Stop syncing everything (sqlsync.dev)

Article summary

The article introduces Graft, an open-source transactional storage engine designed for lazy, partial replication with strong consistency, horizontal scalability, and object storage durability. Graft is intended for edge environments, such as offline-first and mobile apps, and allows clients to sync at their own pace, syncing only what they need. The engine uses a sparse, ordered collection of fixed-size Pages and provides a transactional API for clients to interact with Volumes. Graft aims to combine the simplicity of physical replication with the efficiency of logical replication.

Main themes

• Edge replication
• Lazy syncing
• Partial replication
• Strong consistency
• Object storage
• Transactional storage
• Offline-first apps
• Mobile apps

What commenters say

• Graft's consistency model is confusing and may not provide strict serializability as claimed.
• The engine's design is more similar to Git's commit concept than traditional SQL commits, which may lead to confusion.
• Graft's approach to replication is flexible and allows for trade-offs between consistency and performance, making it suitable for various use cases.
• The system's documentation needs to be clarified to accurately reflect its consistency guarantees and potential limitations.
• Graft's use of a single 'commit' operation may not be sufficient to ensure strict serializability, and additional mechanisms may be needed.
• The engine's ability to handle offline writes and asynchronous commits is a key feature, but its implications on consistency need to be carefully considered.
• Graft's design is more general and lower-level than other solutions, making it potentially applicable to a wider range of use cases beyond SQLite and SQLSync.
• The system's consistency model is not strictly serializable, but rather provides a flexible framework for applications to choose their desired consistency level.