omnigraph/docs/dev/handoff-rfc-013-write-path.md
Ragnor Comerford 4a5277b9c0
fix(recovery): converge roll-forward on concurrent manifest advance (#296)
* refactor(storage): gate test-only TableStore::append_batch behind cfg(test)

The inherent append_batch is used only by in-source recovery test setup, but
the non-test lib build (cfg(test) off) cannot see those callers and emitted a
dead_code warning. Gating the method #[cfg(test)] silences the false positive
and enforces its own doc contract ("no new engine call sites") by construction
— engine code physically cannot call a cfg(test) method.

* test(failpoints): harden fault-injection harness + reproduce roll-forward CAS race

Hardens the test infrastructure around the process-global `fail` registry, and
adds a deterministic red repro for the open-time recovery sweep's roll-forward
CAS race (iss-schema-apply-reopen-recovery-race). The fix lands in the next
commit — this commit is intentionally red (rule 12: red→green visible in log).

Harness:
- One `ScopedFailPoint` (engine) gaining `with_callback`; the cluster duplicate
  is removed and cluster tests reuse the engine type via `omnigraph/failpoints`.
- `#[serial]` on every failpoint test (the registry is process-global, so shared
  names interfere under parallelism); `serial_test` added to cluster dev-deps.
- `helpers::failpoint::Rendezvous` (park-first / wait-until-reached / release)
  replaces fixed-`sleep` cross-thread coordination; the three concurrent tests
  now rendezvous deterministically. The reached flag doubles as a fired-assert.
- Compile-checked `failpoints::names` catalog (engine + cluster); every call
  site references a const, and `failpoint_names_guard.rs` enforces "no string
  literal names" by source-walk, so a typo is a build error not a silent no-fire.

Red repro:
- New `recovery.before_roll_forward_publish` failpoint at the sweep's
  classify -> publish-CAS window (the only injection point there).
- `open_sweep_roll_forward_converges_when_manifest_advances_concurrently`: two
  concurrent open-sweeps race one pending sidecar; the sweep parked at the
  failpoint loses its publish CAS to the other and fails the open with
  `ExpectedVersionMismatch`. FAILS at this commit by design.

* fix(recovery): converge roll-forward when the manifest advances concurrently

The open-time recovery sweep classified a pending sidecar as RolledPastExpected,
then published a manifest CAS at the sidecar's pinned expected_version. Under a
concurrent writer that advanced the manifest past expected during the
classify -> publish window, the CAS failed with ExpectedVersionMismatch and
`?`-propagated, failing the whole Omnigraph::open.
iss-schema-apply-reopen-recovery-race.

A roll-forward's postcondition is "the manifest reflects the sidecar's committed
Lance state", not "this sweep won the CAS" (invariants 7 & 15). On an
ExpectedVersionMismatch, re-read the live manifest and check whether the
sidecar's intent is already satisfied (every pinned table at a version >= the
one we observed and tried to publish; added tables registered; tombstones gone
— sound under the heal-first invariant, documented at the check). If satisfied,
this is convergence: record the RolledForward audit + delete the sidecar
idempotently. If only partway, defer to the next pass. Either way the open no
longer fails. Other errors still propagate; a genuine logical conflict
resurfaces via the classifier's InvariantViolation.

Turns the red repro from the previous commit green. The roll-BACK twin
(iss-recovery-sweep-live-writer-rollback) is destructive (Lance Restore) and
still needs a cross-process lease — the known-gap is updated accordingly.

* Address PR review: harden failpoint name guard + dedupe converge audit

Two issues surfaced in PR review of the failpoint hardening + recovery fix:

1. Name guard had a line-split blind spot. It scanned per line, so a call
   wrapped across lines (`park_first(\n    "name",\n)`) put the literal on a
   different line than the call prefix and bypassed the "no string-literal
   failpoint names" check — and one such literal
   (`mutation.delete_node_pre_primary_delete`) had slipped through. Make the
   guard whitespace/newline-tolerant (skip past the open paren to the first
   argument token) so wrapping can't hide a literal, and convert the bypassed
   site to the `names::` const.

