dbos
Ultra-lightweight durable execution in Python
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. DBOS is actively maintained, MIT-licensed, has low install friction, and solves a genuine problem—reliable failure handling without external infrastructure—for applications that need durable workflows. It is production-ready (Development Status 5) and supports current Python versions. Install if your application requires fault-tolerant execution and you want to avoid managing a separate orchestration service.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires a Postgres database connection; DBOS must be initialized with a database_url before workflows can run.
- Low install friction with a pure Python wheel and six standard runtime dependencies.
- Active maintenance with a recent release 15 days ago.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution in both open-source and commercial projects with minimal obligations.
last release 2026-07-30 (15 days)
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 1,786,393 downloads/mo, #3,563 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install dbos
from dbos import DBOS
@DBOS.step()
def my_step():
return "done"
@DBOS.workflow()
def my_workflow():
return my_step()
DBOS.start_workflow(my_workflow)- Whether the package includes built-in support for distributed execution across multiple processes or machines.
- Performance characteristics and latency overhead of checkpoint operations for high-throughput workflows.
- Compatibility with async/await patterns beyond the AsyncIO framework classifier.
What it is and what it does
DBOS is a Python library that adds durable workflow execution to applications by storing workflow state and progress in Postgres. Instead of managing a separate orchestration service or task queue, you annotate functions as workflows and steps, and DBOS automatically checkpoints their execution. If your application crashes or restarts, workflows resume from their last completed step without data loss or duplicate execution.
The library provides several Postgres-backed primitives: durable queues for background task execution with concurrency control, scheduled workflows using cron syntax, durable sleep for long pauses that survive restarts, exactly-once event processing for webhooks and Kafka consumers, and programmatic workflow management to query, pause, resume, or restart workflows. It targets applications that need reliable failure handling—payments systems, data pipelines, AI agents, and long-running background jobs—without the operational burden of external infrastructure.
Use it for
- Build a payments service that reliably processes transactions even if servers crash mid-operation, with automatic recovery from the last completed step.
- Create a data pipeline that checkpoints progress in Postgres and resumes from interruption points rather than restarting from the beginning.
- Implement a Kafka consumer that processes messages exactly-once by starting a workflow per event with idempotency guarantees.
- Schedule recurring workflows using cron syntax and durably sleep workflows for days or weeks, surviving restarts and interruptions.
- Manage AI agent workflows that call unreliable external APIs, with automatic retry and recovery on failure.
- Enqueue background tasks with flow control, timeouts, rate limiting, and deduplication using only Postgres as the backing store.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
DBOS is actively maintained, MIT-licensed, has low install friction, and solves a genuine problem—reliable failure handling without external infrastructure—for applications that need durable workflows. It is production-ready (Development Status 5) and supports current Python versions. Install if your application requires fault-tolerant execution and you want to avoid managing a separate orchestration service.
Install
dbos on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure Python wheel and six standard runtime dependencies. Active maintenance with a recent release 15 days ago. Supports current Python versions (3.10–3.14).
Requires a Postgres database connection; DBOS must be initialized with a database_url before workflows can run.
License in practice
MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution in both open-source and commercial projects with minimal obligations.
Quickstart
pip install dbos
from dbos import DBOS
@DBOS.step()
def my_step():
return "done"
@DBOS.workflow()
def my_workflow():
return my_step()
DBOS.start_workflow(my_workflow)Verify before relying
- Whether the package includes built-in support for distributed execution across multiple processes or machines.
- Performance characteristics and latency overhead of checkpoint operations for high-throughput workflows.
- Compatibility with async/await patterns beyond the AsyncIO framework classifier.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 6 packagespyyamlpython-dateutilpsycopgwebsocketsclicksqlalchemy |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 15 days since the last release |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 1,786,393 / month, #3,563 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableFramework :: AsyncIOIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: Information TechnologyLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Topic :: DatabaseTopic :: InternetTopic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Artificial IntelligenceTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules |
Evidence: dbos-2.29.0-py3-none-any.whl
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