Scope Workflow determinism language to Workflow code (guides and SDK how-tos) - #5280
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…K how-tos Same fix as the encyclopedia sweep: bare "Workflow is/must be deterministic" reads as the whole business process, which is never deterministic. Scope it to the code Temporal actually replays across guides, SDK best-practices pages, a design pattern, and reference docs.
…inism Missed in the earlier sweep: the body text already correctly said "Workflow code must be deterministic," but the heading above it was still bare "Workflow determinism."
…lty-points.mdx Missed in the first pass: a "Phase 7" step heading later in the same guide repeated the bare "Workflow determinism" pattern already fixed earlier in the file.
…s they stood for Each sentence already carried (or could carry) the concrete claim — same shuffle order every replay, a Workflow that replays safely, code that produces the same result every time — so naming the abstract property on top was redundant.
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…ism constraint Same correction as the core-branch commit: "Workflow code" is ambiguous since Activity code is also code that's part of a Workflow-based application. Workflow Definition is Temporal's own precise term for the thing that must be deterministic, as distinct from Activity Definition. Applied across guides, SDK best-practices pages, a design pattern, and reference docs.
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Updated per team feedback: replaced "Workflow code" with "Workflow Definition" throughout, same correction as #5279. "Workflow code" was ambiguous since Activity code is also code that's part of a Workflow-based application — Workflow Definition is Temporal's own precise term for the thing that must be deterministic, as distinct from Activity Definition. |
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| The `getExternalWorkflowHandle` method helps ensure that Workflows remain deterministic. | ||
| Recall that one aspect of deterministic Workflows means not directly making network calls from the Workflow. | ||
| The `getExternalWorkflowHandle` method helps ensure that the Workflow Definition remains deterministic. |
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This scoping change remains incomplete in the SDK documentation: docs/develop/go/integrations/google-adk.mdx still says “the Workflow is deterministic,” and docs/develop/python/integrations/langgraph.mdx still says “Workflows must be deterministic.” Update those claims to refer to Workflow code or the Workflow Definition so readers do not encounter the same ambiguity elsewhere.
AGENTS.md reference: AGENTS.md:L236-L240
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This is already addressed, but in #5281 (not this PR) — google-adk.mdx and langgraph.mdx aren't touched here. Both now avoid the bare claim: google-adk.mdx dropped the determinism framing entirely ("Workflow code can't touch the network, clock, or disk directly..."), and the langgraph.mdx bullet Codex is quoting ("Workflows must be deterministic") was removed as redundant with the parenthetical right before it. That PR is pushed but still in draft.
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Summary
workflow-definition.mdxand all 7 SDKs'workflows/basics.mdx.Test plan
vale --config .vale-ci.ini docs/clean on touched filesyarn buildpasses