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app-store-optimization/skills/dbos-golang/references/comm-messages.md
Max dml 7e5abd504f feat: add DBOS skills for TypeScript, Python, and Go (#94)
Add three DBOS SDK skills with reference documentation for building
reliable, fault-tolerant applications with durable workflows.

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-02-17 23:26:51 +01:00

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Markdown

---
title: Use Messages for Workflow Notifications
impact: MEDIUM
impactDescription: Enables reliable inter-workflow and external-to-workflow communication
tags: communication, messages, send, recv, notification
---
## Use Messages for Workflow Notifications
Use `dbos.Send` to send messages to a workflow and `dbos.Recv` to receive them. Messages are queued per topic and persisted for reliable delivery.
**Incorrect (using external messaging for workflow communication):**
```go
// External message queue is not integrated with workflow recovery
ch := make(chan string) // Not durable!
```
**Correct (using DBOS messages):**
```go
func checkoutWorkflow(ctx dbos.DBOSContext, orderID string) (string, error) {
// Wait for payment notification (timeout 120 seconds)
notification, err := dbos.Recv[string](ctx, "payment_status", 120*time.Second)
if err != nil {
return "", err
}
if notification == "paid" {
_, err = dbos.RunAsStep(ctx, func(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
return fulfillOrder(orderID)
}, dbos.WithStepName("fulfillOrder"))
return "fulfilled", err
}
_, err = dbos.RunAsStep(ctx, func(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
return cancelOrder(orderID)
}, dbos.WithStepName("cancelOrder"))
return "cancelled", err
}
// Send a message from a webhook handler
func paymentWebhook(ctx dbos.DBOSContext, workflowID, status string) error {
return dbos.Send(ctx, workflowID, status, "payment_status")
}
```
Key behaviors:
- `Recv` waits for and consumes the next message for the specified topic
- Returns the zero value if the wait times out, with a `DBOSError` with code `TimeoutError`
- Messages without a topic can only be received by `Recv` without a topic
- Messages are queued per-topic (FIFO)
**Reliability guarantees:**
- All messages are persisted to the database
- Messages sent from workflows are delivered exactly-once
Reference: [Workflow Messaging and Notifications](https://docs.dbos.dev/golang/tutorials/workflow-communication#workflow-messaging-and-notifications)