MotiaDev / motia
- ΠΏΡΡΠ½ΠΈΡΠ°, 4 ΠΈΡΠ»Ρ 2025β―Π³. Π² 00:00:03
Unified Backend Framework for APIs, Events, and AI Agents
π₯ A Modern Unified Backend Framework for APIs, Events and Agents π₯
π‘ Motia Manifesto β’ π Quick Start β’ π Defining Steps β’ π Docs
Motia is a modern backend framework that unifies APIs, background jobs, events, and AI agents into a single cohesive system. Eliminate runtime complexity and build unified backends where JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, etc, work together in event-driven workflows, with built-in state management, observability, and one-click deployments.
Motia brings cohesion to the fragmented backend world with our core primitive: the Step.
handler
, you have the full power of the Node.js or Python ecosystem. Install any package, call any API, connect to any database. No restrictions, just your code.Backend teams juggle fragmented runtimes across APIs, background queues, and AI agents. This creates deployment complexity, debugging gaps, and cognitive overhead from context-switching between frameworks.
This fragmentation demands a unified system.
Motia unifies your entire backend into a unified state. APIs, background jobs, and AI agents become interconnected Steps with shared state and integrated observability.
Before | After (Motia) |
---|---|
Multiple deployment targets | Single unified deployment |
Fragmented observability | End-to-end tracing |
Language dependent | JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, etc |
Context-switching overhead | Single intuitive model |
Complex error handling | Automatic retries & fault tolerance |
Type | Trigger | Use Case |
---|---|---|
api |
HTTP Request | Expose REST endpoints |
event |
Emitted Topics | React to internal or external events |
cron |
Scheduled Time (cron) | Automate recurring jobs |
noop |
None | Placeholder for manual/external tasks |
Motia's architecture is built around a single, powerful primitive: the Step. A Step is not just a trigger; it's a powerful container for your business logic. You can write anything from a simple database query to a complex AI agent interaction inside a single step. Instead of managing separate services for APIs, background workers, and scheduled tasks, you simply define how your steps are triggered.
api
step. This defines a route and handler for HTTP requests. You can build a complete REST or GraphQL API just with these steps.api
step emit
an event. An event
step subscribed to that event's topic will pick up the job and process it asynchronously. This is how you handle anything that shouldn't block the main request thread, from sending emails to complex data processing.cron
step. It will trigger automatically based on the schedule you define.This model means you no longer need to glue together separate frameworks and tools. A single Motia application can replace a stack that might otherwise include Nest.js (for APIs), Temporal (for workflows), and Celery/BullMQ (for background jobs). It's all just steps and events.
The Step is Motia's core primitive. The following concepts are deeply integrated with Steps to help you build powerful, complex, and scalable backends:
Understand the three ways Steps are triggered:
api
) β Build REST/GraphQL endpoints with zero boilerplate.event
) β React to internal or external events emitted by other steps.cron
) β Schedule recurring jobs with a familiar cron syntax.Steps talk to each other by emitting and subscribing to topics. This decouples producers from consumers and lets you compose complex workflows with simple, declarative code.
All steps share a unified key-value state store. Every get
, set
, and delete
is automatically traced so you always know when and where your data changed.
Motia provides structured, JSON logs correlated with trace IDs and step names. Search and filter your logs without regex hassle.
Push live updates from long-running or asynchronous workflows to clients without polling. Perfect for dashboards, progress indicators, and interactive AI agents.
Every execution generates a full trace, capturing step timelines, state operations, emits, stream calls, and logs. Visualise everything in the Workbench's Traces UI and debug faster.
Get Motia project up and running in under 60 seconds:
npx motia@latest create -i # runs the interactive terminal
Follow the prompts to pick a template, project name, and language.
Inside your new project folder, launch the dev server:
npx motia dev
# β http://localhost:3000
This spins up the Motia Workbench β a local UI for building, testing & observing your backend in real-time.
Open a new terminal tab and run:
curl http://localhost:3000/default
You should see the JSON response:
{"message":"Hello World from Motia!"}
The Workbench is your command centre:
π That's it! You now have a fully-featured Motia project with:
/default
API endpointFinance Agent | GitHub Agent | Gmail Manager |
---|---|---|
![]() Financial insights |
![]() PR automation |
![]() Email automation |
Trello Automation | RAG Agent | AI Image Gen |
---|---|---|
![]() Task automation |
![]() Knowledge retrieval |
![]() Generate images |
Write steps in your preferred language:
Language | Status | Example |
---|---|---|
JavaScript | β Stable | handler.step.js |
TypeScript | β Stable | handler.step.ts |
Python | β Stable | handler.step.py |
Ruby | π§ Beta | handler.step.rb |
Go | π Coming Soon | handler.step.go |
Rust | π Coming Soon | handler.step.rs |
We're building Motia in the open, and we'd love for you to be a part of the journey.
Check out our public roadmap to see what's planned, what's in progress, and what's recently shipped:
We welcome contributions! Whether it's:
Check out our Contributing Guide to get started.
π Ready to unify your backend?
π Get Started Now β’ π Read the Docs β’ π¬ Join Discord