# What is idempotency? And why it matters for durable systems

DevFeed: [What is idempotency? And why it matters for durable systems](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/what-is-idempotency-and-why-it-matters-for-durable-systems-35877.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://temporal.io/blog/idempotency-and-durable-execution>)

Author: Joshua Smith

Published: 2024-02-27T08:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Temporal Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/temporal-blog.md>)

Topics: [distributed-systems](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/distributed-systems.md>), [Programming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/programming.md>), [retry](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/retry.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/systems.md>)

Tags: [distributed-systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/distributed-systems.md>), [examples](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/examples.md>), [idempotency](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/idempotency.md>), [retries](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/retries.md>), [safely](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/safely.md>), [temporal-concepts](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/temporal-concepts.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial explains idempotency in programming and distributed systems: repeated requests produce the same result, making retries safer and reducing unintended duplicate effects. It uses database, media-player, and order-processing examples and discusses how Temporal can help manage complex cases.

## Source excerpt

Learn what idempotency means in programming and distributed systems. Discover how Temporal helps manage retries and durability with real-world examples.