# Standalone Activities Feature Guide

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.temporal.io/llms.txt).
> Any documentation page is available as raw Markdown by appending `.md` to its URL.

> Execute Activities independently without a Workflow using the Temporal Go SDK.

> **Public Preview**

Standalone Activities are Activity Executions that run independently, without being orchestrated by a Workflow. Instead
of starting an Activity from within a Workflow Definition using `workflow.ExecuteActivity()`, you start a Standalone
Activity directly from a Temporal Client using `client.ExecuteActivity()`.

The Activity definition and Worker registration are identical to regular Activities, and only the execution path
differs.

> **💡 Tip:**
>
> New to Standalone Activities? Start with the [Standalone Activities Quickstart](/develop/go/activities/standalone-activities-quickstart).
>

This page covers the following:

- [Get the result of a Standalone Activity](#get-activity-result)
- [Get a handle to an existing Standalone Activity](#get-activity-handle)
- [List Standalone Activities](#list-activities)
- [Count Standalone Activities](#count-activities)
- [Run Standalone Activities with Temporal Cloud](#run-standalone-activities-temporal-cloud)

> **📝 Note:**
>
> This documentation uses source code from the
> [standalone-activity/helloworld](https://github.com/temporalio/samples-go/tree/main/standalone-activity/helloworld).
>

## Get the result of a Standalone Activity 

Use `ActivityHandle.Get()` to block until the Activity completes and retrieve its result. This is analogous to calling
`Get()` on a `WorkflowRun`.

```go
var result string
err = handle.Get(context.Background(), &result)
if err != nil {
	log.Fatalln("Activity failed", err)
}
log.Println("Activity result:", result)
```

If the Activity completed successfully, the result is deserialized into the provided pointer. If the Activity failed,
the failure is returned as an error.

Or use the Temporal CLI to wait for a result by Activity ID:

```bash
temporal activity result --activity-id standalone_activity_helloworld_ActivityID
```

## Get a handle to an existing Standalone Activity 

Use `client.GetActivityHandle()` to create a handle to a previously started Standalone Activity. This is analogous to
`client.GetWorkflow()` for Workflow Executions.

Both `ActivityID` and `RunID` are required.

```go
handle := c.GetActivityHandle(client.GetActivityHandleOptions{
	ActivityID: "standalone_activity_helloworld_ActivityID",
	RunID:      "the-run-id",
})

// Use the handle to get the result, describe, cancel, or terminate
var result string
err := handle.Get(context.Background(), &result)
if err != nil {
	log.Fatalln("Unable to get activity result", err)
}
```

## List Standalone Activities 

Use [`client.ListActivities()`](https://pkg.go.dev/go.temporal.io/sdk/client#Client) to list Standalone Activity
Executions that match a [List Filter](/list-filter) query. The result contains an iterator that yields
[`ActivityExecutionInfo`](https://pkg.go.dev/go.temporal.io/sdk/client#ActivityExecutionInfo) entries.

These APIs return only Standalone Activity Executions. Activities running inside Workflows are not included.

```go
resp, err := c.ListActivities(context.Background(), client.ListActivitiesOptions{
	Query: "TaskQueue = 'standalone-activity-helloworld'",
})
if err != nil {
	log.Fatalln("Unable to list activities", err)
}

for info, err := range resp.Results {
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalln("Error iterating activities", err)
	}
	log.Printf("ActivityID: %s, Type: %s, Status: %v\n",
		info.ActivityID, info.ActivityType, info.Status)
}
```

Or use the Temporal CLI:

```bash
temporal activity list
```

The `Query` field accepts the same [List Filter](/list-filter) syntax used for Workflow Visibility. For example,
`"ActivityType = 'Activity' AND Status = 'Running'"`.

## Count Standalone Activities 

Use [`client.CountActivities()`](https://pkg.go.dev/go.temporal.io/sdk/client#Client) to count Standalone Activity
Executions that match a [List Filter](/list-filter) query. This returns the total count of executions (running,
completed, failed, etc.) - not the number of queued tasks. It works the same way as counting Workflow Executions.

```go
resp, err := c.CountActivities(context.Background(), client.CountActivitiesOptions{
	Query: "TaskQueue = 'standalone-activity-helloworld'",
})
if err != nil {
	log.Fatalln("Unable to count activities", err)
}

log.Println("Total activities:", resp.Count)
```

Or use the Temporal CLI:

```bash
temporal activity count
```

## Run Standalone Activities with Temporal Cloud 

The Worker and Client code in the [Standalone Activities Quickstart](/develop/go/activities/standalone-activities-quickstart)
use `envconfig.MustLoadDefaultClientOptions()`, so the same code works against Temporal Cloud -
configure the connection via environment variables or a TOML profile. No code changes are needed.

For a step-by-step guide on connecting to Temporal Cloud, including Namespace creation, certificate
generation, and authentication setup in the Cloud UI, see
[Connect to Temporal Cloud](/develop/go/client/temporal-client#connect-to-temporal-cloud).

### Connect with mTLS

Set these environment variables with values from your Temporal Cloud Namespace settings:

```
export TEMPORAL_ADDRESS=<your-namespace>.<your-account-id>.tmprl.cloud:7233
export TEMPORAL_NAMESPACE=<your-namespace>.<your-account-id>
export TEMPORAL_TLS_CLIENT_CERT_PATH='path/to/your/client.pem'
export TEMPORAL_TLS_CLIENT_KEY_PATH='path/to/your/client.key'
```

### Connect with an API key

Set these environment variables with values from your Temporal Cloud API key settings:

```
export TEMPORAL_ADDRESS=<your-namespace>.<your-account-id>.tmprl.cloud:7233
export TEMPORAL_NAMESPACE=<your-namespace>.<your-account-id>
export TEMPORAL_API_KEY=<your-api-key>
```

Then run the Worker and starter code as shown in the [Standalone Activities Quickstart](/develop/go/activities/standalone-activities-quickstart).