ReferencesPython SDKSteps

Parallel v0.3.0+

Run steps in parallel. Returns the parallel steps' result as a tuple.

Arguments

  • Name
    callables
    Type
    tuple[Callable[[], object], ...]
    Required
    required
    Description

    Accepts a tuple of callables. Each callable has no arguments and returns a JSON serializable value. Typically this is just a lambda around a step method.

Examples

Running two steps in parallel:

@inngest_client.create_function(
    fn_id="my-function",
    trigger=inngest.TriggerEvent(event="my-event"),
)
async def fn(
    ctx: inngest.Context,
    step: inngest.Step,
) -> None:
    user_id = ctx.event.data["user_id"]

    (updated_user, sent_email) = await step.parallel(
        (
            lambda: step.run("update-user", update_user, user_id),
            lambda: step.run("send-email", send_email, user_id),
        )
    )

Dynamically building a tuple of parallel steps:

@client.create_function(
    fn_id="my-function",
    trigger=inngest.TriggerEvent(event="my-event"),
)
async def fn(
    ctx: inngest.Context,
    step: inngest.Step,
) -> None:
    parallel_steps = tuple[typing.Callable[[], typing.Awaitable[bool]]]()
    for user_id in ctx.event.data["user_ids"]:
        parallel_steps += tuple(
            [
                functools.partial(
                    step.run,
                    f"get-user-{user_id}",
                    functools.partial(update_user, user_id),
                )
            ]
        )

    updated_users = await step.parallel(parallel_steps)

⚠️ Use functools.partial instead of lambda when building the tuple in a loop. If lambda is used, then the step functions will use the last value of the loop variable. This is due to Python's lack of block scoping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do parallel steps work if I don't use async functions?

Yes, parallel steps work with both async and non-async functions. Since our execution model uses a separate HTTP request for each step, threaded HTTP frameworks (for example, Flask) will create a separate thread for each step.

Can I use asyncio.gather instead of step.parallel?

No, asyncio.gather will not work as expected. Inngest's execution model necessitates a control flow interruption when it encounters a step method, but currently that does not work with asyncio.gather.

Why does step.parallel accept a tuple instead of variadic arguments?

To properly type-annotate step.parallel, the return types of the callables need to be statically "extracted". Python's type-checkers are better at doing this with tuples than with variadic arguments. Mypy still struggles even with tuples, but Pyright is able to properly infer the step.parallel return type.