Eric Allam
b98dd79fe4
## What
Makes two transaction-resilience behaviors real and env-var
configurable, defaults set to the good values, so we can tune during and
after the Aug 15 database patch window without a redeploy:
- **maxWait 2s → 10s** (TRI-12982): how long Prisma waits to borrow a
connection before it can `BEGIN`. A restart freeze holds the pool full,
and the only thing that errored was transaction starts giving up at 2s.
- **Retry transaction-start P2028-at-acquisition** (TRI-12984): when
Prisma can't borrow a connection within `maxWait` it raises P2028
(`Unable to start a transaction in the given time`) and **no SQL ran**,
so retrying is safe. Scoped narrowly: only that error (never P2024
pool-exhaustion), 2 attempts, jittered backoff, and a token-bucket
budget so a mass freeze can't amplify into a retry storm.
## Env vars (`DATABASE_*` convention)
Generic defaults:
| var | default |
|---|---|
| `DATABASE_TRANSACTION_MAX_WAIT_MS` | `10000` |
| `DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_ENABLED` | `true` (kill switch) |
| `DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS` | `2` |
| `DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_BACKOFF_MIN_MS` | `50` |
| `DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_BACKOFF_MAX_MS` | `250` |
| `DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_BUDGET_PER_SEC` | `50` |
| `DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_BUDGET_BURST` | `100` |
Per-writer-pool overrides, each falling back to the generic when unset
(same pattern as the per-client pool/connect-timeout work):
`RUN_OPS_DATABASE_TRANSACTION_*` and
`RUN_OPS_LEGACY_DATABASE_TRANSACTION_*` (all 7 knobs each). Transactions
only open on writer pools, so those are the only pools with their own
knobs. Each pool gets its **own** token bucket, so a storm on one pool
can't drain another's retry budget.
## Design
- The retry primitives live in `internal-packages/database` and never
read `process.env` (IoC): a P2028-at-acquisition classifier, a
`TokenBucketRetryBudget`, and `withTransactionStartRetry`, folded into
the `$transaction` helper via a new `startRetry` option. Config is
resolved at the app boundary and threaded in.
- The `$transaction` helper is the chokepoint (wraps the whole
transaction), not the per-statement `$allOperations` extension.
- The run engine's writes go through `PostgresRunStore`'s own
`.$transaction(...)`, not the webapp helper, so both the helper and the
two `PostgresRunStore` sites apply maxWait + retry (sharing the per-pool
config). Builds on the `options?: { timeout, maxWait }` seam added in
#4514.
- Webapp `$transaction` call sites get the default `maxWait` + retry
injected at one merge point, so no call site needed editing.
## Evidence
- Unit red/green in `internal-packages/database`: reverting the helper
wiring turned the acquisition-retry test red (`Unable to start a
transaction in the given time`), re-applying it green. Full package
suite 25/25. Covers: classifier (P2028-acq yes, P2024 no, in-tx P2028
no), retry (retry-then-succeed, no-retry P2024, stop at maxAttempts,
disabled, budget-exhausted, jitter bounds), token bucket, and
`$transaction` wiring.
- Typecheck clean: webapp, run-store, run-engine.
- Full-stack run: bounded queue-ay pass (15 projects, real dev runs
through the run-engine `PostgresRunStore` transaction path). 13 pass;
the 2 failures are one documented known-failure and one
stale-worker-state flake that passes 2/2 with this change active on a
fresh app.
- Boots cleanly with per-pool overrides set.
## Configuration & rollout
Ship **inert** first (zero behavior change), then flip to the good
values **live via env** — no redeploy needed for either.
### Inert — behaves exactly as today
```
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_MAX_WAIT_MS=2000 # Prisma's built-in default (change defaults to 10000)
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_ENABLED=false # disable the new retry entirely
```
`maxWait=2000` is what every path used before (Prisma's default; the
run-store sites and the helper passed no maxWait). `retry=false`
short-circuits `withTransactionStartRetry` to a single run and makes the
serialization-retry exclusion a no-op. Verified on the pooler-freeze
rig: identical fail-fast P2028 at ~2003ms with zero retries —
byte-for-byte current behavior, across all pools.
### Production ("good") — the baked defaults
Rely on defaults (nothing to set) or set explicitly:
```
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_MAX_WAIT_MS=10000
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_ENABLED=true
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_MAX_ATTEMPTS=3 # 3 attempts (2 retries); ~30s acquisition tolerance covers a ~20-25s freeze
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_BACKOFF_MIN_MS=50
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_BACKOFF_MAX_MS=250
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_BUDGET_PER_SEC=50
DATABASE_TRANSACTION_START_RETRY_BUDGET_BURST=100
```
Per-pool overrides `RUN_OPS_DATABASE_TRANSACTION_*` and
`RUN_OPS_LEGACY_DATABASE_TRANSACTION_*` (all seven knobs each) are
optional and fall back to the generic set — not needed for v1; the
generic set covers the control-plane, run-ops, and run-ops-legacy writer
pools. Readers open no transactions and take nothing.
**Guardrail:** the retry only engages when a pool's `pool_timeout` >
`maxWait`. Prod is fine (`DATABASE_POOL_TIMEOUT=60` >> 10). Do not set
any writer pool's `pool_timeout` at or under `maxWait`, or saturation
failures flip from retryable P2028 to non-retryable P2024 and the retry
silently stops helping.
### Rollback
Env flip (set inert) or revert. Retry only fires where no SQL ran, and
the per-pool token bucket caps a storm. No migration.
refs TRI-13295, TRI-12982, TRI-12984
@trigger.dev/database
This is the internal database package for the Trigger.dev project. It exports a generated prisma client that can be instantiated with a connection string.
How to switch branches when you've done migrations
Sometimes you've applied migrations and then want to switch branches without wiping out your local database.
To do this you can run the following command:
DB_VOLUME=database-data-alt pnpm run docker
This will switch to the alt volume for your local database. This database will be blank if you haven't switched to this volume before, so you'll need to follow the normal steps (in the Contributing guide) to get setup, e.g. apply migrations and seed.
To switch back to the original volume, run the following command:
pnpm run docker
How to add a new index on a large table
- Modify the Prisma.schema with a single index change (no other changes, just one index at a time)
- Create a Prisma migration using
cd internal-packages/database && pnpm run db:migrate:dev:create - Modify the SQL file: add IF NOT EXISTS to it and CONCURRENTLY:
CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF NOT EXISTS "JobRun_eventId_idx" ON "JobRun" ("eventId");
- Don’t apply the Prisma migration locally yet. This is a good opportunity to test the flow.
- Manually apply the index to your database, by running the index command.
- Then locally run
pnpm run db:migrate:deploy
Before deploying
Run the index creation before deploying
CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF NOT EXISTS "JobRun_eventId_idx" ON "JobRun" ("eventId");
These commands are useful:
-- creates an index safely, this can take a long time (2 mins maybe)
CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF NOT EXISTS "JobRun_eventId_idx" ON "JobRun" ("eventId");
-- checks the status of an index
SELECT * FROM pg_stat_progress_create_index WHERE relid = '"JobRun"'::regclass;
-- checks if the index is there
SELECT * FROM pg_indexes WHERE tablename = 'JobRun' AND indexname = 'JobRun_eventId_idx';
Now, when you deploy and prisma runs the migration, it will skip the index creation because it already exists. If you don't do this, there will be pain.