Agent skill

distributed-systems

Distributed systems patterns for locking, resilience, idempotency, and rate limiting. Use when implementing distributed locks, circuit breakers, retry policies, idempotency keys, token bucket rate limiters, or fault tolerance patterns.

Stars 143
Forks 15

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/yonatangross/orchestkit/tree/main/plugins/ork/skills/distributed-systems

Metadata

Additional technical details for this skill

category
document-asset-creation

SKILL.md

Distributed Systems Patterns

Comprehensive patterns for building reliable distributed systems. Each category has individual rule files in rules/ loaded on-demand.

Quick Reference

Category Rules Impact When to Use
Distributed Locks 3 CRITICAL Redis/Redlock locks, PostgreSQL advisory locks, fencing tokens
Resilience 3 CRITICAL Circuit breakers, retry with backoff, bulkhead isolation
Idempotency 3 HIGH Idempotency keys, request dedup, database-backed idempotency
Rate Limiting 3 HIGH Token bucket, sliding window, distributed rate limits
Edge Computing 2 HIGH Edge workers, V8 isolates, CDN caching, geo-routing
Event-Driven 2 HIGH Event sourcing, CQRS, transactional outbox, sagas

Total: 16 rules across 6 categories

Quick Start

python
# Redis distributed lock with Lua scripts
async with RedisLock(redis_client, "payment:order-123"):
    await process_payment(order_id)

# Circuit breaker for external APIs
@circuit_breaker(failure_threshold=5, recovery_timeout=30)
@retry(max_attempts=3, base_delay=1.0)
async def call_external_api():
    ...

# Idempotent API endpoint
@router.post("/payments")
async def create_payment(
    data: PaymentCreate,
    idempotency_key: str = Header(..., alias="Idempotency-Key"),
):
    return await idempotent_execute(db, idempotency_key, "/payments", process)

# Token bucket rate limiting
limiter = TokenBucketLimiter(redis_client, capacity=100, refill_rate=10)
if await limiter.is_allowed(f"user:{user_id}"):
    await handle_request()

Distributed Locks

Coordinate exclusive access to resources across multiple service instances.

Rule File Key Pattern
Redis & Redlock ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/locks-redis-redlock.md Lua scripts, SET NX, multi-node quorum
PostgreSQL Advisory ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/locks-postgres-advisory.md Session/transaction locks, lock ID strategies
Fencing Tokens ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/locks-fencing-tokens.md Owner validation, TTL, heartbeat extension

Resilience

Production-grade fault tolerance for distributed systems.

Rule File Key Pattern
Circuit Breaker ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/resilience-circuit-breaker.md CLOSED/OPEN/HALF_OPEN states, sliding window
Retry & Backoff ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/resilience-retry-backoff.md Exponential backoff, jitter, error classification
Bulkhead Isolation ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/resilience-bulkhead.md Semaphore tiers, rejection policies, queue depth

Idempotency

Ensure operations can be safely retried without unintended side effects.

Rule File Key Pattern
Idempotency Keys ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/idempotency-keys.md Deterministic hashing, Stripe-style headers
Request Dedup ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/idempotency-dedup.md Event consumer dedup, Redis + DB dual layer
Database-Backed ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/idempotency-database.md Unique constraints, upsert, TTL cleanup

Rate Limiting

Protect APIs with distributed rate limiting using Redis.

Rule File Key Pattern
Token Bucket ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/ratelimit-token-bucket.md Redis Lua scripts, burst capacity, refill rate
Sliding Window ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/ratelimit-sliding-window.md Sorted sets, precise counting, no boundary spikes
Distributed Limits ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/ratelimit-distributed.md SlowAPI + Redis, tiered limits, response headers

Edge Computing

Edge runtime patterns for Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge, and Deno Deploy.

Rule File Key Pattern
Edge Workers ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/edge-workers.md V8 isolate constraints, Web APIs, geo-routing, auth at edge
Edge Caching ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/edge-caching.md Cache-aside at edge, CDN headers, KV storage, stale-while-revalidate

Event-Driven

Event sourcing, CQRS, saga orchestration, and reliable messaging patterns.

Rule File Key Pattern
Event Sourcing ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/event-sourcing.md Event-sourced aggregates, CQRS read models, optimistic concurrency
Event Messaging ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/rules/event-messaging.md Transactional outbox, saga compensation, idempotent consumers

Key Decisions

Decision Recommendation
Lock backend Redis for speed, PostgreSQL if already using it, Redlock for HA
Lock TTL 2-3x expected operation time
Circuit breaker recovery Half-open probe with sliding window
Retry algorithm Exponential backoff + full jitter
Bulkhead isolation Semaphore-based tiers (Critical/Standard/Optional)
Idempotency storage Redis (speed) + DB (durability), 24-72h TTL
Rate limit algorithm Token bucket for most APIs, sliding window for strict quotas
Rate limit storage Redis (distributed, atomic Lua scripts)

When NOT to Use

No separate event-sourcing/saga/CQRS skills exist — they are rules within distributed-systems. But most projects never need them.

