Compensations (Saga Pattern)

Handle distributed transactions that need rollback when something fails.

What Are Compensations?

When a workflow performs actions with external side effects (booking flights, charging payments, sending emails), you often need to undo those actions if a later step fails. The saga pattern solves this by defining compensation handlers that run in reverse order when failures occur.

Quick Example

defmodule MyApp.BookTripWorkflow do
  use Durable
  use Durable.Helpers

  workflow "book_trip" do
    # Step 1: Book flight (with compensation)
    step :book_flight, [compensate: :cancel_flight], fn ctx ->
      booking = FlightAPI.book(ctx["flight"])
      {:ok, assign(ctx, :flight_id, booking.id)}
    end

    # Step 2: Book hotel (with compensation)
    step :book_hotel, [compensate: :cancel_hotel], fn ctx ->
      booking = HotelAPI.book(ctx["hotel"])
      {:ok, assign(ctx, :hotel_id, booking.id)}
    end

    # Step 3: Charge payment (no compensation needed - it's the last step)
    step :charge_payment, fn ctx ->
      # If this fails, compensations run automatically!
      PaymentService.charge(ctx.total)
      {:ok, ctx}
    end

    # Compensation handlers
    compensate :cancel_flight, fn ctx ->
      FlightAPI.cancel(ctx.flight_id)
      {:ok, ctx}
    end

    compensate :cancel_hotel, fn ctx ->
      HotelAPI.cancel(ctx.hotel_id)
      {:ok, ctx}
    end
  end
end

What happens when payment fails:

1. :book_flight completes successfully
2. :book_hotel completes successfully
3. :charge_payment raises an error
4. Durable automatically runs compensations in reverse order:
   • First: :cancel_hotel (undo hotel)
   • Then: :cancel_flight (undo flight)
5. Workflow status becomes :compensated

DSL Reference

Defining Compensations

compensate :handler_name, fn ctx ->
  # Undo logic here
  # Has access to workflow context
  {:ok, ctx}
end

Linking Steps to Compensations

step :my_step, [compensate: :my_handler], fn ctx ->
  # Step logic
  {:ok, ctx}
end

Compensation Options

compensate :handler_name, [retry: [max_attempts: 3, backoff: :exponential]], fn ctx ->
  # Compensation with retry
  {:ok, ctx}
end

Workflow Status States

Status	Description
:compensating	Currently running compensation handlers
:compensated	All compensations completed successfully
:compensation_failed	One or more compensations failed

How It Works

1. Tracking: Durable tracks which steps with compensations have completed
2. Failure: When any step fails, compensation is triggered
3. Reverse Order: Compensations run in LIFO order (last completed first)
4. Recording: Each compensation is recorded as a step execution
5. Continuation: Compensation failures don’t stop the chain - all compensations attempt to run

Best Practices

Make Compensations Idempotent

Compensations may run multiple times (retries, manual recovery). Design them to be safe to repeat:

compensate :cancel_booking, fn ctx ->
  booking_id = ctx.booking_id

  # Check if already cancelled before cancelling
  case BookingAPI.get(booking_id) do
    {:ok, %{status: :cancelled}} -> {:ok, ctx}
    {:ok, _booking} -> BookingAPI.cancel(booking_id); {:ok, ctx}
    {:error, :not_found} -> {:ok, ctx}
  end
end

Store IDs for Cleanup

Always store resource IDs in data so compensations can find them:

step :create_resource, [compensate: :delete_resource], fn ctx ->
  resource = ExternalAPI.create(ctx.params)
  {:ok, assign(ctx, :resource_id, resource.id)}  # Store for compensation
end

compensate :delete_resource, fn ctx ->
  ExternalAPI.delete(ctx.resource_id)
  {:ok, ctx}
end

Handle Partial Failures

Not all compensations may succeed. Check compensation_results for details:

{:ok, execution} = Durable.get_execution(workflow_id)

case execution.status do
  :compensated ->
    IO.puts("All compensations succeeded")

  :compensation_failed ->
    IO.puts("Some compensations failed:")
    Enum.each(execution.compensation_results, fn result ->
      IO.inspect(result)
    end)
end

Querying Compensation Results

Execution Results

{:ok, execution} = Durable.get_execution(workflow_id)

# Check compensation status
execution.status              # :compensated or :compensation_failed
execution.compensated_at      # When compensation completed
execution.compensation_results  # Array of results

# Result structure:
# [
#   %{
#     "step" => "book_hotel",
#     "compensation" => "cancel_hotel",
#     "result" => %{"status" => "completed"}
#   },
#   %{
#     "step" => "book_flight",
#     "compensation" => "cancel_flight",
#     "result" => %{"status" => "completed"}
#   }
# ]

Step Executions

{:ok, execution} = Durable.get_execution(workflow_id, include_steps: true)

# Find compensation step executions
compensation_steps = Enum.filter(execution.steps, & &1.is_compensation)

Enum.each(compensation_steps, fn step ->
  IO.puts("#{step.step_name}: #{step.status}")
  IO.puts("  Compensating for: #{step.compensation_for}")
  IO.puts("  Duration: #{step.duration_ms}ms")
end)

Complete Example: E-Commerce Order

defmodule MyApp.ProcessOrderWorkflow do
  use Durable
  use Durable.Helpers

  workflow "process_order" do
    step :reserve_inventory, [compensate: :release_inventory], fn ctx ->
      items = ctx["items"]

      reservations = Enum.map(items, fn item ->
        {:ok, res} = Inventory.reserve(item.sku, item.quantity)
        res.id
      end)

      {:ok, assign(ctx, :reservation_ids, reservations)}
    end

    step :charge_customer, [compensate: :refund_customer], fn ctx ->
      amount = ctx["total"]
      {:ok, charge} = Payments.charge(ctx["customer_id"], amount)
      {:ok, assign(ctx, :charge_id, charge.id)}
    end

    step :create_shipment, fn ctx ->
      # If shipping fails, inventory is released and payment refunded
      {:ok, shipment} = Shipping.create(ctx["address"], ctx["items"])
      {:ok, assign(ctx, :shipment_id, shipment.id)}
    end

    step :send_confirmation, fn ctx ->
      Email.send_order_confirmation(ctx["customer_email"], %{
        shipment_id: ctx.shipment_id,
        charge_id: ctx.charge_id
      })
      {:ok, ctx}
    end

    # Compensations
    compensate :release_inventory, fn ctx ->
      Enum.each(ctx.reservation_ids, fn id ->
        Inventory.release(id)
      end)
      {:ok, ctx}
    end

    compensate :refund_customer, fn ctx ->
      Payments.refund(ctx.charge_id)
      {:ok, ctx}
    end
  end
end