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antigravity-skills-reference/skills/dbos-python/references/workflow-determinism.md
Max dml 7e5abd504f feat: add DBOS skills for TypeScript, Python, and Go (#94)
Add three DBOS SDK skills with reference documentation for building
reliable, fault-tolerant applications with durable workflows.

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-02-17 23:26:51 +01:00

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---
title: Keep Workflows Deterministic
impact: CRITICAL
impactDescription: Non-deterministic workflows cannot recover correctly
tags: workflow, determinism, recovery, reliability
---
## Keep Workflows Deterministic
Workflow functions must be deterministic: given the same inputs and step return values, they must invoke the same steps in the same order. Non-deterministic operations must be moved to steps.
**Incorrect (non-deterministic workflow):**
```python
import random
@DBOS.workflow()
def example_workflow():
# Random number in workflow breaks recovery!
choice = random.randint(0, 1)
if choice == 0:
step_one()
else:
step_two()
```
**Correct (non-determinism in step):**
```python
import random
@DBOS.step()
def generate_choice():
return random.randint(0, 1)
@DBOS.workflow()
def example_workflow():
# Random number generated in step - result is saved
choice = generate_choice()
if choice == 0:
step_one()
else:
step_two()
```
Non-deterministic operations that must be in steps:
- Random number generation
- Getting current time
- Accessing external APIs
- Reading files
- Database queries (use transactions or steps)
Reference: [Workflow Determinism](https://docs.dbos.dev/python/tutorials/workflow-tutorial#determinism)