Orchestrating Long-Running APIs | A Step-by-Step Guide to Asynchronous Execution

Handling long-running APIs presents challenges in maintaining workflow stability and user experience, particularly when API calls exceed typical timeout windows of 30–60 seconds. Asynchronous orchestration offers a viable solution by decoupling task initiation from completion, thereby preventing workflow failures and system overloads. The proposed method involves using the Orkes Conductor platform alongside AWS services such as Lambda, DynamoDB, and API Gateway. This approach triggers long-running tasks asynchronously, tracks their progress in a DynamoDB table, and employs polling through API Gateway to monitor task status until completion. By adopting this architecture, developers can create resilient workflows that manage lengthy operations without exceeding timeouts or blocking resources, facilitating seamless integration of compute-heavy workloads or interactions with external services into their systems. This pattern is adaptable to various scenarios, ensuring robust and scalable process automation with Orkes Conductor's orchestration capabilities.