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Local Development Environment

1 post · Jul 2021 – Jun 2026

What this trail covers

The Temporal CLI has been unified into a single `temporal` command-line tool, combining the functionality of `tctl` and `temporalite`. This new CLI simplifies development and testing by allowing users to run a local development server with persistent SQLite storage, exposing key endpoints (gRPC and Web UI), and offering basic workflow status visibility. It supports core Temporal functionality, including Advanced Visibility and a next-generation tctl experience. The goal is to provide a single, easy-to-use local development environment. This post details the creation of a Docker Desktop extension that leverages this unified CLI to provide a button-based interface for starting a local Temporal server, managing its state, and linking to the Temporal UI.

All Temporal trails
  1. Someone was wrong on the internet, so I built a Temporal Docker extensionThis post details the creation of a Docker Desktop extension that provides a user-friendly interface for starting and managing a local Temporal development environment. It leverages the unified `temporal` CLI and `temporal server start-dev` command, exposing gRPC and Temporal Web endpoints, and persisting data in a Docker volume with SQLite. The extension includes a readiness panel, worker status, recent workflow activity, deep links to the Temporal UI, and a 'Clear History' button for resetting the local state. The development process involved iterating on the UI design to align with Docker Extension SDK guidelines and improve usability.
  2. Tips for enhancing developer productivity with TemporalThis post provides tips for enhancing developer productivity with Temporal, focusing on auto-restarting workers using tools like `gow` and `nodemon`, creating reusable code snippets for boilerplate reduction, and leveraging Temporal Web UI's stack trace and event history export features for debugging and local replay testing. It also mentions the `tctl` command for workflow history export and provides examples of using event histories for backward compatibility testing.
  3. Temporal Transparency Update #11This post announces and discusses ongoing efforts to improve the `tctl` CLI experience. It highlights proposals for consistent output formatting (tables, JSON, cards), piping output to standard tools, customizable timestamp formatting, and customizable defaults via a config file. The goal is to make `tctl` more predictable, friendly, and easier to reason about, with a call for community input on these changes.