feat(encyclopedia): added new pages to explain the Temporal architecture

[flippedcoder]

What does this PR do?

This adds 2 new pages to the encyclopedia under a new architecture sub-heading. The first page is to go into detail about the different parts of Temporal, the second page is to go into detail about how Temporal works with an interactive example.

Notes to reviewers

The core changes are in the pages under architecture/how-temporal-works.mdx and architecture/temporal-architecture.mdx.

Everything else is either a link update, new images, or component changes.

TODO: Add images for each part of the Temporal Server, update to reference Standalone Activities, /temporal page

┆Attachments: EDU-6553 feat(encyclopedia): added new pages to explain the Temporal architecture

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
temporal-documentation	Ready	Preview, Comment	Jul 22, 2026 3:10pm

[github-actions]

📖 Docs PR preview links

• Cloud
  • Authenticate with mTLS certificates
  • Security model
• Develop
  • Dotnet
    • Client
      • Temporal Client
  • Go
    • Client
      • Temporal Client
    • Workflows
      • Schedules
  • Java
    • Client
      • Temporal Client
  • Php
    • Client
      • Temporal Client
  • Python
    • Client
      • Temporal Client
  • Ruby
    • Client
      • Temporal Client
  • Rust
    • Client
      • Temporal Client
  • Typescript
    • Client
      • Temporal Client
    • Install the TypeScript SDK
• Encyclopedia
  • Architecture
    • About the SDKs
    • How Temporal works
    • Temporal architecture
  • Encyclopedia
  • Temporal Client
• Evaluate
  • Development Production Features
    • Core application
  • Understanding Temporal
• Glossary
• References
  • Errors
  • SDK metrics
  • Temporal Service metrics
• Self Hosted Guide
  • Server API
• Standalone Activity
• Standalone Nexus Operation
• Temporal

[jsundai]

I think Temporal Client should be its own thing and not under the architectural section!

[flippedcoder]

I think Temporal Client should be its own thing and not under the architectural section!

@jsundai Just trying to understand, but what makes you think that about the client page? And do you think the same goes for the SDK page? 👀

[jsundai]

I'm not sure if we should remove the /temporal page and have the architecture page in its place essentially since I think we might still need a short landing page that explains temporal as a 1-pager with a docs narrative vs a marketing narrative. Right now, the /temporal page does touch a bit of architecture content and maybe we should separate those two page functions out a bit while keeping both?

[flippedcoder]

I'm not sure if we should remove the /temporal page and have the architecture page in its place essentially since I think we might still need a short landing page that explains temporal as a 1-pager with a docs narrative vs a marketing narrative. Right now, the /temporal page does touch a bit of architecture content and maybe we should separate those two page functions out a bit while keeping both?

@jsundai What do you think about making this page the new /temporal page? https://docs.temporal.io/evaluate/understanding-temporal

It seems like they do a similar job right now or was the intent for understanding-temporal different?