2. Convergence path could append a duplicate recovery audit. When a
   roll-forward publish loses its CAS but the manifest already reached the
   sidecar's goal, `converge_or_defer_roll_forward` recorded a RolledForward
   audit unconditionally. Under the heal-first invariant, whoever advanced the
   manifest already healed this sidecar (audit + delete), so a second row
   landed in `_graph_commit_recoveries` for one recovery event. Gate the
   audit+delete on the sidecar still being present: absent => the winner
   completed it, return success with no duplicate row. The convergence
   regression test now asserts exactly one audit row.

* docs(dev): remove the schema-apply recovery-flake handoff (fixed by this PR)

The handoff was a transient investigation note for
`iss-schema-apply-reopen-recovery-race`, which this PR fixes (the converge
helper + the red→green regression). Its rationale now lives durably in the
dev-graph issue, the PR/commit history, and invariants.md, so the handoff is
obsolete. Drop the doc, its dev-index row, and the dangling reference from the
RFC-013 handoff; the doc cross-link check stays green.

* fix(recovery): include added-table registrations in the converge audit

The CAS-loss convergence audit built outcomes only from `sidecar.tables`,
omitting the `additional_registrations` that the normal `roll_forward_all`
audit includes. For a SchemaApply sidecar with added types, a converge-path
audit row would be incomplete versus the normal roll-forward path for the same
recovery kind. Mirror the roll-forward outcome construction (append a
registration outcome per added table) so both paths emit the same audit shape.
2026-06-24 19:03:51 +02:00

28 KiB
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Handoff: finishing RFC-013 (write-path latency + correctness)

Status: living handoff. Source of truth is rfc-013-write-path-latency.md — this doc is the *current-state map + the decisions/validation from the latest work cycle

  • the concrete next actions*. When they disagree, the RFC wins (and fix this doc).

Audience: the engineer/agent who picks up RFC-013 next.


0. TL;DR — where we are and what's next

RFC-013 makes the write path fast and correct on object storage (217 Lance tables under one __manifest catalog, on R2/S3). It is sequenced as steps; read §9 of the RFC for the canonical list. Current reality:

Landed on main:

  • Step 1 — Tier-1 cost gate + the shared helpers::cost harness (#288).
  • Step 3a — opener bypass: write opens go direct (Dataset::open by URI + version) instead of the Lance-namespace builder (#288). This already banked the dominant depth win — see §2 below; it reframes everything.
  • Step 2a — internal-table compaction: optimize now compacts __manifest / _graph_commits / _graph_commit_actors (#291). Plus the RFC latency-model correction (#292).
  • Optimize-vs-write race — optimize survives a cross-process write race on the same table (#297, LANDED — origin/main 6d4606a8; see §6 for why it's not redundant with Design A). Step 3b stacks on top of this.

Open PRs (land these; relationships in §7):

  • #296 correctness-by-design-fix — recovery roll-forward converges on a concurrent manifest advance (this is the fix for the flaky iss-schema-apply-reopen-recovery-race).
  • #295 docs/rfc-013-step-3b — the step-3b RFC doc.
  • #254 ragnorc/bug-4-schema-apply-occ — schema-apply vs optimize false-fail (same op-class family as #297, logical side).

Step 3b is DONE (capture-once WriteTxn, schema-once + open-collapse; see §4) on rfc-013-step-3b-writetxn-v2. Next: Phase 7 (step 4), then the big one — Design A / PublishPlan unification (step 5) — see §5, the convergent fix for the bug class this area keeps generating, which also absorbs 3b's deferred session-aware write opens.


