workflow-orchestration-patterns
Design durable workflows with Temporal for distributed systems. Covers workflow vs activity separation, saga patterns, state management, and determinism constraints. Use when building long-running processes, distributed transactions, or microservice orchestration.
72
60%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
92%
0.98xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./plugins/backend-development/skills/workflow-orchestration-patterns/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
100%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
This is a strong skill description that clearly identifies the technology (Temporal), lists specific capabilities (saga patterns, determinism constraints, workflow/activity separation), and provides explicit trigger guidance for when to use it. It uses proper third-person voice and covers natural terms developers would use when seeking help with Temporal-based distributed systems.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Lists multiple specific concrete actions and concepts: workflow vs activity separation, saga patterns, state management, determinism constraints, and durable workflows with Temporal. | 3 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (design durable workflows with Temporal, covering workflow vs activity separation, saga patterns, state management, determinism constraints) and 'when' (explicit 'Use when building long-running processes, distributed transactions, or microservice orchestration'). | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes strong natural trigger terms users would say: 'Temporal', 'distributed systems', 'saga patterns', 'long-running processes', 'distributed transactions', 'microservice orchestration', 'workflow', 'activity', 'determinism'. These cover the key terms a developer working with Temporal would use. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Highly distinctive due to the specific mention of 'Temporal' as the technology, combined with domain-specific concepts like saga patterns and determinism constraints. Unlikely to conflict with generic workflow or distributed systems skills. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 12 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
20%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill reads more like a comprehensive tutorial or documentation summary than a concise, actionable skill file. It explains many concepts Claude already understands (distributed transactions, idempotency, retry policies) without providing any executable code examples in any language. The content would benefit dramatically from being condensed to key decision points and concrete code snippets.
Suggestions
Add executable code examples in at least one language (e.g., Python or TypeScript) showing a complete workflow definition, activity definition, and saga pattern implementation with Temporal SDK.
Cut explanatory content Claude already knows (what idempotency is, what fan-out/fan-in means, when not to use orchestration) and focus on Temporal-specific implementation details and gotchas.
Split detailed pattern descriptions (Saga, Entity, Fan-Out, Async Callback) into separate reference files and keep SKILL.md as a concise overview with the design decision framework and quick-start code.
Add concrete validation steps, such as how to verify workflow determinism (e.g., replay testing commands) and how to test compensations locally.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The skill is extremely verbose at ~250+ lines, explaining many concepts Claude already knows (what a saga pattern is, what idempotency means, what fan-out/fan-in is). Lists like 'When NOT to Use' and extensive 'Characteristics' sections add bulk without providing actionable, novel information. Much of this reads like a tutorial rather than a concise reference. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | Despite covering many patterns, the skill contains zero executable code examples. Everything is described abstractly or in pseudocode-like bullet points (e.g., 'Register compensation BEFORE executing step'). There are no concrete code snippets showing how to define a Temporal workflow, activity, or saga in any language. | 1 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | Multi-step processes like the Saga pattern are sequenced (register compensation → execute → compensate on failure), and the design decision framework provides a clear heuristic. However, there are no explicit validation checkpoints or feedback loops for error recovery in the workflows described, and the steps remain abstract rather than concrete. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The content is organized with clear headers and sections, and references external documentation URLs. However, it's a monolithic wall of text that could benefit from splitting detailed patterns (saga, entity, fan-out) into separate reference files. The 'Additional Resources' section at the end is good but the inline content is too heavy for a SKILL.md overview. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 6 / 12 Passed |
Validation
100%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 11 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
No warnings or errors.
- Repository
- wshobson/agents
- Commit
70444e5
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
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