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Get Started with DBOS

DBOS is a library for building reliable programs. This guide shows you how to install and run it on your computer.

1. Create a Virtual Environment

Create and activate a Python virtual environment in a directory. DBOS requires Python 3.9 or later.

python3 -m venv dbos-app-starter/.venv
cd dbos-app-starter
source .venv/bin/activate

2. Install and Initialize DBOS

Install DBOS with pip install dbos, then initialize an example application.

pip install dbos
dbos init --template dbos-app-starter

3. Start Your App

DBOS requires a Postgres database. If you already have Postgres, you can set the DBOS_DATABASE_URL environment variable to your connection string. Otherwise, you can start Postgres in a Docker container with this command:

dbos postgres start

Now, start your app!

python3 app/main.py

To see that your app is working, visit this URL in your browser: http://localhost:8000/

This app lets you test the reliability of DBOS for yourself. Launch a durable workflow and watch it execute its three steps. At any point, crash the app. Then, restart it with python3 app/main.py and watch it seamlessly recover from where it left off.

Congratulations, you've run your first durable workflow with DBOS! Next:

http://localhost:8000/
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