02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
Glossary
Glossary
The following terms are used in Temporal Platform documentation.
Action
An Action is the fundamental pricing unit in Temporal Cloud.
Tags: term, pricing, temporal-cloud, explanation
Activity
In day-to-day conversation, the term "Activity" denotes an Activity Type, Activity Definition, or
Activity Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Activity Definition
An Activity Definition is the code that defines the constraints of an Activity Task Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Activity Execution
An Activity Execution is the full chain of Activity Task Executions.
Tags: term, explanation
Activity Heartbeat
An Activity Heartbeat is a ping from the Worker that is executing the Activity to the Temporal
Cluster. Each ping informs the Temporal Cluster that the Activity Execution is making progress
and the Worker has not crashed.
Tags: term, explanation
Activity Id
A unique identifier for an Activity Execution.
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 1/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
Tags: term, explanation
Activity Task
An Activity Task contains the context needed to make an Activity Task Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Activity Task Execution
An Activity Task Execution occurs when a Worker uses the context provided from the Activity
Task and executes the Activity Definition.
Tags: term, explanation
Activity Type
An Activity Type is the mapping of a name to an Activity Definition.
Tags: term, explanation
Archival
Archival is a feature that automatically backs up Event Histories from Temporal Cluster
persistence to a custom blob store after the Closed Workflow Execution retention period is
reached.
Tags: term, explanation
Asynchronous Activity Completion
Asynchronous Activity Completion occurs when an external system provides the final result of
a computation, started by an Activity, to the Temporal System.
Tags: term, explanation
Audit Logging
Audit Logging is a feature that provides forensic access information for accounts, users, and
Namespaces.
Tags: term, explanation, temporal-cloud, operations
Authorizer Plugin
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 2/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
undefined
Tags: term
Child Workflow
A Child Workflow Execution is a Workflow Execution that is spawned from within another
Workflow.
Tags: term, explanation, child-workflow
Claim Mapper
The Claim Mapper component is a pluggable component that extracts Claims from JSON Web
Tokens (JWTs).
Tags: term
Cluster configuration
Cluster Configuration is the setup and configuration details of your Temporal Cluster, defined
using YAML.
Tags: term, explanation
Codec Server
A Codec Server is an HTTP server that uses your custom Payload Codec to encode and
decode your data remotely through endpoints.
Tags: term
Command
A Command is a requested action issued by a Worker to the Temporal Cluster after a Workflow
Task Execution completes.
Tags: term, explanation
Continue-As-New
Continue-As-New is the mechanism by which all relevant state is passed to a new Workflow
Execution with a fresh Event History.
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 3/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
Tags: term, explanation, continue-as-new
Custom Data Converter
A custom Data Converter extends the default Data Converter with custom logic for Payload
conversion or Payload encryption.
Tags: term, explanation
Data Converter
A Data Converter is a Temporal SDK component that serializes and encodes data entering and
exiting a Temporal Cluster.
Tags: term, explanation
Default Data Converter
The default Data Converter is used by the Temporal SDK to convert objects into bytes using a
series of Payload Converters.
Tags: term, explanation
Dual Visibility
Dual Visibility is a feature that lets you set a secondary Visibility store in your Temporal Cluster
to facilitate migrating your Visibility data from one database to another.
Tags: term, explanation, filtered-lists, visibility
Event
Events are created by the Temporal Cluster in response to external occurrences and
Commands generated by a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Event History
An append-only log of Events that represents the full state a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Failure
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 4/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
Temporal Failures are representations of various types of errors that occur in the system.
Tags: term, explanation
Failure Converter
A Failure Converter converts error objects to proto Failures and back.
Tags: term, explanation
Frontend Service
The Frontend Service is a stateless gateway service that exposes a strongly typed Proto API.
The Frontend Service is responsible for rate limiting, authorizing, validating, and routing all
inbound calls.
Tags: term
Global Namespace
A Global Namespace is a Namespace that exists across Clusters when Multi-Cluster
Replication is set up.
Tags: term, explanation
Heartbeat Timeout
A Heartbeat Timeout is the maximum time between Activity Heartbeats.
Tags: term, explanation, timeouts
History Service
The History Service is responsible for persisting Workflow Execution state and determining
what to do next to progress the Workflow Execution through History Shards.
Tags: term
History Shard
A History Shard is an important unit within a Temporal Cluster by which the scale of concurrent
Workflow Execution throughput can be measured.
Tags: term
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 5/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
List Filter
A List Filter is the SQL-like string that is provided as the parameter to an advanced Visibility
List API.
