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.

Python

1. Create a Virtual Environment

In a clean directory, create a Python virtual environment. DBOS requires Python 3.9 or later.

macOS or Linux

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

Windows (PowerShell)

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate.ps1

Windows (cmd)

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate.bat

2. Install and Initialize DBOS

Install DBOS with pip install dbos, then initialize dbos-app-starter, an example application built with DBOS and FastAPI.

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

3. Start Your App

Now, start your app! DBOS will automatically help you launch and connect to a new Postgres database (using Docker if available, else DBOS Cloud). If you already use Postgres, you can instead set the DBOS_DATABASE_URL environment variable to a connection string to your database.

fastapi run 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 fastapi run app/main.py and watch it seamlessly recover from where it left off.

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

• Check out the DBOS programming guide to learn how to build reliable applications with DBOS.
• Learn how to add DBOS to your application to make it reliable with just a few lines of code.

http://localhost:8000/

TypeScript

1. Initialize an Application

Initalize a starter application and enter its directory. DBOS requires Node v20 or later.

npx @dbos-inc/create@latest --template dbos-node-starter
cd dbos-node-starter

2. Build Your Application

Install dependencies, then build your application.

npm install
npm run build

3. Start Your App

Now, start your app! DBOS will automatically help you launch and connect to a new Postgres database (using Docker if available, else DBOS Cloud).

npm run start

To see that your app is working, visit this URL in your browser: http://localhost:3000/

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 npm run start and watch it seamlessly recover from where it left off.

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

• Check out the DBOS programming guide to learn how to build reliable applications with DBOS.
• Learn how to add DBOS to your application to make it reliable with just a few lines of code.

http://localhost:3000/