From 1af7d9d3982a48d7900fa027d322a6ed63a54df3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Wade Waldron <wade.waldron@temporal.io>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 07:45:26 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] The retry policy being specified in the source code ran
 counter to the intention of the tutorial. It resulted in problems when users
 were trying to follow the instructions. I removed the max retries to force it
 to retry forever instead. This allows the tutorial to proceed as expected.
 However this required updating the instructions which had conflicting
 information about the actual retry policy.

---
 .../python/first_program_in_python/index.md   | 53 +++++--------------
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 41 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/getting_started/python/first_program_in_python/index.md b/docs/getting_started/python/first_program_in_python/index.md
index 82bac7c2..98859b2d 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started/python/first_program_in_python/index.md
+++ b/docs/getting_started/python/first_program_in_python/index.md
@@ -281,12 +281,11 @@ If an Activity fails, Temporal Workflows automatically retries the failed Activi
 
 At the top of the `MoneyTransfer` Workflow Definition, you'll see a Retry Policy defined that looks like this:
 
-<!--SNIPSTART python-money-transfer-project-template-workflows {"selectedLines": ["16-20"]} -->
+<!--SNIPSTART python-money-transfer-project-template-workflows {"selectedLines": ["17-20"]} -->
 [workflows.py](https://github.com/temporalio/money-transfer-project-template-python/blob/main/workflows.py)
 ```py
 # ...
         retry_policy = RetryPolicy(
-            maximum_attempts=3,
             maximum_interval=timedelta(seconds=2),
             non_retryable_error_types=["InvalidAccountError", "InsufficientFundsError"],
         )
@@ -294,7 +293,7 @@ At the top of the `MoneyTransfer` Workflow Definition, you'll see a Retry Policy
 <!--SNIPEND-->
 
 
-By default, Temporal retries failed Activities forever, but you can specify some errors that Temporal should not attempt to retry. In this example, it'll retry the failed Activity for 3 attempts, but if the Workflow encounters an error, it will refund money to the sender's account.
+By default, Temporal retries failed Activities forever, but you can specify some errors that Temporal should not attempt to retry. In this example, the Activity will keep retrying indefinitely on transient failures, but if it raises an `InvalidAccountError` or `InsufficientFundsError` the Workflow will stop retrying and refund the money to the sender's account.
 
 In the case of an error with the `deposit()` Activity, the Workflow will attempt to put the money back.
 
@@ -591,47 +590,19 @@ This lets you explore the location and reason for failed Activity Tasks.
 
 Traditionally, you're forced to implement timeout and retry logic within the service code itself. This is repetitive and prone to errors. With Temporal, you can specify timeout configurations in the Workflow code as Activity options. Temporal offers multiple ways to specify timeouts, including [Schedule-To-Start Timeout](https://docs.temporal.io/concepts/what-is-a-schedule-to-start-timeout), [Schedule-To-Close Timeout](https://docs.temporal.io/concepts/what-is-a-schedule-to-close-timeout), [Start-To-Close Timeout](https://docs.temporal.io/concepts/what-is-a-start-to-close-timeout), and [Heartbeat Timeout](https://docs.temporal.io/concepts/what-is-a-heartbeat-timeout).
 
-In `workflows.py`, you can see that a `StartToCloseTimeout` is specified for the Activities, and a Retry Policy tells the server to retry the Activities up to 500 times:
+In `workflows.py`, you can see that a `StartToCloseTimeout` is specified for the Activities, along with the Retry Policy shown earlier. Because that policy doesn't set a `maximum_attempts`, the server will keep retrying the Activity until it succeeds or hits one of the non-retryable error types:
 
-<!--SNIPSTART python-project-template-run-workflow-->
-[run_workflow.py](https://github.com/temporalio/money-transfer-project-template-python/blob/main/run_workflow.py)
+<!--SNIPSTART python-money-transfer-project-template-workflows {"selectedLines": ["22-28"]} -->
+[workflows.py](https://github.com/temporalio/money-transfer-project-template-python/blob/main/workflows.py)
 ```py
-import asyncio
-import traceback
-
-from temporalio.client import Client, WorkflowFailureError
-
-from shared import MONEY_TRANSFER_TASK_QUEUE_NAME, PaymentDetails
-from workflows import MoneyTransfer
-
-
-async def main() -> None:
-    # Create client connected to server at the given address
-    client: Client = await Client.connect("localhost:7233")
-
-    data: PaymentDetails = PaymentDetails(
-        source_account="85-150",
-        target_account="43-812",
-        amount=250,
-        reference_id="12345",
-    )
-
-    try:
-        result = await client.execute_workflow(
-            MoneyTransfer.run,
-            data,
-            id="pay-invoice-701",
-            task_queue=MONEY_TRANSFER_TASK_QUEUE_NAME,
+# ...
+        # Withdraw money
+        withdraw_output = await workflow.execute_activity_method(
+            BankingActivities.withdraw,
+            payment_details,
+            start_to_close_timeout=timedelta(seconds=5),
+            retry_policy=retry_policy,
         )
-
-        print(f"Result: {result}")
-
-    except WorkflowFailureError:
-        print("Got expected exception: ", traceback.format_exc())
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    asyncio.run(main())
 ```
 <!--SNIPEND-->
 
