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Cadence

Open-source workflow engine for building fault-tolerant, stateful distributed applications.

Cadence runs long-running business logic as workflows written in Go or Java, with Python and Ruby SDKs that the community maintains. The workflow code runs in worker services that the application deploys, and the Cadence server keeps the workflow history and the task queues. The server is stateless and stores its history in an external database, Cassandra, MySQL or PostgreSQL.

The server is a Go program that the get-started guide builds from the repository with make bins, and the server installation guide starts with Docker Compose. The overview also describes a Kubernetes deployment with a Helm chart. The project is run by a Series of LF Projects, LLC, and its site describes it as a Cloud Native Computing Foundation project.

Worth knowing

The quickstart runs the server on an embedded SQLite backend. The open-source overview deployment table pairs SQLite with local development, demos and CI, and pairs Cassandra, MySQL or PostgreSQL with staging and production. The installation guide asks the operator to keep the server process running in the background.

Identity

Status
Active
Maintainer
LF Projects, LLC2
Maintained by
Foundation2
First release
20179

Rendering and deploy

Runs as
Always on6
Install with
source-build156

Releases

Current major version
18
Last release
2026-10-308

Adoption

GitHub stars
9,5303
Contributors
1803

Why these figures do not compare

Sources

  1. 2026-10-31: name, Categories, Install with, License
    cadenceworkflow.io/docs/concepts/open-source-workflow-engine/
  2. 2026-10-31: links, Maintainer, Maintained by, Categories, Admin interface
    cadenceworkflow.io
  3. 2026-10-31: links, Written in, License model, GitHub stars, Contributors
    github.com/cadence-workflow/cadence
  4. 2026-10-31: links
    cadenceworkflow.io/docs/
  5. 2026-10-31: Runtime, Databases, Install with
    cadenceworkflow.io/docs/get-started/
  6. 2026-10-31: Install with, Runs as
    cadenceworkflow.io/docs/get-started/server-installation/
  7. 2026-10-31: License
    cadenceworkflow.io/docs/about/license/
  8. 2026-10-31: Current major version, Last release
    github.com/cadence-workflow/cadence/releases/tag/v1.4.5
  9. 2026-10-31: First release
    github.com/cadence-workflow/cadence/releases/tag/v0.1.1-beta

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