 isolates to enforce Workflow determinism

Where to get help

• #typescript-sdk channel in Slack.
• Community Forum.

Follow SDK updates

• The Temporal newsletter includes major SDK updates.
• GitHub Releases has all SDK releases. The releases feed can be added to a feed reader or converted to emails: https://github.com/temporalio/sdk-typescript/releases.atom.

Contribute to the SDK

The Temporal TypeScript SDK is MIT licensed, and contributions are welcome. Review the contribution guidelines.