docs/architecture/ now exists: README index, overview, five component specs (core-contract, engine-sqlite, engine-postgres, queues, deployment), ADR-001..007 carrying the Phase 0 resolved decisions (crate split, feature scope, per-engine drivers, dependency ownership, wake contract, tx seam), and the centralized open-questions tracker promotion: OQ-ST-01..08 mirror to OQ-01..08 one-to-one with statuses/resolutions carried; new Phase 1 questions append (OQ-09 scheduler collapse, OQ-10 contract versioning). Open Phase 1 work: OQ-04 contract pinning (high), OQ-05 queue semantics depth (high), OQ-06 honker-core quality read (high; fork-trigger gate), OQ-08 capability surface, OQ-09, OQ-10. Erratum fixed in phase-0 OQ-ST-04 (thread-affinity friction is SQLite-side, previously garbled as pg-side) and a stale scheduler- boundary pointer corrected in consumer-inventory.md. Two review passes run (findings: OQ-promotion numbering faithfulness, ADR back-reference sync) — all critical/warning findings resolved.
102 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
102 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
# ADR-007: Transactional seam — caller-held tx handle with `*_tx` methods
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## Status
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Accepted (the seam shape both POCs verified); handle-type ergonomics
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(generic vs downcast) is OQ-04 contract work
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## Context
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The load-bearing property of the whole store (guiding principle 2) is
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**transactional local-adjacency**: enqueue/publish/notify inside the
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same transaction as the caller's business write; rollback drops both.
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Serving it through an async trait over two transaction models —
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rusqlite's sync, thread-bound connection vs tokio-postgres's
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`Send + Sync` client — is the one genuinely driver-coupled design
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point (OQ-ST-03's framing). Both POCs (2026-10-04) built the candidates
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and measured them.
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## Decision
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The core contract's transactional seam is a **caller-held transaction
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handle**:
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```text
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store.begin_tx() -> TxHandle
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handle.enqueue_tx(name, opts, payload) -> job id
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handle.publish_tx(name, payload) -> event id
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handle.notify_tx(channel, payload)
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handle.save_offset_tx(stream, consumer, offset)
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handle.commit() / handle.rollback()
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```
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- The handle is owned by the caller across `await` points; every
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`*_tx` operation lands in *the caller's transaction*; commit/rollback
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are explicit and owned by the caller. Non-`_tx` operations are the
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auto-commit convenience counterparts, each atomic alone.
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- **Postgres** ([ADR-004]): the handle holds the pooled connection
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object directly (tokio-postgres `Client` is `Send + Sync` — verified
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by a compile-time probe). Straight `.await`s, no bridge, no hop
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cost. Commit/rollback return the object to the pool.
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- **SQLite** ([ADR-003]): the handle is a **writer-slot lease** —
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`begin_tx` acquires the `Writer` slot and opens `BEGIN IMMEDIATE`;
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every handle op round-trips `spawn_blocking` to that connection
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(rusqlite is not `Send`-across-await / not `Sync`). Holding the slot
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across `await` points *is* how the lease works — a long transaction
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parks the single WAL writer, which is SQLite's own shape.
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- **Closure-scoped transactions** (`with_tx`) are *available as a
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wrapper over* the handle shape, not instead of it (the POC verified
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the reverse composition doesn't work: a closure cannot outlive
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itself, so caching-subscriber state can't escape it).
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- Both engines deliver the property **natively** — no emulation:
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in-tx notify/Notify delivers only at commit; rollback drops job rows,
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business rows, and notifications together (the POC property tests on
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both engines green: no ghosts).
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The POC's trait sketch carried two frictions, both now Phase 1
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contract-pinning input rather than open risk:
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1. The `as_any_mut` downcast per engine for `*_tx` methods on a
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`dyn TxHandle` — small, but a generic or enum-favored handle may be
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cleaner. OQ-04 decides with the full contract.
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2. Thread-affinity of rusqlite tx ops (SQLite handle ops must
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round-trip the same blocking thread) — inherent to [ADR-003]'s
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bridge, documented as a contract note ("SQLite tx ops are
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serialized by the writer slot"), not a defect.
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## Consequences
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**Positive**
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- The load-bearing property is one seam, both engines, POC-verified
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end-to-end — the dual-write problem is structurally prevented, not
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consumer-disciplined.
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- Long transactions compose naturally (checkout-then-work shape);
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nothing about the seam forbids multi-statement business
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transactions with interleaved reads.
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- Per-engine bridging differences are invisible to consumer code: the
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same `*_tx` calls, the same commit/rollback ownership.
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**Negative**
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- The SQLite handle parks the writer for its duration — a slow
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consumer transaction throttles all writers on the file. This is
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honest (WAL single-writer), but contract docs must say it so
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consumers budget transactions accordingly.
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- Per-op `spawn_blocking` hop on SQLite tx ops (measured fine at
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~0.35 ms p50; the dedicated-thread bridge is the recorded
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optimization).
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- `with_tx` wrapping is a convenience surface we must ship and test
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so it doesn't accrete ad-hoc in consumer code.
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## References
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- `docs/research/poc-sqlite-posture-findings.md` §Arm A, §Probe 1/3;
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`docs/research/poc-pg-posture-findings.md` §Sub-module T.
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- OQ-ST-04 (`docs/research/phase-0.md`), the `*_tx` seam bullet.
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- [ADR-003](003-sqlite-driver.md), [ADR-004](004-postgres-driver.md) —
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the per-engine handle mechanics.
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- [ADR-006](006-wake-and-delivery-contract.md) — commit-atomicity is
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the `*_tx` property this seam carries into the notify contract.
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- [core-contract.md](../core-contract.md) — the spec whose transaction
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section this ADR defines. |