1. The corrected mental model (read this before touching anything)

Three reframes from the latest cycle that the older RFC prose may not fully reflect:

1a. 3a already won the depth fight → the residual is constant-factor + RTT

Before 3a, the write re-opened each table through the lance-namespace builder ~13×, and that path was O(depth) (it re-opened __manifest + list_table_versions per open — not a Lance back-walk; the root cause was OmniGraph's own namespace round-trips, not Lance — validated against Lance source). 3a swapped it for the direct opener, which is O(1) (from_uri(loc).with_version(N) = arithmetic path + one HEAD). So:

  • The dominant O(depth) data-table term is gone.
  • Step 2a flattened the secondary internal-table scan term.
  • What remains is the ~110-hop serial backbone × RTT + compute — a constant in depth. The latency model is **`wall = (serial_hops + ops/effective_concurrency)·RTT
    • compute`**; on a capped store (R2) the op-count term re-enters wall-clock, on an unlimited store it parallelizes away. Measured: prod one-row write 27→15.76s after 2a; the remaining 15.76s is the serial backbone — step 3b's target, not step 2's.
  • Step 3b's win is therefore the call-count/RTT collapse (redundant opens, the flat-46 schema reads), NOT a depth slope. Don't expect a depth-slope improvement from 3b; gate it on the constant-factor (S3 round-trips), not a curve.

1b. Two op classes, two commit models (the §6.6 principle)

Every concurrency bug in this area is one op class using the other's commit model:

class examples commutes? correct commit model
maintenance compaction (Rewrite), optimize_indices yes (content-preserving) Lance native rebase + app reopen/replan on real overlap + monotonic manifest fast-forward — no epoch, no read-set
logical mutation load / mutate / merge / delete no (lost-update, write-skew) strict cross-process OCC: read-set + write-set CAS under the writer_epoch fence

Applying strict OCC + equality-CAS uniformly is the mistake: too strong for maintenance (false conflicts — #297's bug), too weak for logical cross-process (§6.5 corruption).

1c. The root liability (what keeps generating these bugs)

Lance gives per-table atomic commits but no cross-table/cross-step atomicity, so every multi-commit op advances per-table Lance HEAD before the manifest references it (the "A-before-B window"). The resulting HEAD vs manifest delta is ambiguous (external drift? my own in-flight work? a crashed writer?), and many uncoordinated code paths each re-interpret it (4 writers + the maintenance path + recovery + the write-path drift guard). Each interpreter is a fresh chance to misclassify. That is the bug class:

  • §6.5 cross-process logical corruption,
  • #297's own-HEAD-drift misclassification,
  • the flaky write-path "HEAD ahead of manifest, run repair" guard,
  • the recovery classifier edges.

The convergent fix is Design A (one publish authority — step 5); Lance MTT eventually retires the window entirely. See §5.

1d. The second facet: the write base is a stale pin (no probe)

The READ path resolves its base behind a freshness probe (resolve_target_inner omnigraph.rs:~1072 → probe_latest_incarnationrefresh_manifest_only); the WRITE path does NOT (resolved_branch_target omnigraph.rs:~778 returns the warm coord.snapshot() for the bound branch, no probe). So a long-lived server's write base lags the live manifest. That single staleness feeds two distinct failure modes, both surfaced this cycle:

  1. Stale validation reads → integrity under-enforced. Write-path RI checks read committed state off the stale base. 3b's collapse #1 made it worse for edge @card: edge_cardinality_read_handle (mutation.rs:~614) scans the pinned txn.base instead of live HEAD (was live HEAD pre-3b), so a concurrent edge committed after txn capture is uncounted → a @card max can be exceeded (cursor High / codex P1 on #298, VALID). #298 fix: restore the live-HEAD read for that scan (un-regress; gate-safe — the data_open_count gate is a node insert) + a deterministic regression test (commit A's edge, then B validates → must see A) + correct the wrong "pinned base == live HEAD" doc comment (mutation.rs:~605-613, which assumes a single writer). The structural liability underneath: there is no unified write-validation read-set — endpoint (ensure_node_id_exists, warm snapshot_for_branch), cardinality (mutation: pinned txn.base; loader: warm snapshot_for_branch — the SAME check forks per write path), commit drift guard (live fresh_snapshot_for_branch), and uniqueness (enforce_unique_constraints_intra_batch, intra-batch only — cross-version uniqueness is a documented gap). Three freshness levels chosen ad hoc, none re-validated at commit → the §7.1 TOCTOU class, and each new constraint forks the pattern again.

