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Temporal's major components

Temporal has four major components:

  • Temporal SDK used to build applications and run applications.
  • Temporal Service that maintains the state of the applications.
  • Temporal CLI used to interact with the Temporal Service for a variety of purposes.
  • Temporal UI primary used to view the state of applications.

Temporal SDK​

What is a Temporal SDK?

A Temporal SDK is a language-specific library that offers APIs to do the following:

  1. Interact with a Temporal Service with a Temporal Client
  2. Develop Workflow Definitions
  3. Develop Worker Programs

A Temporal SDK enables you to write your application code using the full power of the programming language.

Follow one of our getting started tutorials to start learning how to use a Temporal SDK.

Or jump straight into the SDK docs for your preferred language:

Temporal Service​

What is a Temporal Service?

A Temporal Service maintains the state of your application and ensures that your application resumes when failures are detected.

There are three categories of Temporal Services, all derived from the open-source Temporal Server software. And a Temporal Application can switch between all three.

  • Development Temporal Service: Available in the Temporal CLI, this service is great for local development.
  • Self-hosted Temporal Service: We call a Temporal Service "Self-hosted" when someone runs and manages the Temporal Service and all of the dependencies on their own.
  • Temporal Cloud: This Temporal Technologies' proprietary instance a of a Temporal Service, completely managed by Temporal Technologies.

Temporal CLI​

What is the Temporal CLI?

The Temporal CLI is a command-line interface that provides developers with direct access to a Temporal Service.

It's a powerful tool for managing, monitoring, and debugging Temporal Applications. With the Temporal CLI, developers can start their applications, pass messages, cancel application steps, and more directly from their terminal.

It also includes a distribution of the Temporal Service for local development purposes.

Temporal UI​

What is the Temporal UI?

The Temporal UI is a browser-based user interface that provides access to application state and metadata for a variety of observational purposes.