tasksdistinct

Tasksdistinct is a concept used in task orchestration and job scheduling to ensure that certain tasks are treated as distinct, preventing duplicate execution within a defined scope. It is commonly implemented in distributed systems, data pipelines, and automation platforms to reduce wasted compute and maintain predictable behavior when the same trigger could initiate multiple submissions.

The core idea is to associate a distinct key with each task, derived from the task type and relevant inputs. When a new task is submitted, the system checks a central registry or lock mechanism for an existing in-flight or queued task with the same key. If a match is found, the submission may be collapsed, merged, or queued to run only after the existing instance completes. Distinct tasks may be configured to be kept alive for a time-to-live period, after which new submissions are allowed again.

Key features typically supported include distinct until completion, where a new submission waits or is suppressed until the current task finishes, and distinct until replaced, where a newer submission overrides an older one. Support for timeouts, retry policies, and explicit cancellation of in-flight tasks are common. Implementations may rely on centralized locks, distributed consensus, or database constraints to maintain correctness at scale, and this can influence performance and fault tolerance.

Common use cases involve avoiding duplicate CI builds, preventing repeated data processing runs for the same input, and controlling trigger storms in event-driven workflows. Considerations include ensuring idempotence, handling partial failures, and managing lock lifecycles across clusters. Related concepts include deduplication, idempotency keys, and distributed locking.