  2. Stale OCC pin → false-fail on a maintenance advance. A served strict update/delete pins the stale base version, then false-fails ExpectedVersionMismatch after an external optimize advanced __manifest — even though the advance was content-preserving compaction the logical write should fast-forward past (invariant 7). It's the write-side mirror of #297/§6.6 (#297 made optimize fast-forward past a logical write; this is a logical write that must fast-forward past optimize). A served read clears it (the read probes the shared coordinator). Validated repro on prod (omnigraph.ragnor.co) + writes.rs::served_strict_delete_after_external_optimize_advance_auto_refreshes (#[ignore] on branch fix/write-path-stale-view-probe). The naive "just probe" fix is proven wrong — a blanket probe silently refreshes past logical advances too, breaking consistency::stale_handle_public_mutation_must_refresh_then_retry (the deliberate cross-process lost-update OCC primitive). The fix must discriminate by op class.

Both fold into Design A (step 5), same as §1c. open_txn's one warm probe makes the base fresh (absorbs maintenance advances cheaply); the op-class-aware strict precondition — derive from Lance's per-version transaction metadata (all Rewrite/ReserveFragments = maintenance → fast-forward the pin; any Append/Update/Delete/Merge = logical → fail loudly; NO parallel marker, invariant 1/15) — is the correctness fence for anything that lands after. And the §7.1 read-set-in-CAS unifies the validation read-set + re-validates it under the graph_head contention. So the stale-view false-fail, the cardinality/validation-read-set liability, and #297's mirror are one bug (the write base is a stale, un-probed, un-classified pin) with one home: the single PublishPlan delta-interpreter (§1c + §5). Strong corroboration of Design A — three symptoms, one fix.


2. Validated facts — do NOT re-derive these

Established this cycle against Lance 7.0.0 source (~/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-*/lance-7.0.0) and current engine code. Cited so you can trust them without re-investigating.

Lance (upstream):

  • from_uri(loc).with_version(N).load() and checkout_version(N) are O(1) (computed V2 path _versions/{u64::MAX-N:020}.manifest + one HEAD; no listing/back-walk). (lance-table/src/io/commit.rs default_resolve_version.)
  • A shared Arc<Session> (DatasetBuilder::with_session) warms metadata/index caches keyed by (URI, version, e_tag). Caveat: the first manifest read on open is uncached — the Session warms the scan/index metadata, not the first open. WriteParams does carry a session field (lance/src/dataset/write.rs), but it only matters on the WriteDestination::Uri arm; OmniGraph's staged path always drives off an already-open Dataset, and Lance takes the store/session from that handle. So to attach the shared Session to a write base, open read-style (open_table_datasetfrom_uri().with_version() .with_session()) and drive the staged write off that handle.
  • A held Arc<Dataset> at a pinned version is Send + Sync, immutable, safe to reuse for many scans/count/staged-write base in one txn (OmniGraph's TableHandleCache already relies on this).
  • No compaction RetryExecutor (only Delete/MergeInsert/Update have one). commit_compaction commits a fixed Rewrite via apply_commit direct. In commit_transaction, a semantic RetryableCommitConflict escapes the retry loop via ? at io/commit.rs:979; the loop only retries the OCC CommitConflict (:1096), and even that re-rebases the same transaction (never re-plans). ⇒ compaction needs app-level reopen+REPLAN; you cannot "set conflict_retries" and let Lance own it.
  • check_rewrite_txn: a Rewrite rebases cleanly past a concurrent Append/disjoint Update/Delete (preserving both); only a same-fragment overlap yields a retryable conflict. ⇒ the common concurrent insert/update/delete is rebased for free; the app retry fires only on real overlap.