Tags: term, explanation, filtered-lists, visibility
Local Activity
A Local Activity is an Activity Execution that executes in the same process as the Workflow
Execution that spawns it.
Tags: term, explanation
Matching Service
The Matching Service is responsible for hosting external Task Queues for Task dispatching.
Tags: term
Memo
A Memo is a non-indexed user-supplied set of Workflow Execution metadata that is returned
when you describe or list Workflow Executions.
Tags: term, explanation
Multi-Cluster Replication
Multi-Cluster Replication is a feature which asynchronously replicates Workflow Executions
from active Clusters to other passive Clusters, for backup and state reconstruction.
Tags: term, explanation
Namespace
A Namespace is a unit of isolation within the Temporal Platform
Tags: term, explanation
Parent Close Policy
If a Workflow Execution is a Child Workflow Execution, a Parent Close Policy determines what
happens to the Workflow Execution if its Parent Workflow Execution changes to a Closed
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 6/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
status (Completed, Failed, Timed out).
Tags: term, explanation, child-workflow-executions
Payload
A Payload represents binary data such as input and output from Activities and Workflows.
Tags: term, payloads, explanation
Payload Codec
A Payload Codec transforms an array of Payloads into another array of Payloads.
Tags: term, explanation
Payload Converter
A Payload Converter serializes data, converting objects or values to bytes and back.
Tags: term, explanation
Persistence
The Temporal Persistence store is a database used by Temporal Services to persist events
generated and processed in the Temporal Cluster and SDK.
Tags: term, explanation
Query
A Query is a synchronous operation that is used to report the state of a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, queries, explanation
Remote data encoding
Remote data encding is using your custom Data Converter to decode (and encode) your
Payloads remotely through endpoints.
Tags: term, explanation
Reset
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 7/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
A Reset terminates a Workflow Execution, removes the progress in the Event History up to the
reset point, and then creates a new Workflow Execution with the same Workflow Type and Id to
continue.
Tags: term, resets, explanation
Retention Period
A Retention Period is the amount of time a Workflow Execution Event History remains in the
Cluster's persistence store.
Tags: term, explanation
Retry Policy
A Retry Policy is a collection of attributes that instructs the Temporal Server how to retry a
failure of a Workflow Execution or an Activity Task Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Run Id
A Run Id is a globally unique, platform-level identifier for a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Schedule
A Schedule enables the scheduling of Workflow Executions.
Tags: term, explanation
Schedule-To-Close Timeout
A Schedule-To-Close Timeout is the maximum amount of time allowed for the overall Activity
Execution, from when the first Activity Task is scheduled to when the last Activity Task, in the
chain of Activity Tasks that make up the Activity Execution, reaches a Closed status.
Tags: term, explanation, timeouts
Schedule-To-Start Timeout
A Schedule-To-Start Timeout is the maximum amount of time that is allowed from when an
Activity Task is placed in a Task Queue to when a Worker picks it up from the Task Queue.
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 8/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
Tags: term, explanation, timeouts
Search Attribute
A Search Attribute is an indexed name used in List Filters to filter a list of Workflow Executions
that have the Search Attribute in their metadata.
Tags: term, explanation, filtered-lists, visibility
Side Effect
A Side Effect is a way to execute a short, non-deterministic code snippet, such as generating a
UUID, that executes the provided function once and records its result into the Workflow
Execution Event History.
Tags: term, explanation
Signal
A Signal is an asynchronous request to a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, signals, explanation
Start-To-Close Timeout
A Start-To-Close Timeout is the maximum time allowed for a single Activity Task Execution.
Tags: term, explanation, timeouts
State Transition
A State Transition is a unit of progress by a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Sticky Execution
A Sticky Execution is a when a Worker Entity caches the Workflow Execution Event History and
creates a dedicated Task Queue to listen on.
Tags: term, explanation
Task
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 9/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
A Task is the context needed to make progress with a specific Workflow Execution or Activity
Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Task Queue
A Task Queue is a first-in, first-out queue that a Worker Process polls for Tasks.
Tags: term, explanation
Task Routing
Task Routing is when a Task Queue is paired with one or more Worker Processes, primarily for
Activity Task Executions.
Tags: term, explanation
Task Token
A Task Token is a unique identifier for an Activity Task Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal
Temporal is a scalable and reliable runtime for Reentrant Processes called Temporal Workflow
Executions.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Application
A Temporal Application is a set of Workflow Executions.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal CLI
The Temporal CLI is the most recent version of Temporal's command-line tool.
