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name: saga-orchestration description: "Patterns for managing distributed transactions and long-running business processes." risk: unknown source: community date_added: "2026-02-27"

Saga Orchestration

Patterns for managing distributed transactions and long-running business processes.

Do not use this skill when

• The task is unrelated to saga orchestration
• You need a different domain or tool outside this scope

Instructions

• Clarify goals, constraints, and required inputs.
• Apply relevant best practices and validate outcomes.
• Provide actionable steps and verification.
• If detailed examples are required, open resources/implementation-playbook.md.

Use this skill when

• Coordinating multi-service transactions
• Implementing compensating transactions
• Managing long-running business workflows
• Handling failures in distributed systems
• Building order fulfillment processes
• Implementing approval workflows

Core Concepts

1. Saga Types

Choreography                    Orchestration
┌─────┐  ┌─────┐  ┌─────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│Svc A│─►│Svc B│─►│Svc C│     │ Orchestrator│
└─────┘  └─────┘  └─────┘     └──────┬──────┘
   │        │        │               │
   ▼        ▼        ▼         ┌─────┼─────┐
 Event    Event    Event       ▼     ▼     ▼
                            ┌────┐┌────┐┌────┐
                            │Svc1││Svc2││Svc3│
                            └────┘└────┘└────┘

2. Saga Execution States

| State | Description | | ---------------- | ------------------------------ | | Started | Saga initiated | | Pending | Waiting for step completion | | Compensating | Rolling back due to failure | | Completed | All steps succeeded | | Failed | Saga failed after compensation |

Templates

Template 1: Saga Orchestrator Base

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from enum import Enum
from typing import List, Dict, Any, Optional
from datetime import datetime
import uuid

class SagaState(Enum):
    STARTED = "started"
    PENDING = "pending"
    COMPENSATING = "compensating"
    COMPLETED = "completed"
    FAILED = "failed"


@dataclass
class SagaStep:
    name: str
    action: str
    compensation: str
    status: str = "pending"
    result: Optional[Dict] = None
    error: Optional[str] = None
    executed_at: Optional[datetime] = None
    compensated_at: Optional[datetime] = None


@dataclass
class Saga:
    saga_id: str
    saga_type: str
    state: SagaState
    data: Dict[str, Any]
    steps: List[SagaStep]
    current_step: int = 0
    created_at: datetime = field(default_factory=datetime.utcnow)
    updated_at: datetime = field(default_factory=datetime.utcnow)


class SagaOrchestrator(ABC):
    """Base class for saga orchestrators."""

    def __init__(self, saga_store, event_publisher):
        self.saga_store = saga_store
        self.event_publisher = event_publisher

    @abstractmethod
    def define_steps(self, data: Dict) -> List[SagaStep]:
        """Define the saga steps."""
        pass

    @property
    @abstractmethod
    def saga_type(self) -> str:
        """Unique saga type identifier."""
        pass

    async def start(self, data: Dict) -> Saga:
        """Start a new saga."""
        saga = Saga(
            saga_id=str(uuid.uuid4()),
            saga_type=self.saga_type,
            state=SagaState.STARTED,
            data=data,
            steps=self.define_steps(data)
        )
        await self.saga_store.save(saga)
        await self._execute_next_step(saga)
        return saga

    async def handle_step_completed(self, saga_id: str, step_name: str, result: Dict):
        """Handle successful step completion."""
        saga = await self.saga_store.get(saga_id)

        # Update step
        for step in saga.steps:
            if step.name == step_name:
                step.status = "completed"
                step.result = result
                step.executed_at = datetime.utcnow()
                break

        saga.current_step += 1
        saga.updated_at = datetime.utcnow()

        # Check if saga is complete
        if saga.current_step >= len(saga.steps):
            saga.state = SagaState.COMPLETED
            await self.saga_store.save(saga)
            await self._on_saga_completed(saga)
        else:
            saga.state = SagaState.PENDING
            await self.saga_store.save(saga)
            await self._execute_next_step(saga)

    async def handle_step_failed(self, saga_id: str, step_name: str, error: str):
        """Handle step failure - start compensation."""
        saga = await self.saga_store.get(saga_id)

        # Mark step as failed
        for step in saga.steps:
            if step.name == step_name:
                step.status = "failed"
                step.error = error
                break

        saga.state = SagaState.COMPENSATING