Engine (internal):

  • Read path (post-#268) already has the capture-once machinery: Snapshot (db/manifest.rs), warm GraphCoordinator behind a latest_version_id/incarnation probe, a held TableHandleCache keyed (table,branch,version,e_tag), one shared Session per graph (read_caches.session). Writes bypass all of it by construction (resolved_branch_target returns read_caches: None; the 3a write opener attaches no session and opens by latest, not pinned version).
  • A single write opens each table 34× (accumulation → staging reopen → commit drift-guard → publish prepare), each a fresh cold open. validate_schema_contract (db/schema_state.rs, via ensure_schema_state_valid) runs uncached (~3 read_text
    • 2 exists) at every resolve point (~the flat-46). Both are constant-factor, flat in depth — 3b's targets.
  • Strict-op guards are the lost-update floor (3 layers: pre-stage ensure_expected_version table_store.rs; commit-time strict drift exec/staging.rs; publisher CAS publisher.rs). Capture-once supplies the pinned operand — never remove a guard.
  • Fork-on-first-write authority reads (classify_fork_reffresh_snapshot_for_branch) must stay fresh (not served from a pinned base).
  • Cost harness: helpers::cost (measure/measure_with_staged/IoCounts/assert_flat/ local_graph/s3_graph). The schema-once assert can reuse CountingStorageAdapter (warm_read_cost.rs::warm_query_validates_schema_contract_once) with zero prod change; an open-count assert wants a small open_count AtomicU64 in QueryIoProbes (copy the probe_count/record_probe pattern). The forbidden-API guard (tests/forbidden_apis.rs) makes an instrumentation-level counter complete.

3. The #297 cycle (this branch) — what it is, and the lesson

fix-optimize-concurrency-race (5 commits): a CLI optimize racing a served write on the same table failed (Lance Rewrite lost, or the equality-CAS publish lost). Fix: unify both compaction paths on the internal path's reopen+replan shape, with a two-level retry — outer loop reopens+replans on a real Lance overlap; inner Phase-C loop makes the manifest publish a monotonic fast-forward (advance to compacted version N, or no-op when the manifest already moved to ≥ N), never the strict equality CAS. Sidecar written once; in-process queue kept as a contention reducer (not the cross-process guard); no writer_epoch.

Two review rounds surfaced two follow-on bugs I introduced with the retry loop — both fixed, both regression-tested (own-HEAD-drift via negative control):

  1. Own-HEAD-drift misclassification (56d004e0): the drift guard re-ran every iteration and, after a partial Phase-B commit (auto_cleanup strip or compact, then a later op conflicts), saw HEAD > manifest from our own covered work and deleted the sidecar + returned skipped_for_drift (stranding uncovered drift). Fix: track head_advanced; the drift guard fires only when !head_advanced.
  2. Publish exhaustion spurious error (e9d16a2c): the publish loop returned Err on its final retry even if the conflict meant a concurrent writer already published ≥ N (postcondition met). Fix: re-check current >= state.version on exhaustion.

The lesson (write it on the wall): wrapping a sequence of side-effecting commits in a retry silently converts every "checked once, before any side effect" precondition into "re-checked after partial side effects." That's a distinct bug class; it needs fault-injection tests at each commit boundary, not just end-to-end concurrency tests. (The optimize.before_compact / optimize.inject_reindex_conflict failpoints exist for exactly this.)

Temporary mechanism flag: head_advanced is an in-memory proxy for "is this HEAD movement mine." Under Design A the authority answers that from the plan/sidecar identity — so head_advanced is the part that gets replaced, while the monotonic-publish + reopen/replan semantics are permanent. (Noted in RFC §6.6.)


