Workers explained

Octopus Deploy introduced the concept of Workers to manage increasing demands on its server by offloading tasks that do not execute directly on deployment targets. A Worker, essentially running the Tentacle software, is part of Worker Pools and does not count as a target under licensing rules, allowing unlimited usage. Workers are utilized for tasks such as database deployments, API calls, running scripts, and Kubernetes deployments, thus relieving the Octopus Server from long-running processes and enabling the use of custom software. Worker Pools provide flexibility with options to select different pools for various environments, and Workers can handle multiple tasks concurrently, contrasting with target machines that execute sequentially to prevent resource conflicts. Worker selection is managed in a round-robin fashion, with factors like package references and manual interventions potentially influencing the assignment. In Octopus Cloud, Dynamic Workers, available on demand, further enhance deployment capabilities by providing temporary resources for cloud instances.