Pattern Interview Hackathon MVP Growth Enterprise Simpler Alternative
Event sourcing OVERKILL OVERKILL OVERKILL OVERKILL WHEN JUSTIFIED Append-only table with status column
Saga orchestration OVERKILL OVERKILL OVERKILL SELECTIVE APPROPRIATE Sequential service calls with manual rollback
Circuit breaker OVERKILL OVERKILL BORDERLINE APPROPRIATE REQUIRED Try/except with timeout
Distributed locks OVERKILL OVERKILL BORDERLINE APPROPRIATE REQUIRED Database row-level lock (SELECT FOR UPDATE)
CQRS OVERKILL OVERKILL OVERKILL OVERKILL WHEN JUSTIFIED Single model for read/write
Transactional outbox OVERKILL OVERKILL OVERKILL SELECTIVE APPROPRIATE Direct publish after commit
Rate limiting OVERKILL OVERKILL SIMPLE ONLY APPROPRIATE REQUIRED Nginx rate limit or cloud WAF

Rule of thumb: If you have a single server process, you do not need distributed systems patterns. Use in-process alternatives. Add distribution only when you actually have multiple instances.

Anti-Patterns (FORBIDDEN)

python
# LOCKS: Never forget TTL (causes deadlocks)
await redis.set(f"lock:{name}", "1")  # WRONG - no expiry!

# LOCKS: Never release without owner check
await redis.delete(f"lock:{name}")  # WRONG - might release others' lock

# RESILIENCE: Never retry non-retryable errors
@retry(max_attempts=5, retryable_exceptions={Exception})  # Retries 401!

# RESILIENCE: Never put retry outside circuit breaker
@retry  # Would retry when circuit is open!
@circuit_breaker
async def call(): ...

# IDEMPOTENCY: Never use non-deterministic keys
key = str(uuid.uuid4())  # Different every time!

# IDEMPOTENCY: Never cache error responses
if response.status_code >= 400:
    await cache_response(key, response)  # Errors should retry!

# RATE LIMITING: Never use in-memory counters in distributed systems
request_counts = {}  # Lost on restart, not shared across instances

Detailed Documentation

Resource Description
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/ Templates: lock implementations, circuit breaker, rate limiter
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/checklists/ Pre-flight checklists for each pattern category
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/ Deep dives: Redlock algorithm, bulkhead tiers, token bucket
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/examples/ Complete integration examples

Related Skills

  • caching - Redis caching patterns, cache as fallback
  • background-jobs - Job deduplication, async processing with retry
  • observability-monitoring - Metrics and alerting for circuit breaker state changes
  • error-handling-rfc9457 - Structured error responses for resilience failures
  • auth-patterns - API key management, authentication integration

Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.

yonatangross/orchestkit

expect

Diff-aware AI browser testing — analyzes git changes, generates targeted test plans, and executes them via agent-browser. Reads git diff to determine what changed, maps changes to affected pages via route map, generates a test plan scoped to the diff, and runs it with pass/fail reporting. Use when testing UI changes, verifying PRs before merge, running regression checks on changed components, or validating that recent code changes don't break the user-facing experience.

143 15
Explore
yonatangross/orchestkit

github-operations

GitHub CLI operations for issues, PRs, milestones, and Projects v2. Covers gh commands, REST API patterns, and automation scripts. Use when managing GitHub issues, PRs, milestones, or Projects with gh.

143 15
Explore
yonatangross/orchestkit

chain-patterns

Chain patterns for CC 2.1.71 pipelines — MCP detection, handoff files, checkpoint-resume, worktree agents, CronCreate monitoring. Use when building multi-phase pipeline skills. Loaded via skills: field by pipeline skills (fix-issue, implement, brainstorm, verify). Not user-invocable.

143 15
Explore
yonatangross/orchestkit

storybook-mcp-integration

Storybook MCP server integration for component-aware AI development. Covers 6 tools across 3 toolsets (dev, docs, testing): component discovery via list-all-documentation/get-documentation, story previews via preview-stories, and automated testing via run-story-tests. Use when generating components that should reuse existing Storybook components, running component tests via MCP, or previewing stories in chat.

143 15
Explore
yonatangross/orchestkit

component-search

Search 21st.dev component registry for production-ready React components. Finds components by natural language description, filters by framework and style system, returns ranked results with install instructions. Use when looking for UI components, finding alternatives to existing components, or sourcing design system building blocks.

143 15
Explore
yonatangross/orchestkit

ai-ui-generation

AI-assisted UI generation patterns for json-render, v0, Bolt, and Cursor workflows. Covers prompt engineering for component generation, review checklists for AI-generated code, design token injection, refactoring for design system conformance, and CI gates for quality assurance. Use when generating UI components with AI tools, rendering multi-surface MCP visual output, reviewing AI-generated code, or integrating AI output into design systems.

143 15
Explore

Didn't find tool you were looking for?

Be as detailed as possible for better results