4. DONE: Step 3b — capture-once WriteTxn (shipped on rfc-013-step-3b-writetxn-v2)

Delivered: on the table-touch hot path, a single mutate/load validates the schema contract once and opens each touched data table at most once — a constant-factor/RTT win (not a depth-slope win; 1a). Two cost gates in write_cost.rs lock it (both on a node insert): write_validates_schema_contract_once (3 read_text / 2 exists, was 12/9) and keyed_insert_opens_table_at_most_once (data_open_count <= 1, was 4). The carrier is the minimal WriteTxn { branch, base }, threaded as Option<&WriteTxn> (Some on the hot mutate/load path, None byte-identical everywhere else); it converges into step 5's PublishPlan.

Not "once" everywhere (scope, not regression): edge endpoint / cardinality RI validation (ensure_node_id_exists, the loader's RI + cardinality) still resolves through snapshot_for_branch and re-validates the schema — and reads warm, not live. Threading txn.base there to make it "once" would re-introduce the stale-read class the #298 cardinality fix removed (it now reads live HEAD). Doing schema-once and fresh reads for those validations needs the unified, re-checked read-set — step 4 §7.1 (§1d). So #298 un-regresses cardinality only; it does not close write-validation freshness. No edge-insert/load schema-once gate yet (only the node gates above).

Commits (off merged-#297 main):

  • Stage 0 — scope open_countdata_open_count/internal_open_count by URI class (the review fix: open_dataset_tracked also opens __manifest/_graph_commits, so the raw counter conflated them and the gate was unreachable). Re-baselined RED 4.
  • Commit A (schema-once) — capture txn once at entry (the single validation); the 4 validation sites collapse: S1 (entry ensure_schema_state_valid) removed; S3a (open_for_mutation_on_branch) + S3b (prepare_updates_for_commit) source txn.base; S4 (commit_all) uses new fresh_snapshot_for_branch_unchecked (the OCC manifest re-read minus the schema re-validation). fresh_snapshot_for_branch{,_unchecked} now read the manifest directly via ManifestCoordinator (drops a spurious commit-graph exists probe; same Snapshot).
  • Commit B (open collapse 4→1) — #1 accumulation open ELIMINATED (the node path discarded the handle; read txn.base.entry().table_version); #2 staging open KEPT (the one open); #3 commit drift-guard reads live HEAD via entry.dataset.dataset().latest_version_id() (a cheap manifest-pointer probe off the staged handle, not a fresh open); #4 index build reuses the commit_staged handle threaded through CommittedMutation/prepare_updates_for_commit.
  • Commit B.1 + cleanup — named the two positional returns (OpenedForMutation, CommittedMutation) + a debug_assert pinning the open-skip contract; removed the unearned WriteTxn.session field (the collapse uses skip/probe/reuse, not a session).

RFC §4.1 corrections — how they resolved:

  1. Thread the evolving handle, not a version-keyed cache → realized as collapse #4 (carry the commit_staged handle forward into the index build).
  2. Don't forbid re-resolution → honored: the commit-time OCC re-read (fresh_snapshot_for_branch_unchecked — fresh manifest, only schema-revalidation dropped) and the fork-authority reads stay fresh.
  3. Minimal carrierWriteTxn { branch, base } (even the session from the original sketch was dropped as unearned).

Deferred to step 5 (NOT in this PR): session-aware write base opens. The one remaining open (#2) stays a HEAD open; warming the shared Session across writes is an object-store (S3) phenomenon invisible on local FS, so it earns its own write_cost_s3.rs gate in step 5, where txn becomes the non-optional publish carrier. No new concurrency test was needed here: #2 stays a HEAD open (no pinned+session base introduced), so the publisher CAS + #3 live-HEAD probe fences are unchanged (covered by the green writes.rs/consistency.rs).

Guardrails (don't regress): schema validation is deliberately uncached for drift detection — collapse to 1 per write, never cache across writes on a long-lived handle (lifecycle::long_lived_handle_rejects_schema_*). The commit-time fresh read is OCC machinery, not redundancy. Keep all 3 strict-op guards. Keep fork-authority reads fresh. Pin the correct branch (server-bound-to-main writing a feature branch falls to a fresh open). A branch rfc-013-step-3b-writetxn exists off an earlier main; rebase onto the post-#297 main before starting.


