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Inngest

Durable step functions that replace queues and scheduling

Write reliable, stateful workflows with language SDKs, run locally with a dev server, and deploy to any infrastructure while maintaining production parity and secure HTTPS triggers.

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Overview

Overview

Inngest lets developers create durable, stateful step functions using familiar language SDKs (TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, Go, Kotlin/Java). Functions are composed of triggers, flow‑control settings, and retry‑aware steps, providing built‑in handling for concurrency, throttling, debouncing, and rate limiting. The platform records each step’s output, enabling automatic retries and long‑running workflows that can persist for months.

Deployment & Operations

Run the Inngest Dev Server locally (npx inngest-cli@latest dev) for a production‑parity experience and visual dashboard. Deploy functions to any infrastructure—self‑hosted servers, serverless platforms, or the managed Inngest service—while the Event API securely receives events over HTTPS. The architecture includes an event stream, multi‑tenant queue, executor, and state store, giving you full control over reliability without managing separate queue or scheduler services.

Highlights

Multi‑language SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Go, and Kotlin/Java
Fine‑grained flow control (concurrency, throttling, debouncing, rate limiting)
Automatic step retries with persistent state storage
Local dev server that mirrors production behavior

Pros

  • Eliminates need for separate queue and scheduler services
  • Provides precise per‑function flow control
  • Transparent state management and replayability
  • Flexible deployment: managed platform, self‑hosted, or any serverless environment

Considerations

  • Requires integration of Inngest SDKs into existing code
  • Learning curve for step‑function model and flow‑control configuration
  • Self‑hosting adds operational overhead (state store, database)
  • Limited to HTTP‑based event triggers; other sources need adapters

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Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.

Fit guide

Great for

  • Teams building complex background jobs or AI pipelines
  • Developers wanting serverless‑like workflows without vendor lock‑in
  • Organizations needing precise concurrency limits per user or tenant
  • Projects that benefit from local testing with production‑grade behavior

Not ideal when

  • Simple CRUD APIs that don’t require orchestrated steps
  • Environments where adding another service layer is prohibited
  • Use cases demanding native message‑broker semantics beyond retries
  • Teams without capacity to manage self‑hosted infrastructure

How teams use it

User‑specific image processing pipeline

Processes and resizes uploaded images per user with concurrency limits, automatically retrying failed steps.

Order fulfillment workflow

Coordinates inventory check, payment capture, and shipping label creation, handling retries and pauses for external confirmations.

AI model training orchestration

Schedules data preparation, model training, and evaluation steps, persisting intermediate results for months.

Scheduled report generation

Runs nightly cron‑triggered functions that aggregate data, generate PDFs, and email stakeholders, with built‑in rate limiting.

Tech snapshot

Go62%
TypeScript35%
Lua2%
CSS1%
JavaScript1%
Shell1%

Tags

workflow-engineserverless-functionsevent-driven-architectureevent-drivenqueuescliworkflowsserverless

Frequently asked questions

How does Inngest ensure reliability of steps?

Each step runs inside the executor and its output is persisted to the state store; on failure the executor automatically retries according to the function’s configuration.

Can I run Inngest on serverless platforms?

Yes, the runner can be deployed to any environment that can expose an HTTPS endpoint, including serverless services like AWS Lambda, Vercel, or Cloudflare Workers.

What languages are supported?

Official SDKs are available for TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, Go, and Kotlin/Java.

Do I need to manage a database?

When self‑hosting, you must provision a database for the state store and system data; the hosted platform handles this for you.

How do I test functions locally?

Run `npx inngest-cli@latest dev` to start the Inngest Dev Server, which provides a dashboard and mirrors production behavior for end‑to‑end testing.

Project at a glance

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Repo age4 years old
Last commit14 hours ago
Primary languageGo

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