Temporal NovaBank Demo

Multi-step account opening form for NovaBank (fictional bank), powered by Temporal durable execution as the sole source of state (no database). A demo/reference application showcasing Temporal workflows with a human-in-the-loop pattern.

Learn more: Why Temporal? | How Temporal Works

Why Temporal?

This app deliberately avoids a traditional database. Temporal's durable execution engine handles state, retries, timeouts, and coordination — replacing what would otherwise require a database, a job scheduler, and a lot of glue code.

• User closes browser mid-form. The workflow keeps all form state durably. The user can return hours later and resume exactly where they left off — no session store needed.
• Server crashes during KYC check. Temporal automatically retries the activity with backoff. The workflow picks up right where it left off, and the user never knows anything happened.
• Compliance review takes days. The workflow waits indefinitely for the human approval signal. No polling, no cron jobs, no expiring tokens — just a sleeping workflow that costs nothing until the officer acts.
• Abandonment detection. A built-in 3-minute timer resets on every form interaction. If the user goes idle, the workflow cancels itself automatically — no external scheduler required.

Architecture

Monorepo with 3 independent components coordinated only through Temporal:

Component	Stack	Port
frontend/	Vue.js, Temporal TypeScript SDK	localhost:3000
backoffice/	Vue.js, Temporal TypeScript SDK	localhost:3001
worker/	Java, Spring Boot, Temporal Java SDK	—

flowchart LR
    User([User]) --> Frontend
    Officer([Compliance Officer]) --> Backoffice

    Frontend -- "signals & queries" --> Temporal
    Backoffice -- "signals & queries" --> Temporal
    Temporal -- "dispatches activities" --> Worker

    subgraph Temporal Server
        Temporal[(Temporal)]
    end

    subgraph Services
        Frontend["Frontend\nVue.js"]
        Backoffice["Backoffice\nVue.js"]
        Worker["Worker\nSpring Boot"]
    end

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Workflow

AccountApplicationWorkflow — entity workflow holding all form state durably.

• Signals — submitPage1–3(), submitFinalForm(), submitReviewDecision(), goToPage()
• Query — getFormState() returns current page, status, form data, KYC info
• Child workflow — KYC verification runs in background during form filling
• Timer — 3-min abandonment timeout (resettable on form activity)
• Human-in-the-loop — compliance officer approves/rejects via backoffice

Search attributes: ReviewStatus (Keyword), KycStatus (Keyword), ApplicantName (Text).

Prerequisites

• Node.js
• Java (JDK)
• Temporal CLI (temporal)
• Docker and Docker Compose (for Docker setup)

Local Development

Requires 4 terminals.

Terminal 1 — Start Temporal dev server:

temporal server start-dev \
  --search-attribute "ReviewStatus=Keyword" \
  --search-attribute "KycStatus=Keyword" \
  --search-attribute "ApplicantName=Text"

Terminal 2 — Start the Java worker:

cd worker
./mvnw spring-boot:run

Terminal 3 — Start the frontend:

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Terminal 4 — Start the backoffice:

cd backoffice
npm install
npm run dev

Service	URL
Frontend	http://localhost:3000
Backoffice	http://localhost:3001
Temporal UI	http://localhost:8233

Docker Compose

A compose.yml at the project root defines all services: temporal (dev server), worker, frontend, backoffice.

Start:

docker-compose up --build

Stop:

docker-compose down

The same URLs apply (localhost:3000, localhost:3001, localhost:8233).

Debugging

• Use temporal workflow show|query|signal|stack to inspect workflows via CLI.
• Each form page has an "Auto-fill demo data" button for quick testing.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.