cairnq (TypeScript / Node)

SQLite-first, cross-language, storage-centered durable task runtime. The TypeScript SDK (Node ≥ 20, better-sqlite3). API and worker processes coordinate only through a shared SQLite file.

import { CairnQ, Worker } from "cairnq";

// Worker side — a handler always receives (ctx, payload).
const worker = Worker.sqlite("tasks.db", { queues: ["gpu"] });
worker.task("image.generate", async (ctx, payload) => {
  await ctx.progress(0.1, "starting");
  return { url: await generate(payload.prompt) };
});
await worker.serve(); // runs until SIGINT/SIGTERM, then closes the store

// API side
const tasks = CairnQ.sqlite("tasks.db");
const task = await tasks.submit("image.generate", { prompt }, {
  key: `user:${userId}:image:${requestId}`,
  queue: "gpu",
  conflict: "reuse",
});

Synchronous call (submit + wait):

import { TaskFailed, TaskTimeout } from "cairnq";

try {
  const result = await tasks.call("summary.create", { text }, { waitTimeoutMs: 10_000 });
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof TaskFailed) log(err.code, err.message, err.retryable); // envelope fields
  else if (err instanceof TaskTimeout) {
    /* err.taskId keeps running */
  }
}

Inspect a task by id/key without matching status strings:

import { isSucceeded } from "cairnq"; // also isFailed/isCanceled/isRunning/isQueued/isTerminal

const task = await tasks.getByKey(key);
if (task && isSucceeded(task)) use(task.result);

Optionally define a task once and share the symbol across both ends — no string drift, the editor finds every caller, and payload + result are fully typed:

import { defineTask } from "cairnq";

export const summarize = defineTask<{ text: string }, { summary: string }>("summarize");

worker.task(summarize, async (ctx, payload) => ({ summary: await run(payload.text) }));
const { summary } = await tasks.call(summarize, { text }); // typed result, no cast

Opt-in: every API still accepts a plain name string (cross-language callers use it).

The protocol (schema + canonical SQL) lives in ../cairnq-protocol and is shared verbatim with the Python SDK. See ../cairnq-protocol/PROTOCOL.md.