7e5abd504f
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>
59 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
59 lines
1.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Start Workflows in Background
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impact: CRITICAL
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impactDescription: Background workflows survive crashes and restarts
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tags: workflow, background, start_workflow, handle
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---
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## Start Workflows in Background
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Use `DBOS.start_workflow` to run workflows in the background. This returns a handle to monitor or retrieve results.
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**Incorrect (using threads):**
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```python
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import threading
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@DBOS.workflow()
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def long_task(data):
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# Long running work
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pass
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# Don't use threads for DBOS workflows!
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thread = threading.Thread(target=long_task, args=(data,))
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thread.start()
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```
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**Correct (using start_workflow):**
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```python
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from dbos import DBOS, WorkflowHandle
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@DBOS.workflow()
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def long_task(data):
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# Long running work
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return "done"
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# Start workflow in background
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handle: WorkflowHandle = DBOS.start_workflow(long_task, data)
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# Later, get the result
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result = handle.get_result()
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# Or check status
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status = handle.get_status()
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```
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You can retrieve a workflow handle later using its ID:
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```python
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# Get workflow ID
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workflow_id = handle.get_workflow_id()
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# Later, retrieve the handle
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handle = DBOS.retrieve_workflow(workflow_id)
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result = handle.get_result()
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```
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Reference: [Starting Workflows](https://docs.dbos.dev/python/tutorials/workflow-tutorial#starting-workflows-in-the-background)
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