Attack Replica Lag at the Source

Replica lag isn't always a replication problem. It's usually excess work on the primary. If replicas are falling behind, start here:

1. Reduce write amplification first: Extra index updates and redundant writes increase what replicas must replay. Audit high-write tables for unused indexes, noisy updates, and ORM-driven full-row writes.
2. Keep transactions short and predictable: Long transactions delay replica visibility and increase replay latency. Avoid unnecessary read/write mixing, eliminate idle-in-transaction sessions, and commit early. Replication only moves forward once transactions are finalized.
3. Watch for reads sneaking back to the primary: When reads fall back to the primary under load, CPU pressure increases and commit throughput slows, worsening replica lag. If the primary is doing read-heavy work, replication is already losing. Protecting the primary is one of the fastest ways to stabilize replicas.
4. Eliminate high-frequency reads that don't need to hit the database: Frequent point reads and existence checks add CPU pressure on the primary and slow commits, worsening replica lag. These queries are stable, repetitive, and ideal to offload.
5. Treat replica lag as a workload problem, not a replication problem: Replication tuning helps at the margins, but it won't fix excessive write churn or a saturated primary. Lag is a symptom, not the disease.

Replica lag isn't solved by adding replicas. It's solved by reducing unnecessary work at the source. When the primary stays lean and predictable, replicas stay closer to real time. That's exactly what SQL-level caching is designed to do: offload repetitive reads and protect the primary without changing application code.

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Readyset's year in review

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