5. Design A — the PublishPlan unification (step 5) = the convergent fix

This is the real fix for the bug class in §1c. Collapse the four hand-rolled writers + the maintenance path into one publish(txn, plan) authority where the CAS + bounded retry is unconditional and unbypassable (no caller can "hold the queue → skip the CAS"). Properties:

  • One interpreter of the HEAD vs manifest delta — and "is this my work?" is answered by the plan/sidecar identity, not a re-derived comparison. The own-HEAD-drift bug, the §6.5 writers, the write-path guard — all close by construction.
  • Recovery = the same PublishPlan re-applied — the crash-recovery interpreter and the live interpreter become the same code (iss-merge-recovery-partial-rollforward gone).
  • Each TableAction commits by its class (§1b): Rewrite = maintenance (Lance rebase
    • reopen/replan + monotonic fast-forward, no epoch); load/mutate = logical (strict OCC
    • writer_epoch).

Why it composes with Lance MTT (don't over-build):

  • The unification itself is convergent — when MTT lands, it slots underneath the same authority; nothing wasted. Build this.
  • The writer_epoch is the one MTT-redundant piece (MTT's commit-handler lease subsumes a cross-process fence). Build it last and minimally, gated on actually deploying multi-writer topologies. Per the deny-list, don't reimplement what the substrate will own.

Sequencing judgment (this cycle's strongest signal): the bug density here (this PR alone = 3 review rounds, all "a writer re-interprets the delta") means the current N-writers interim is high integrated-over-time liability. Consider pulling the convergent half of step 5 (the single authority + recovery-as-plan) forward — possibly ahead of 3b — because it stops the bug class rather than patching instances. #297 + #254 are the de-risking inputs: they validate the maintenance-class and logical-class commit models in isolation first, so Design A implements a known spec rather than designing under refactor pressure. Do NOT build more substrate-shaped scaffolding (custom WAL / job queue / second coordination table) to paper over the window — strictly higher liability than either Design A or waiting for MTT.

Deeper-than-A (post-MTT or as Lance exposes uncommitted variants): all-uncommitted-fragments

  • one manifest commit would shrink the A-before-B window itself, blocked today by Lance not exposing uncommitted variants for compact_files / optimize_indices / vector index (#6666 open; delete #6658 shipped). Track, don't build yet.

6. Why #297 is still needed even if you do Design A

  • Design A relocates #297's maintenance-class commit logic into the authority's TableAction::Rewrite path; it does not eliminate it. #297 is the validated spec + tests.
  • The two regression tests + §6.6 are the contract Design A must keep green.
  • The prod bug is live; Design A is the largest write-path change in the RFC. Don't hold a correctness fix hostage to a big refactor, and don't do a big refactor under bug-fix urgency.
  • Genuinely throwaway under Design A: only the loop's location + the head_advanced proxy (~a dozen lines). Everything else relocates or persists. #297 LANDED.

7. Open PRs and their relationships

  • #297 — maintenance-class fix (optimize vs write). LANDED (origin/main 6d4606a8); step 3b stacks on it.
  • #254 — logical-class fix (schema-apply vs optimize false-fail). Same op-class family; both are de-risking inputs for Design A's per-class commit models.
  • #296 — recovery roll-forward converges on concurrent manifest advance. This is the fix for the flaky iss-schema-apply-reopen-recovery-race. It touches recovery.rs and is aligned with #297's "postcondition is the state, not winning the CAS" principle — reconcile the monotonic publish with #296's converge helper if #296 lands first.
  • #295 — the step-3b RFC doc (apply §4's three corrections to it).

