temporalio / temporalio/temporal
Сoncurrency limit (built-in semaphore) per Workflow type
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Go
- Stars
- 23.2k
- Forks
- 1.9k
- Avg merge
- 2d 8h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 228
Description
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
It is a recurring orchestration need to limit the number of concurrently running Workflows of a specific type (e.g., never run more than N "MyWorkflow" simultaneously in a namespace or cluster). There is currently no built-in way to set a global concurrency limit by Workflow type in Temporal. Workarounds require custom dispatcher workflows or external distributed semaphores.
Describe the solution you'd like
A built-in semaphore/concurrency limit per Workflow type, configurable via API or workflow start options, so that Temporal itself restricts the number of simultaneously running workflows of a given type.
Describe alternatives you've considered
Building custom dispatcher workflows or using external distributed locks—but these solutions are complex, fragile, and operationally heavy.
Additional context
A built-in semaphore would be a general and powerful solution for throttling, batching, and resource protection for a wide range of use cases.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
The issue names no files, tests, or entry points. Start by reviewing Temporal's workflow-start options and the existing mechanisms for workflow concurrency, then determine the API and semantics needed for per-type limits. Done means an agreed design for namespace or cluster scope, configuration, and enforcement, with implementation and tests identified.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- go
- Domain
- backend, distributed-systems
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100