---
title: "Chapter 05: Saga Patterns: Orchestration vs Choreography & Compensating Workflows | TinyCTO Distributed Systems Canon"
description: "Executing long-running distributed business transactions across independent microservice boundaries without 2PC locking bottlenecks: durable state machines, idempotency, and compensation trees."
image: "https://tinycto.tv/assets/distributed-systems/distributed_systems_manuals_og.jpg"
canonicalUrl: "https://tinycto.tv/distributed-systems/manuals/05-saga-orchestration-vs-choreography"
locale: "en"
---

# Chapter 05: Saga Patterns: Orchestration vs Choreography & Compensating Workflows

> **Canonical Distributed Systems Engineering Field Manual**
> **Theorem Citation**: Hector Garcia-Molina & Kenneth Salem (Sagas 1987) | **Read Time**: 21 min read | **Maturity Target**: SCALED

Executing long-running distributed business transactions across independent microservice boundaries without 2PC locking bottlenecks: durable state machines, idempotency, and compensation trees.

### Core Concepts & Consistency Models

- `Saga Pattern`
- `Temporal.io Workflows`
- `Compensating Transactions`
- `Durable Execution`
- `State Machine Replay`

### Canon Surfaces & Navigation

- **Manuals Library**: https://tinycto.tv/distributed-systems/manuals
- **18 Reference Architectures**: https://tinycto.tv/distributed-systems/architectures
- **Topology & Sizer Wizard**: https://tinycto.tv/distributed-systems/wizard
- **Technology & Consensus Matrix**: https://tinycto.tv/distributed-systems/matrix

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