Durable Agent using OpenAI Agents SDK

Last updated Oct 3, 2025

In this example, we show you how to build a Durable Agent using the OpenAI Agents SDK Integration for Temporal. The AI agent we build will have access to tools (Temporal Activities) to answer user questions. The agent can determine which tools to use based on the user's input and execute them as needed.

This recipe highlights key implementation patterns:

Agent-based architecture: Uses the OpenAI Agents SDK to create an intelligent agent that can reason about which tools to use and handles LLM invocation for you.
Tool integration: Temporal Activities can be seamlessly used as tools by the agent. The integration offers the activity_as_tool helper function, which:
- Automatically generates OpenAI-compatible tool schemas from activity function signatures
- Wraps activities as agent tools that can be provided directly to the Agent
- Enables the agent to invoke Temporal Activities as tools leveraging Temporal's durable execution for tool calls
Durable execution: The agent's state and execution are managed by Temporal, providing reliability and observability
Plugin configuration: Uses the OpenAIAgentsPlugin to configure Temporal for OpenAI Agents SDK integration

Create the Activity

We create activities that serve as tools for the agent. These activities can perform various tasks like getting weather information or performing calculations.

File: activities/tools.py

from dataclasses import dataclass
from temporalio import activity
import math

# Temporal best practice: Create a data structure to hold the request parameters.
@dataclass
class Weather:
    city: str
    temperature_range: str
    conditions: str

@activity.defn
async def get_weather(city: str) -> Weather:
    """Get the weather for a given city."""
    return Weather(city=city, temperature_range="14-20C", conditions="Sunny with wind.")

@activity.defn
async def calculate_circle_area(radius: float) -> float:
    """Calculate the area of a circle given its radius."""
    return math.pi * radius ** 2

Create the Workflow

The workflow creates an agent with specific instructions and tools. The agent can then process user input and decide which tools to use to answer questions. Since LLM invocation is an external API call, this typically would happen in a Temporal Activity. However, because of the Temporal Integration with OpenAI Agents SDK, this is being handled for us and we do not need to implement the Activity ourselves.

File: workflows/hello_world_workflow.py

from temporalio import workflow
from datetime import timedelta

from agents import Agent, Runner
from temporalio.contrib import openai_agents

from activities.tools import get_weather, calculate_circle_area

@workflow.defn
class HelloWorldAgent:
    @workflow.run
    async def run(self, prompt: str) -> str:
        agent = Agent(
            name="Hello World Agent",
            instructions="You are a helpful assistant that determines what tool to use based on the user's question.",
            # Tools for the agent to use that are defined as activities
            tools=[
                openai_agents.workflow.activity_as_tool(
                    get_weather,
                    start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(seconds=10)
                ),
                openai_agents.workflow.activity_as_tool(
                    calculate_circle_area,
                    start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(seconds=10)
                )
            ]
        )

        result = await Runner.run(agent, prompt)
        return result.final_output

Create the Worker

Create the process for executing Activities and Workflows. We configure the Temporal client with the OpenAIAgentsPlugin to enable OpenAI Agents SDK integration.

File: worker.py

import asyncio
from datetime import timedelta

from temporalio.client import Client
from temporalio.worker import Worker
from temporalio.contrib.openai_agents import OpenAIAgentsPlugin, ModelActivityParameters

from workflows.hello_world_workflow import HelloWorldAgent
from activities.tools import get_weather, calculate_circle_area

async def worker_main():
    # Use the plugin to configure Temporal for use with OpenAI Agents SDK
    client = await Client.connect(
        "localhost:7233",
        plugins=[
            OpenAIAgentsPlugin(
                model_params=ModelActivityParameters(
                    start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(seconds=30)
                )
            ),
        ],
    )

    worker = Worker(
        client,
        task_queue="hello-world-openai-agent-task-queue",
        workflows=[HelloWorldAgent],
        activities=[get_weather, calculate_circle_area],
    )
    await worker.run()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(worker_main())

Create the Workflow Starter

The starter script submits the agent workflow to Temporal for execution, then waits for the result and prints it out. It uses the OpenAIAgentsPlugin to match the Worker configuration.

File: start_workflow.py

import asyncio

from temporalio.client import Client
from temporalio.common import WorkflowIDReusePolicy
from temporalio.contrib.openai_agents import OpenAIAgentsPlugin
from workflows.hello_world_workflow import HelloWorldAgent

async def main():
    client = await Client.connect(
        "localhost:7233",
        # Use the plugin to configure Temporal for use with OpenAI Agents SDK
        plugins=[OpenAIAgentsPlugin()],
    )

    # Start workflow
    print( 80 * "-" )

    # Get user input
    user_input = input("Enter a question: ")

    # Submit the Hello World Agent workflow for execution
    result = await client.execute_workflow(
        HelloWorldAgent.run,
        user_input,
        id="my-workflow-id",
        task_queue="hello-world-openai-agent-task-queue",
        id_reuse_policy=WorkflowIDReusePolicy.TERMINATE_IF_RUNNING,
    )
    print(f"Result: {result}")

    # End of workflow
    print( 80 * "-" )
    print("Workflow completed")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Running

Start the Temporal Dev Server:

temporal server start-dev

Run the worker:

uv run python -m worker

Start execution:

uv run python -m start_workflow

Example Interactions

Try asking the agent questions like:

"What's the weather in London?"
"Calculate the area of a circle with radius 5"
"What's the weather in Tokyo and calculate the area of a circle with radius 3"

The agent will determine which tools to use and provide intelligent responses based on the available tools. Use the OpenAI Traces dashboard to visualize and monitor your workflows and tool calling.

Create the Activity​

Create the Workflow​

Create the Worker​

Create the Workflow Starter​

Running​

Example Interactions​