Temporal Cross-Cluster Communication: Architecture and Patterns

Temporal Cross-Cluster Communication#

When you operate multiple Temporal clusters – whether for regional deployment, compliance isolation, or blast radius reduction – workflows in one cluster eventually need to trigger work in another. This article examines three architectural approaches for cross-cluster communication, their tradeoffs, and guidance on choosing the right one for your situation.

This is an architecture guide. It establishes the concepts and patterns. The next article, Building a Worker Bridge, provides the full implementation.

Building a Temporal Worker Bridge: Cluster A Jobs Executed in Cluster B

Building a Temporal Worker Bridge#

The architecture article evaluated three cross-cluster communication patterns and identified the worker bridge as the best fit for most open-source Temporal deployments. This article builds the bridge.

The worker bridge is a single binary that holds connections to two Temporal clusters. It polls Cluster A for tasks on a dedicated queue and executes those tasks using Cluster B’s resources – its Temporal client, databases, APIs, and services. From Cluster A’s perspective, the bridge is just another worker. From Cluster B’s perspective, the bridge is just another client starting workflows.