Claude Code for Inngest — Workflow Guide

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The Setup

You are building durable, event-driven workflows using Inngest — a platform that handles retries, scheduling, step functions, and flow control for serverless applications. Inngest lets you write complex multi-step workflows as code that survives function restarts. Claude Code can write Inngest functions, but it creates plain serverless functions without Inngest’s durability and step abstractions.

What Claude Code Gets Wrong By Default

  1. Writes stateless serverless functions. Claude creates one-shot API handlers that fail silently if any step errors. Inngest functions use step.run() to break work into durable steps that retry independently.

  2. Implements manual retry logic. Claude adds try/catch with exponential backoff loops. Inngest handles retries automatically — each step.run() retries on failure with configurable backoff, and completed steps are not re-executed.

  3. Uses cron jobs with external schedulers. Claude sets up AWS EventBridge or GitHub Actions cron. Inngest has built-in cron triggers: createFunction({ event: 'cron/daily-report', schedule: '0 9 * * *' }).

  4. Manages event queues manually. Claude sets up BullMQ or SQS for event processing. Inngest is the queue — you send events with inngest.send() and functions trigger automatically based on event names.

The CLAUDE.md Configuration

# Inngest Durable Workflows

## Architecture
- Workflows: Inngest (durable step functions)
- SDK: inngest (TypeScript SDK)
- Serve: /api/inngest route serves all functions
- Dev: npx inngest-cli dev for local testing

## Inngest Rules
- Functions defined with createFunction({ id, event }, async ({ step }) => {})
- Break work into steps: step.run('step-name', async () => { })
- Steps are durable — completed steps are NOT re-executed on retry
- Send events: inngest.send({ name: 'app/user.signup', data: { } })
- Cron: createFunction({ cron: '0 9 * * *' }, handler)
- Concurrency: createFunction({ concurrency: { limit: 5 } })
- Sleep: step.sleep('wait-1h', '1h') for delayed execution
- Wait for event: step.waitForEvent('approval', { timeout: '24h' })

## Conventions
- Functions in inngest/functions/ directory
- Inngest client in inngest/client.ts
- All functions served via single /api/inngest route
- Event names: 'app/resource.action' pattern
- Dev server: npx inngest-cli dev (visual debugging UI)
- Function IDs: kebab-case, unique across the app
- Never use setTimeout — use step.sleep() instead

Workflow Example

You want to create an onboarding workflow triggered by user signup. Prompt Claude Code:

“Create an Inngest function that runs when a user signs up. Step 1: send a welcome email. Step 2: wait 24 hours. Step 3: send a getting-started guide. Step 4: check if the user has created a project. If not, step 5: send a nudge email after 48 more hours.”

Claude Code should create a function with createFunction({ id: 'onboarding-flow', event: 'app/user.signup' }) using step.run() for email sends, step.sleep() for delays, and step.run() to check user activity, with conditional logic for the nudge email.

Common Pitfalls

  1. Non-deterministic step names. Claude generates step names with timestamps or random values. Inngest uses step names to track completion — if the name changes between retries, Inngest cannot identify which steps completed. Step names must be static strings.

  2. Side effects outside step.run(). Claude puts API calls and database writes outside step.run() blocks. Code outside steps re-executes on every retry attempt. All side effects must be inside step.run() to be durable and idempotent.

  3. Missing the serve endpoint. Claude creates Inngest functions but does not set up the /api/inngest route. Inngest discovers and invokes functions through this single endpoint. Without it, functions are defined but never execute.