8. Remaining RFC steps after 3b (RFC §9 is canonical)

  • #298 follow-up (do on the 3b PR, before merge): the edge-@card stale-read regression (§1d.1). Restore the live-HEAD cardinality scan, add the deterministic regression test, fix the wrong doc comment. Small, gate-safe, un-regresses an integrity check (invariant 9). The residual concurrent TOCTOU is the §7.1 gap (step 4) — un-widen here, don't over-reach.
  • Step 4 / Phase 7 (iss-991): lineage into __manifest (publish graph_commit + mutable graph_head:<branch> in the same merge-insert; _graph_commits becomes a projection). Removes the per-write commit_graph.refresh; closes the manifest→commit-graph atomicity + commit-graph-parent-under-concurrency gaps. Hard prereq: step 2 (done). Carries the §7.1 concurrent write-skew fix (needs the graph_head contention row) — frame §7.1 as "unify the entire write-validation read-set" (endpoint + cardinality + cross-version uniqueness), not merely "add graph_head" (§1d.1): the bespoke edge_cardinality_read_handle and the mutation-vs-loader freshness fork dissolve into one pinned read-set re-validated under the graph_head contention, or the liability survives as a second special-case.
  • Step 5 / Design A — §5 above. Acceptance item: the served-strict-write stale-view false-fail (§1d.2) — the op-class-aware precondition + open_txn probe. The contract is two tests passing together: un-ignore writes.rs::served_strict_delete_after_external_optimize_advance_auto_refreshes (goes green) while consistency::stale_handle_public_mutation_must_refresh_then_retry stays green (maintenance fast-forwards; logical fails loudly). Self-contained enough to ship standalone like #297 if prod pain is acute; otherwise fold into the single PublishPlan delta-interpreter.
  • Step 2b — internal-table cleanup + the Q8 monotonic watermark (a Lance boundary tag). Deferred: only the secondary version-count/space term, touches the read/open path, and is MTT-redundant. Land when version-count cost bites.
  • §7.1 sequential write-skew (iss-overwrite-orphans-committed-edges) — inbound-RI validation on node removal; independent, ships anytime.
  • #20 — the prod per-write storage.ops span metric (RFC §5.3), still owed.
  • Branch ops: Lance Clone for create (iss-691).

9. Gotchas / traps (learned the hard way)

  • In-process queue ≠ cross-process lock. Any "I hold the queue → skip the retry/CAS" reasoning is a bug across processes. This is the recurring trap.
  • Monotonic publish must be -conditional, never "no assertion." The __manifest merge-insert is unconditional UpdateAll keyed on object_id (publisher.rs:379), so the equality (or monotonic) pre-check is the only guard — dropping it lets UpdateAll regress a newer version = lost write.
  • The drift guard interprets an ambiguous delta. Re-evaluating it in a retry over self-mutated state is how #297's follow-on bug happened. Gate any HEAD-vs-manifest interpretation on "have we committed yet."
  • compact_files fires Lance's auto_cleanup GC hook (commits with skip_auto_cleanup=false, no override) — optimize strips stale lance.auto_cleanup.* config before compacting to stay non-destructive on upgraded graphs. The strip is a separate commit (relevant to the partial-commit retry trap).
  • Lance rebases the common concurrent case for free — so the data-table conflict usually surfaces as the manifest fast-forward, not a Lance error. The Lance-Rewrite-overlap path is rare and needs failpoint injection to test.

10. Verification (the gate)

  • cargo test --workspace --locked — the canonical gate (matches CI).
  • cargo test -p omnigraph-engine --features failpoints --test failpoints optimize — the optimize concurrency/recovery tests.
  • cargo test -p omnigraph-engine --test write_cost / write_cost_s3 (bucket-gated) — cost gates (3b adds the schema-once + open-count asserts here).
  • cargo test -p omnigraph-engine --test maintenance — optimize/repair/cleanup.
  • Re-read invariants.md, lance.md, testing.md before each change (always-on requirement).

Lance source for re-validation: /Users/ragnor/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-*/lance-7.0.0 (key files: io/commit.rs, io/commit/conflict_resolver.rs, dataset/optimize.rs, dataset/write/retry.rs, dataset/builder.rs).