Tags: term, cli
Temporal Client
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 10/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
A Temporal Client, provided by a Temporal SDK, provides a set of APIs to communicate with a
Temporal Cluster.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Cloud
Temporal Cloud is a managed, hosted Temporal environment that provides a platform for
Temporal Applications.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Cloud Account Id
A Temporal Cloud Account Id is a unique identifier for a customer.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Cloud Namespace Id
A Cloud Namespace Id is a globally unique identifier for a Namespace in Temporal Cloud.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Cloud Namespace Name
A Cloud Namespace Name is a customer-supplied name for a Namespace in Temporal Cloud.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Cluster
A Temporal Cluster is a Temporal Server paired with Persistence and Visibility stores.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Cron Job
A Temporal Cron Job is the series of Workflow Executions that occur when a Cron Schedule is
provided in the call to spawn a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Platform
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 11/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
The Temporal Platform consists of a Temporal Cluster and Worker Processes.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal SDK
A Temporal SDK is a language-specific library that offers APIs to construct and use a Temporal
Client to communicate with a Temporal Cluster, develop Workflow Definitions, and develop
Worker Programs.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Server
The Temporal Server is a grouping of four horizontally scalable services.
Tags: term, explanation
Temporal Web UI
The Temporal Web UI provides users with Workflow Execution state and metadata for
debugging purposes.
Tags: term, web-ui
Update
An Update is a request to and a response from Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, updates, explanation
Visibility
The term Visibility, within the Temporal Platform, refers to the subsystems and APIs that enable
an operator to view Workflow Executions that currently exist within a Cluster.
Tags: term
Worker
In day-to-day conversations, the term Worker is used to denote both a Worker Program and a
Worker Process. Temporal documentation aims to be explicit and differentiate between them.
Tags: term, explanation
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 12/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
Worker Entity
A Worker Entity is the individual Worker within a Worker Process that listens to a specific Task
Queue.
Tags: term, explanation
Worker Process
A Worker Process is responsible for polling a Task Queue, dequeueing a Task, executing your
code in response to a Task, and responding to the Temporal Server with the results.
Tags: term, explanation
Worker Program
A Worker Program is the static code that defines the constraints of the Worker Process,
developed using the APIs of a Temporal SDK.
Tags: term, explanation
Worker Service
The Worker Service runs background processing for the replication queue, system Workflows,
and (in versions older than 1.5.0) the Kafka visibility processor.
Tags: term
Worker Session
A Worker Session is a feature provided by some SDKs that provides a straightforward way to
ensure that Activity Tasks are executed with the same Worker without requiring you to
manually specify Task Queue names.
Tags: term, explanation
Workflow
In day-to-day conversations, the term "Workflow" frequently denotes either a Workflow Type, a
Workflow Definition, or a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Workflow Definition
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 13/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
A Workflow Definition is the code that defines the constraints of a Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Workflow Execution
A Temporal Workflow Execution is a durable, scalable, reliable, and reactive function execution.
It is the main unit of execution of a Temporal Application.
Tags: term, explanation
Workflow Execution Timeout
A Workflow Execution Timeout is the maximum time that a Workflow Execution can be
executing (have an Open status) including retries and any usage of Continue As New.
Tags: term, explanation, timeouts
Workflow Id
A Workflow Id is a customizable, application-level identifier for a Workflow Execution that is
unique to an Open Workflow Execution within a Namespace.
Tags: term, explanation
Workflow Id Reuse Policy
A Workflow Id Reuse Policy determines whether a Workflow Execution is allowed to spawn with
a particular Workflow Id, if that Workflow Id has been used with a previous, and now Closed,
Workflow Execution.
Tags: term, explanation
Workflow Run Timeout
This is the maximum amount of time that a single Workflow Run is restricted to.
Tags: term, explanation, timeouts
Workflow Task
A Workflow Task is a Task that contains the context needed to make progress with a Workflow
Execution.
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 14/15
02/08/2023, 06:53 Glossary | Temporal Documentation
Tags: term, explanation
Workflow Task Execution
A Workflow Task Execution occurs when a Worker picks up a Workflow Task and uses it to
make progress on the execution of a Workflow Definition.
Tags: term, explanation
Workflow Task Timeout
A Workflow Task Timeout is the maximum amount of time that the Temporal Server will wait for
a Worker to start processing a Workflow Task after the Task has been pulled from the Task
Queue.
Tags: term, explanation, timeouts
Workflow Type
A Workflow Type is a name that maps to a Workflow Definition.
Tags: term, explanation
tctl
tctl is a command-line tool that you can use to interact with a Temporal Cluster.
Tags: term, tctl
Tags: reference
https://docs.temporal.io/glossary#query 15/15
